Gau Rakshaks to the rescue? Deceased bovines lay unclaimed in Gujarat

Gujarat now faces a new problem - rotting bovine carcases. Dalits in the state have refused to clear the remains of dead cattle after a few Dalits were brutally assaulted for skinning a dead cow by a mob.

Angry over the flogging of members of their community for allegedly skinning a dead cow, Dalits have completely stopped clearing the remains of deceased bovines. In several villages of Gujarat, bovine carrion lay unattended, rotting in the open air, The Times of India reported on Wednesday.

The rotting carcases are now posing a health hazard.

Meanwhile, and the "Gau rakshaks" of the state are nowhere to be seen. According to animal husbandry department figures, there are nearly one crore cows and buffaloes in Gujarat. Experts said that the mortality rate is 10%, which means that roughly 2,500 die every day. In all this, the cow protectors, who have been mercilessly beating up people and in some cases in lynching them, quite literally are looking at the heavens for an answer.

“We can only pray that no more cows die,“ said Haresh Joshi, a member of the Hindu Gau Raksha Dal in Ahmedabad district told TOI.

According to the 19th Livestock Census released in 2014,  the number of milch animals (in-milk and dry), cows and buffaloes, has increased from 111.09 million to 118.59 million, an increase of 6.75%.