Baghel govt. digs its toes in politics of cow urine
In what appears to be the adoption of cow politics by a Congress government, the Bhupesh Baghel-led administration in Chhattisgarh has approved the procurement of cow urine and extended its Godhan Nyay Yojana.
“We will launch the pilot of the scheme under the Godhan Nyay Yojana, a part of Narva Garva Ghurva Bari initiative, under which we have already been buying cow dung and converting it into compost,” Pradeep Sharma, Planning and Policy Adviser to Mr. Baghel, said on Friday.
“Now we will also buy cattle urine at ₹4 a litre. The scheme has been approved by the Cabinet and will be launched in two places in each district on July 28, the auspicious day of Hareli [a farmer’s festival],” he said.
Rural boost
The government claims that the Narva Garva Ghurva Bari scheme is an attempt to strengthen the rural economy and make it more self-sustainable. The name has been derived from four Chhattisgarhi words: narva means rivulet, garva is a term to denote animals, mainly cattle, ghurva refers to manure, and bari is a term for village gardens where people grow vegetables.
Under the Godhan Nyay Yojana, gauthans or cow sheds are built in each village to house domestic and stray cattle. The idea, the government says, is to relieve farmers from the problem of cattle grazing in the fields and at the same time, make value-added products such as vermi compost, super compost and super compost from dung. The cow urine, Mr. Sharma said, would be used to make pesticides.
Politically, cow-related schemes are seen as the Congress government’s attempt to blunt the Bharatiya Janata Party’s advantage when it comes to cow protection. Mr. Sharma claimed that some other States had adopted similar schemes following its success in the State.
BJP alleges corruption
Meanwhile, the Narva Garva Ghurva Bari scheme has come under attack from Union Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Minister Giriraj Singh, who is on a visit to the State. Addressing a gathering in the industrial district of Korba on Friday, the senior BJP leader alleged that rampant looting and corruption was going on in the scheme.
“Ninety per cent of the money that goes into the implementation of the scheme has been pumped in through my department. Mr. Baghel should be asked where are the 23,000 gauthans if stray cattle continue to roam around. Mr. Baghel said that he would give you gauthans, but are there any in this village? All he has are such tempting slogans for the common people while he himself takes a cut from coal mines to fill his own pocket and those of his political bosses in Delhi,” Mr. Singh alleged.
Earlier, during a review meeting on the status of implementation of Central government programmes with district panchayat representatives in Korba, former State Home Minister and Rampur MLA Nankiram Kanwar reportedly raised the issue of panchayats spending the amount provided by the 15th Finance Commission on the gauthans in Mr. Singh’s presence.
When a district panchayat member denied the allegation, the Minister is said to have rebuffed her and accused the panchayats of arbitrariness in diverting funds for the Godhan Nyay Yojana at the cost of other development works.
Responding to the allegations, State unit Congress spokesperson Dhananjay Singh said the Narva Garva Ghurva Bari scheme was a key element of the new Chhattisgarh model that had drawn praise from all quarters and Mr. Singh should have done some research before making a comment. “These allegations are baseless and fabricated. Mr. Singh, or all other Union Ministers know they have nothing to show for in the past eight years and their Gujarat model has failed completely,” Mr. Dhananjay Singh said.