Video Editor: Vishal Kumar, Mohd Ibrahim
The Yogi Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh government has put a considerable amount of effort in developing cow protection schemes since it came to power in 2017. It has planned cow shelters in 68 districts, and will soon start levying 0.5 percent cow cess on excise and other departments.
But have these measures been effective? This is what the farmers on the ground had to say:
“The government is only working on paper. There’s no work in reality. When all our farms are destroyed, then Modi ji will do something. There’s only talk but no gaushalas in Barabanki. People are being taken for a ride.”Hanuman Prasad, Farmer, Barabanki
The furious farmers claim that these government schemes are all talk and no action as several districts in Uttar Pradesh suffer from a crippling stray cattle menace, which often results in their crops being destroyed by the cattle.
“The whole night, we are carrying sticks, chasing the cattle, sometimes beating them. Someone gets hurt also in the process. People’s crops get destroyed. So, people get angry even when they see stray cattle. They express their displeasure. So, who will consider cattle as gau mata? When people are ready to beat animals, how can they consider them as holy? If cattle are given permanent accommodation, then people will accept them as mother. Currently, people are beating them with sticks.”Brijesh, Farmer, Amethi
(This story was translated from Quint Hindi)
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