Introduction

Bundelkhand district is one of the regional geographic areas between the states of Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh with most of its part lying in Madhya Pradesh, there are in all 13 Districts in Bundelkhand in which 6 Districts namely Chhatarpur, Tikamghad, Sagar, Panna, Damoh, Datia lies towards north of Madhya Pradesh and 7 Districts namely Mahoba, Banda, Chitrakoot, Lalitput, Jhansi, Hamirpur and Jaloan lies towards South of Uttar Pradesh. [Refer to pages attached for the map].

Bundelkhand is going through very bad phase in recent times, the place is isolated from the main parts of cities making it more difficult for the people to do farming and earn money to survive. Since last 5 years there is a draught condition in these villages, the average need of people and animals for food and water are not fulfilled. The water levels at this place have gone below 150 feet and it keeps becoming lower each passing year. The district’s all lakes have gone dry, the river named Ken and Ganges which flows near Chitrakoot are the only rivers in the whole of these districts. Because of the lack of water many farmers have left this place and also their soul earning business of farming and shifted to other nearby towns, if these farmers have any other source of income then the farmers are not ready to take up farming due to lack of source of enough water due to which there can be crop failure.

The people from minor castes like Chamar, Kasuwaha, Basaur, Prabhpati, Kauri, Anuragi are all connected to some or the other projects related to welfare of these animals. Due to lack of water, these people have shifted to different cities of Punjab, Gujarat, Delhi, Mumbai, etc. the condition of these people is so bad that they are forced to keep their cattle here and abandon them and shift to some other location. There are lots of places where such type of episodes keep happening each day and there are thousands of animals who are left to the faith of slaughter men. The abandoned animals roam here and there in search of food and water, and they enter farms in search of food and they graze whole of crops due to which the farmers incur huge losses. To get rid of these animals, the farmers leave these animals to far away isolated places and during the months of October till January, the people from Rajasthan come and take away these animals at very cheap rates. The people here do farming by taking loan from government and majority of farm produce is lost due to grazing by cattle, the fear of this have led farmers to abandon the animals such type of things are very frequent at these places.

In Mahoba district, while traveling from Kabrai to Kanpur there is place called Mohoda and Gusyari in which majority residents are Muslims. These areas have easy availability of food and water so the cattle come here from Kabrai and Barbhauli in search of food and water but Mohoda and Gusyari being a Muslim area the cattle coming here cannot be protected from being sent to Slaughter house.

Through out India, you can find the cheapest cattle from Bundelkhand, the normal price of cattle found in the market and the price at Bundelkhand is even below the half of its original price. The price of a finest Buffalo which was 10 to 15 thousand 3 years back is now available at a mere thousand rupees per Buffalo, the price of medium quality Buffalo has dropped to just 500 rupees from 7 thousand, the milk yielding Buffalo’s price has dropped from 8-10 thousand to 2-3 thousand rupees, the calf’s price has dropped to 200-300 rupees from 2-3 thousand, the aged buffalo are priced at 50-200 rupees. The given figures are actual figures which have been authenticated from a very reliable source.

Due to the lack of coverage by media, the plight of these people and animals have not come in front of the eyes of people, there is absolutely no sign of breed called Jersey in the village, in last 5 year approximately 4 lakh cattle have been sent to slaughter houses. If this situation continues, Bundelkhand would no more have any cattle in the village and it would be difficult for people to find cattle even for their farming.

How these cattle are moved to Slaughter Houses?

The Slaughter men originally belong to Rajasthan and buy cattle at cheap rates, at a time they buy cattle in thousands. When inquired why they are buying so much of cattle the reply comes that they are taking for farming and milking the cows and buffaloes but the actual fact is that these men are hired by big slaughter houses, once they buy from Bundelkhand they take these cattle to a secluded place from where they are taken by another men in a supply chain, these animals are taken in hoards and transferred to Bangladesh and nearby areas. In India there are around 3,600 cow slaughter houses and every day 50,000 cows are slaughtered and each year 1,00,000 tonne beef is being exported to overseas.

The Plight of Cattle

Example :

The Slaughter men were carrying around 5,000 cattle from Belataal in Bundelkhand, Shri Harishankar Awasthi came to the rescue of these poor cattle, as soon as he came to know about the matter, he have had a talk with sup-inspector of the region and later with the superintendent of the state and they rescued them from the hands of slaughter men and he took the responsibility to send these cattle to Gaushala (Cattle Camp) and around 1,000 cattle were sent to Mahoba cattle camp immediately.

The steps taken to rescue these cattle from Slaughter;

The cattle which are found abandoned in the nearby areas of Bundelkhand and Mahoba are immediately sent to Mahoba Gaushala.

The villagers are explained not to abandon their cattle in isolated areas and save them from the hands of slaughter men and if they are forced to abandon them for serious reasons then they are told to send them to Mahoba Gaushala. Proper care is taken of these cattle at Gaushala till the time they are totally healthy, later after few weeks they are shifted to nearby gaushalas in other areas where there is proper availability of water and grass for grazing.

Facts and Figures :

Given below are the actual calculations for feeding Animals in Bundelkhand area of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, details are:

• Vardhaman Sanskar Dham operates around 10 kendra for feeding cattle.
• The cattlefeed has to be brought from an average distance of around 250 km.
• The cost of cattle feed along with the transportation cost arrives at Rs. 300 per quintal.
• Average Consumption of cattle feed per Animal is around 6kgs per day
• Total number of cattle in one kendra is around 1000.