Decrease in population of indigenous cows: Supreme Court seeks response of Centre, states on PIL

The Supreme Court on Friday issued notice to the Central and state governments in a plea seeking directions to carry out artificial insemination of indigenous cows as opposed to foreign breeds [A Divya Reddy v. Union of India]..A Bench headed by Chief Justice of India NV Ramana issued notice on the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by A Divya Reddy through her counsel Krishna Dev Jagarlamudi..The petition highlighted the importance of indigenous breeds and how their population is decreasing in light of the endeavour to increase milk production in India."Over the past few decades, India’s single-minded pursuit of increasing milk production has resulted in a steady decline in the population of its Indigenous Breeds with a simultaneous manifold increase in the number of Exotic / Cross Breeds, as evidenced by a bare perusal of the various Livestock Censuses issued by the Central government from time to time," the plea stated..It was also pointed out that from the 20th Livestock Census in 2019, the total population of cattle in India is 19,34,62,871, out of which exotic/cross-bred cattle was 5,13,56,405 and indigenous cattle was 14,21,06,466."When compared with the previous Survey conducted in 2012, it is seen that Exotic/ Foreign Cattle has increased by 29.3% while there has been a decrease of 6% of the Indigenous Cattle. Pertinently, over the past 6 Censuses conducted, Exotic/ Foreign Cattle have been steeply increasing whereas the Indigenous Cattle have been steadily decreasing," the petition noted..Reference was also made to how the cow has become a symbol of Indian national identity for "rallying against external invading powers"."The Indian political, religious and cultural landscape is still dominated by Cow worship in many forms. Nowhere else in the world has an animal maintained such consistence and deep-rooted divine significance into modern day. For many Hindus, who make up nearly 80 percent of India's population, the Cow continues to be a sacred animal...".Emphasizing on the importance of indigenous cows, the petition said,"They cannot be allowed to be marginalized at the cost of Exotic/ Foreign Cattle only for the sake of increasing milk production. Indigenous Cattle have various other benefits and attributes that contribute to the Indian society and economy that cannot be found in Exotic/ Foreign Cattle......Therefore, if this trend is further encouraged or even allowed to continue with no action from the Governments, we will be forced to face a day where India cannot proudly claim any breed of cattle as its own. Swift and decisive action in the short term, coupled with a sustainable long-term plan is required from the Central and State Governments in order to sufficiently protect and promote the diminishing population of Indigenous Breeds in India...milk from Indigenous Breeds has several health advantages over milk of Exotic/Cross Breeds.".On these grounds and others, the petitioner sought directions to the Central and state governments for artificial insemination of non-descript cows (indigenous cows which are lacking in distinct traits and do not belong to any definite breed) using semen from pure/descript indigenous breeds as opposed to exotic foreign breeds such as Holstein, Friesian and Jersey cows.Directions were also sought for educating farmers and livestock owners of the benefits of indigenous cattle and the long-term harmful effects and unsustainability of rearing exotic/cross-bred cattle.