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ECONOMICS

Clockwise, from far
left: Families visit the
Shri Krishna Gaushala
to feed the livestock
○ Chhagan Lal Gupta
founded the sanctuary
with 13 cows in 1995
○ A few of the refuge’s
8,100 bovine residents
○ A calf chews on
freshly cut grass as it
falls from a fodder-
cutting machine

39

The $126 million program aims to upgrade the Some 5,000 shelters have opened nationwide
health and genetics of the herd and improve dairy since 2011 to house abandoned cows, according
farm incomes. The actions of some of the gov- to Pavan Pandit, national chairman of the cow
ernment’s supporters may be blunting the effort. advocacy and protection organization Bhartiya
Last year 11 people died in attacks by cow vigilan- Gau Raksha Dal. He would prefer to see the aging
tes—the deadliest year since IndiaSpend, a data- or injured animals remain on the farm. He says
journalism website, began tracking the hate crimes traditional beliefs about cows are backed by sci-
in 2010. “On suspicion that there might have been ence: “A cow purifies the environment of a place
a slaughter of a cow, all these people who are where it sits. Cows release oxygen.” (They don’t;
going about their business legitimately are at risk the animals do emit methane, a greenhouse gas
of being targeted,” says Meenakshi Ganguly, South that contributes to global warming.)
Asia director for Human Rights Watch. Modi has At the Shri Krishna Gaushala, the 8,100 bovine
publicly condemned the attacks. residents receive abundant feed and free veterinary
Prohibitions on cattle slaughter deprive farmers care, thanks to the generosity of the Hindu faith-
PHOTOGRAPHS BY ANSHIKA VARMA FOR BLOOMBERG BUSINESSWEEK dean of the Gandhi Research Foundation in says Chhagan Lal Gupta, the shelter’s 81-year-old
of more than 250 billion rupees of annual income
ful and Modi’s government, which has lavished at
collectively and lead to 20 million abandoned
least 5.8 billion rupees on the refuges. “This is the
cows a year, according to D. John Chelladurai,
government that believes that ‘cow is our mother,’”
Jalgaon, Maharashtra. “Forget about slaughter-
founder, while making the rounds between covered
house transporters, even farmers can’t take their
pens in an electric, three-wheeled passenger cart.
cows or bulls from one village to the other,” says
“If we don’t get funding under this government,
Verma, the farmer in Uttar Pradesh. The state’s
we won’t ever get funding.” —Anindya Upadhyay,
leadership vowed in November to jail anyone
Pratik Parija, Kanika Sood, and P R Sanjai
being cruel to cows, a month before calling for a
THE BOTTOM LINE The Indian government’s efforts to expand
cow census and an expansion of cow sanctuaries,
the dairy supply are being blunted by its Hindu supporters, including
such as the one outside New Delhi.
cow vigilantes, bent on stopping the sale of cattle for slaughter.