Throughout their lives, dairy animals have been an important source of income for the dairy farmers and have contributed towards the upliftment of farmers. Ever since the White Revolution till today when India is the largest milk producer in the world, these animals have suffered cruel conditions during their life as dairy cows for the benefit of the farmer. Unfortunately, after a dairy cow is no longer ‘useful’, she is treated merely as a waste product and the dairy farmers take no responsibility of the future well-being of an animal that has served him so far. It is thus necessary that their maintenance cost should be covered by their owners/dairy farmers/commercial dairies to prevent the wanton cruelty and suffering that dairy animals undergo after they are no longer producing milk.

FIAPO has released an investigative report on the conditions of dairies across the country. A copy of the report as well as a summary of key findings is enclosed. This investigation observed that the malpractices adopted at the cattle dairies where dairy animals are reared, are responsible for the growing civic problems. There is extreme cruelty meted out to these animals which results in loss of productivity of these animals thereby accelerating their disposal, through slaughter or abandonment as stray cattle, at an early age. It emerged that as a result of extremely exploitative practices, animals are becoming unproductive much quicker. As a result, a large number of dairy animals end up in illegal transport, slaughter or straying and there is a need to have a plan for management of unproductive animals. Some of these animals end up in Gaushalas, more than half of which are run as private bodies with no support from the Government. Donations for fodder, infrastructure, medical treatment are all difficult to fund for these Gaushala with inadequate support available to them.

As per Article 51 A (g) of The Constitution of India,1949, “It shall be the fundamental duty of every citizen of India to protect and improve the natural environment including forests, lakes, rivers and wild life, and to have compassion for living creatures”, FIAPO has requested Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change and Ministry of Agriculture based upon the provision to allocate funds for these unproductive animals, money of which should be contributed by the farmers/dairy owners/commercial dairies running in the respective states. This will enable government funded Gaushalas to support these abandoned/unsheltered animals to have a humane sustenance for the remainder of their lives.

To read the letter sent to MoEF&CC Click Here

To read the letter sent to Ministry of Agriculture Click Here