Professional Documents
Culture Documents
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Sanskrit word Gau () and Greek word Gaia are derived from same roots that represents both Gau
and Geo i.e. Earth. Gau is also considered as a fifth state of existence, others being matter (=), living
In 2011, the mighty Gir Gaia from Gujarat set the world record for highest milk yield of over 60
liter. But this was in Brazil, not Bharat. Bharat is home to the worlds smallest Gaia, Keralas
Vechur, thats on the FAOs World Watch List of Domestic Animal Diversity, in its CriticalMaintained Breeds List. At the time of independence, Bharat had 111 varieties of indigenous
gaias. Today, there are just 37 left. The reason for this looming biodiversity tragedy is the
governments indiscriminate import of exotic crossbreeds from other countries. The foreign
cows have put the native Bharatiya varieties on the brink of extinction. (a)
Bharat is at the precipice of a disaster that no one seems to be trying to avert. In the run up to
Bharats 64th Republic Day, heres a really sobering thought: the indigenous Bharatiya gaia
one of the countrys biggest assets will soon cease to exist. This is going to have catastrophic
and unimagined impact on lakhs of people.
Predictably, an almost criminal lack of government planning and foresight is responsible for
this. Bharat does possess the worlds biggest cattle herd, but typically, the individual yield of
these malnourished gaias is very low. Merely helping small farmers increase their gaias food
and water intake could have had miraculous results. (Bharatiya gaias, for instance, are doing
really well in Brazil. In 2011, a pure Gir named Quimbanda Cal broke its own 2010 record of
delivering 10,230 litres of milk a year, with a daily yield of 56.17 litres.) But instead of focusing
on and improving the reasons why the yield of these gaias was low in Bharat, the
government in the 1960s started crossbreeding Bharatiya gaias with imported bulls and
semen. (b)
Reference:
a.
http://www.thebetterBharat.com/9666/chandran-master-indigenous-gaias-Bharat/#sthash.6D4LdFLl.dpuf
b.
http://www.tehelka.com/the-desi-gaia-almost-extinct/?singlepage=1
1. While previous generations were warring over whether the Gaia is holy or not,
the fact of the matter is that today, nearly seven decades after Bharats
independence, the native breeds of the Gaia in Bharat are an endangered
species. The empirical evidence of the utility and effectiveness of
dung
and urine of native breeds (bos indicus) for farming and the nutritional
value of milk suggests that irrespective of whether the Gaia is considered
holy or not, its dung, urine and milk are immensely valuable for our food
and nutrition security.
3. The biggest misconception about the native breeds of Gaia is that we need
them only for milk and thus, the male of species and old female Gaia are
useless because they dont yield milk. The fact is that Gaia yield valuable dung
and urine throughout their live and their hide and bones after their natural
death. Killing them is like killing the proverbial golden goose that lays eggs. The
male of the species provide environment friendly animal power for farming,
transport and other uses.
4. There is an equally befuddling misconception about the milk from the stall-fed
high yielding foreign breeds without checking into their actual contents.
Notably, apart from the absence of healthy nutrients such as betacaretenoids,
CLAs, Omega 3 fatty acid, Vitamin D etc, the milk of foreign breeds has BCM7
protein, classified as A1 milk, which is carcinogenic. The following diagram
explains why doctors advise against drinking A1 milk and prescribe drinking A2
milk only as fit for human consumption.
key to activate native earthworms that carry nutrition from upto 15 feet and build the
top soil that gives us most to all of our food. Today, due to our ignorance or
devious design of destructive forces, the native breeds are an endangered species. At
the time of independence there were more than 400 million Gaia i.e. there
was one Gaia to every person. Today, several native breeds are on the verge of
extinction. It's our foremost duty to protect and nurture the Gaia if we are to once
again become a healthy and prosperous country.
6. In a significant development towards protection and breed improvement of native
breeds of Gaia, it was announced at the Unnat Bharat Abhiyan National Workshop
on September 7-9 , 2014 organised by the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi that a
Gaushala and a research laboratory on native breeds of Gaia shall be started at IIT
Delhi. This was in consort with several Central Government Ministries HRD,
Science & Technology, Rural, Agriculture and Renewable Energy.
7. We believe that at a time when the nation is suffering from the devastating impact
of poisonous food grown from chemical fertilizers and pesticides, debilitating soil
health in large tracts of agriculture land, leading institutes like IIT have a
responsibility to test and validate the traditional farming practices using dung and
urine from native breeds of gaia. At the Unnat Bharat Abhiyan workshop, various
references were also made to the research done by farmer-scientist Shri Subhash
Palekar and as has been practiced successfully by over 40 lakh farmers around the
country for over a decade.
8. Using this method called Zero Budget Natural Farming (ZBNF), manure and pest
control formulations using dung and urine from one Gaia are sufficient to cultivate
2/3rd and increases the rate of ground water recharging. With the enhanced
microbial activity, the soil retains its moisture for a longer time, fixes moisture
from the air to the roots and thus less water needs to be given from outside.
milk yield and utility of male Gaias and breed improvement. The social and
economic impact of this virtuous cycle needs to be tested and validated.
11. With better milk yield, we can reduce the dependency on the spurious milk and milk
products supplied by various dairies in the country. Hence, the exact nutritional
content of milk from native Gaia and from the dairies needs to be tested and
validated as scientific evidence.
12. There are similar problems with pasteurisation as this diagram indicates that
needs to be further investigated. Alternative of creating community gaushala and
household Gau Palan should be explored in both rural and urban areas so that
fresh Gaia milk is available to common people. Besides, food should be grown
locally using the bio-fertilisers produced from formulations based on their dung
and urine.
In light of the above, it is proposed that the Government of India should constitute a
Gaia Ministry which can focus its energies on a mission to protect various native
breeds from extinction and improve the feed and breed.