Indian military to write-off cows worth lakhs for a few thousand rupees

• Indian military has decided to write-off the military farm’s special high-yielding milch cows that cost one lakh rupees, each.
  
• These cows produce almost double of the national average yield of milk.
  
• To cut down on expenses, 39 military farms are being shut down.
  

In an attempt to cut down on expenses, the Indian military has decided to write off special high-yielding milch cows from their farms for a few thousand rupees. About 39 military farms are being shut down in this exercise and the cows are expected to be transferred to the Centre, state departments and dairy cooperatives.

These special Frieswal cows are developed by cross-breeding Dutch Holstein-Friesian cattle with native Sahiwal cattle and they produce the double of what the national average yield of milk is. Each of these specially-bed cows cost about ₹100,000, however, they will be transferred at a ‘uniform nominal price’ of about ₹1,000 each and that too only if the receiving entities are ready to incur the cost of transportation of these animals.

Orders for shutting down of the military farms were issued in late August 2017 with an implementation deadline of three months. However, since the military was unable to find any buyers for these 25,200 cows, the farms could not be closed. The write-off order issued this June is an attempt to do away with the cows after the impasse.

The idea of selling the cattle to individual farmers came with the fear that the farmers might end up slaughtering them if they are unable to afford their expensive maintenance. To avoid the grim and wasteful situation, the military chose to transfer the cattle to government departments.

The military farms were raised in 1889 to provide fresh milk and dairy products to the troops. However, they have been able to yield only 210 million litres of milk, accounting for just 14% of the total requirement. The rest 86% of the requirement is met by the local dairies. Therefore, a defence ministry panel had recommended shutting down of military farms across the nation and the military is now planning to follow their advice. About seven farms have already been closed and those in Meerut, Ambala, Srinagar, Jhansi and Lucknow are also expected to shut down soon.

This decision will save a lot of money, cadre and land and would free up to 57,000 troops from non-combat duties, 20,000 acres of land and about ₹3.34 billion that was allotted to the dairies in the last budget. The resources are expected to be used for other productive military purposes.