The Madhya Pradesh (MP) government plans to introduce a website and mobile app for people to adopt stray cows. It will also develop 100 high-tech Gaushalas (cow shelters) across the state.
Adoption website and mobile app
The state will create a website and app for people who want to adopt stray cows.
Through the portals, people can also donate money for cattle welfare. People who are interested in helping, but don’t have time, can offer green grass as fodder, plastic sheds for protection against extreme weather, medicines, desert coolers, etc.
Individuals can adopt a cow for IN 300,000 (about US $4,187). People interested in taking care of the cows can subscribe to different fortnightly to yearly plans. For example, if a person wants to offer green grass for 15 days it will cost IN 1,500 (about US $21) and IN 21,000 (about US $293) for a year, a government official said.
The app and website will be ready by the end of this month.
Gaushalas
According to government officials, these cow shelters will be set up over the next 18 months using the corporate social responsibility fund.
Investment in new industries can generate employment, the MP Chief Minister explained. The state is committed to creating jobs through strategic investment. There is no dearth of skilled, talented, and hardworking youth in the state, they need only employment opportunities.
He also added that the government will design separate investment policies for each sector as their requirements are different. MP has to move fast in areas like dry port, satellite cities, high-end skill development centres, artificial intelligence, and tourism.
The state might also start manufacturing e-rickshaws.
Over the last few years, both private and public players of the dairy industry in India have adopted more tech-based services and solutions. The central government plans to invest heavily in the digitalisation of agricultural processes to double farm incomes by 2022.
A few years ago, the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) developed bypass protein technology, which is a treatment to protect dietary protein from degradation in the first compartment of a cow’s stomach (rumen). Specially treated protein supplements are fed to cattle to increase milk yield and quality. Protecting protein meals from degradation, but allowing them to be digested in the lower part of the gastrointestinal tract, ensures a better balance of nutrients, absorbed and utilised. This results in a substantial improvement in productivity.
Last year, Kerala decided to implement blockchain technology to modernise the distribution of milk, fish, and vegetable in the state. The project ensures the prompt delivery of high-quality milk by monitoring production, procurement, and distribution through an electronic ledger. Each component of the supply network will have a separate ID number, using which the source and quality of the product can be checked at every point of the chain.
More recently, to save cattle from mistreatment, the Karnataka government implanted GPS-enabled digital chips in 5,600,000 animals across the state. Using these wearable animal devices, farmers can monitor their cattle’s nutrition, behaviour, pregnancy, milk production anomaly, and activity level in real-time.