India’s first cow sanctuary opened in Madhya Pradesh, Agar Malwa District

The cow sanctuary will also double as a centre of research on Indian cattle breeds. (HT Photo)

India’s first cow sanctuary opened in Madhya Pradesh, Agar Malwa District

The country’s first cow sanctuary, set up by the government, was inaugurated on Wednesday in Madhya Pradesh’s Agar Malwa district.

It was inaugurated by Madhya Pradesh Gau Samvardhan Board chairperson Swami Akhileshwaranand Giri and RSS Kshetra Sanghchalak Ashok Soni by worshipping 11 cows. The sanctuary, also called Kamdhenu Gau Abhyaranya has been developed by the MP Gau Samvardhan Board in Salaria village, nearly 50 kms from the district headquarters.

Spread over 472 hectares, the sanctuary has the capacity to house 6,000 cows. It was built at a cost of Rs 32 crore. The Samvarddhan Board runs over 600 registered gaushalas in the state in which over 1.4 lakh bovines are reared.

Speaking on the occasion, Swami Akhileshwaranand Giri said that a small gaushala, like Gangotri, in a remote village of the district has now taken the shape of mighty Ganga and emerged as Asia’s first cow sanctuary. “We had to face many challenges in establishing it, but we overcame them and now it is ready to serve”, he said. Swami Akhileshwaranand went on to say the cow could play an important role in uplifting the economy of the country and leave behind other major economies like US.

Vedic mantras to help birth of ‘desired gender’ calves in cow sanctuary
By Neeraj Santoshi
Hindustan Times, Bhopal

HINDUSTAN TIMES, New Delhi, September 29, 2017

BHOPAL: Sex determination among bovines can be quite the religious affair. Inmates of the Kamdhenu Gau Abhyaranya – the country’s first cow sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh – will be subjected specific vedic chants for months after they conceive, enabling them to bear healthy offsprings of the desired gender.

This revelation was made by state Gau Samvardhan Board chairperson Swami Akhileshwaranand Giri, while he was elaborating on the experiments pertaining to gender-specific vedic mantras likely to be conducted at the new cow sanctuary in Agar Malwa district. Addressing a press meet after inducting hundreds of bovines into the sanctuary on Wednesday, he said: “Experimentations on cows with vedic mantras is already being done in Karnataka. The recitation of these chants generates energy in cows, just like it does in us. We will begin playing them immediately after the cow conceives, and continue for another nine months.”

Swami Akhileshwaranand said there are two types of vedic suktas – pursu sukta and shri sukta. “Cows that are made to listen to shri suktas for nine months give birth to bachhdis (female calves) while those exposed to pursu suktas for that long give birth to bachhdas (male calves). We will conduct experiments in this regard at this cow sanctuary,” he said.
The cow sanctuary will also double as a centre of research on Indian cattle breeds, said the board chairperson. “We are in the process of collecting research papers on bovines from various sources. We will do everything possible to improve the condition of our cows.”

According to Swami Akhileshwaranand, the cow sanctuary administration will try to emulate a modern cattle management system developed at the 35-square-mile Al Safi Dairy farm in Saudi Arabia. “There is a place called Al Kharj, located nearly 100 km from Riyadh. It houses a big gaushala with around 36,000 heads of cattle. Its attendants are trained and certified before being put to work there,” he said, adding that Al Safi officials have become adept at managing various cattle-related tasks – including procuring drinking water for the bovines and proper utilisation of dung and urine – in the middle of the desert.

“It is very hot there, and the temperature reaches 46 degrees Celsius. Al Safi authorities have set up computerised curtains that move in accordance with the direction of the sunlight, and that helps cows to cool off. Water is continuously sprinkled on these curtains. When the cows lose the ability to generate milk, they are not slaughtered. They are simply moved to a separate ward, where they live in comfort,” Swami Akhileshwaranand said.

Dr Praveen Shinde, assistant director of the board, said around 5,000 bovines – 4,000 cows and 1,000 bulls – were brought into the sanctuary a fortnight ago. “This shelter is located on 472 hectares of revenue land, not forest land, and there are no wild animals other than 50 Nilgais in the area. We have issued strict instructions that they are not to be prevented from entering the sanctuary,” he added.
He said the sanctuary has 24 cowsheds, capable of housing 250 heads of cattle each.

The establishment also boasts of equipment for distilling cow urine and manufacturing dung-based Ayurvedic medicines, cosmetic products, pesticides and bio-fertilisers in a first-of-its-kind initiative by the state government. The medicines will be primarily made through Panchagavya, a concoction prepared by mixing five bovine-related products (cow dung, urine, milk, curd and ghee). “We will focus on breeding cattle and producing cow urine-based fertilisers and insecticides in the first phase,” said Swami Akhileshwaranand.

Cattle paradise
The 472-hectare Kamdhenu Gau Abhyaranya, located at Salriya in Susner tehsil of Agar-Malwa district, can accommodate around 6,000 heads of cattle. At present, it has over 5,000.
The project, which was announced by chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan in 2008, is being implemented by the Madhya Pradesh Gau Samwardan Board. Work on the Rs 31.9-crore project began in 2013, a year after Chouhan and RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat performed the bhoomi pujan.

Though the project was initially expected to cost a mere Rs 1.52 crore, the goalposts were changed after Bhagwat suggested that the cow sanctuary be built in a way that would serve as a model for the entire country. The production unit has been developed as a religious site, and is expected to be made a part of the local pilgrim circuit.
With 1.96 crore heads of cattle, Madhya Pradesh has the highest bovine population in the country.

DIVINE BOVINES

Devotees worship a cow in the sanctuary in Salriya, MP. It is currently home to around 5,000 bovines.

• The sanctuary, located in Salriya village, Agar-Malwa district, is spread over 472 hectares with a capacity of 6,000 cows
• The project, announced by chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan in 2008, is being implemented by MP Gau Samvardhan Board
• Work on the Rupees 31.9 crore project started in 2013
• In December 2012, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat and Chouhan had performed the bhoomi pujan
• Initially, the project was estimated to cost Rupees 1.52 crore project. However when Mohan Bhagwat performed its bhoomi in 2012, the RSS chief expressed his desire that the project should be developed on a big scale and serve as a model for the whole country.
• Madhya Pradesh has the highest cattle population in the country, with over 1.96 crore cows
• Against this backdrop, Chouhan later announced that the unique cow sanctuary would also have a research centre and a production unit besides being developed as a pilgrimage site and made part of a local pilgrim circuit.