Shri Bhaniram Mangla is the one of the oldest BJP workers in Haryana. Having served as District President of Gurugram BJP for many years earlier, he is known to be devoted to promoting Bhartiya breeds of cow and working towards the better upkeep of cows in the state. With the arrival of BJP’s Manohar Lal Khattar’s government in Haryana in Oct, 2014, Shri Bhaniram Mangla was appointed as the Chairman of Haryana Gau Sewa Aayog last year.

Well rooted in Bhartiya culture, with his ancestral home in the village of Punhana in Nuh district (earlier Mewat), he is adding a lot of value to the cause of improving productivity of indigenous breeds of cows and protecting them because of his rich experience of many decades of ground work. Hindupost spoke with Shri Bhaniram Mangla on Saturday, 24 Sept:

Interview Transcript

Q – Namaskar Sir. Thank you for giving us time. My first question is regarding the Mewat beef biryani issue which has been discussed a lot. Media has been picking up on this issue again and again but there is no real clarification coming out from the government. Kindly tell us something about this.

Sh. Mangla – This beef biryani issue is not a special issue. We had received complaints that the biryani selling in the market contains beef (cow meat). Our government-appointed veterinary doctors and police took food samples and sent those to the lab. This is a procedure by law. This has nothing to do with politics, it is not a political issue. If there is a complaint of adulteration/ illegal substances in food, how does politics come in to the picture? Relevant departments take samples and send to the lab; if the samples fail in the lab, law takes its own course. In Haryana, keeping, transporting and eating cow meat / beef is totally prohibited. So when the complaints came, the relevant people took the samples and sent them to the lab in Hisar. As per the results of the reports, law will take its own course.

Q – The case of Mewat gangrape has been discussed widely in media. It has been heard that the FIR filed in this case does not mention anything related to beef. And for the first week or so, both the women victims did not speak anything about cow meat. Please throw some light on this case.

Sh. Mangla – There is no relationship between Mewat gang rape case and beef. Gang rape happened earlier and food sampling for beef happened later. Samples have been taken on 5th or 6th whereas the gang rape happened earlier. This is a conspiracy by some people who want to harm the communal harmony between Hindus and Muslims of Mewat. The government is worried about this incident. All the demands of the victims have been fulfilled – they have been given 45 lakhs compensation and 3 jobs shall also be offered to them. They asked for CBI enquiry, and our government i.e. ML Khattar ji agreed for it and ordered a CBI enquiry. So, there is no conflict left in this issue. Beef has no relation with this case, this is a conspiracy by some people to disturb the communal harmony of Mewat.

Q – Its been in news that the Haryana Gau Sewa Aayog has decided to take approval from the state government for establishing a cow university in the state. Is there a possibility that this approval will come and what will be the main goals of this university?

Sh. Mangla – See, I recently went to Gujarat on an official tour. And all the activities that have been undertaken by Gujarat Gau Sewa Aayog, I have seen them in detail so that some of the best activities can also be implemented in Haryana. There is a Kamdhenu University in Gujarat, I went there and observed their work, met their VC. They research all aspects of cow like the qualities and properties in cow’s milk, urine and dung etc; they also study fish there. Then they teach all this science and give diploma to students who finish their course.

They teach things like how to best rear cows, how to increase their milk production etc; all aspects of cows are researched and taught. These things – scientific aspects, agricultural knowledge and animal rearing, panchgavya are covered in that University. A similar university has great potential in Haryana. Our children too will study all these aspects and can do good work or get jobs elsewhere after this knowledge. We have made a proposal and I shall meet respected CM Khattar ji and request him to approve a similar ‘Kamdhenu Vishwavidyalay‘ (Cow University) in Haryana. This will help our children to gain knowledge and it will also help spread ‘gau vigyan’ (Cow science). This is the plan as of now.

Q – Sir, when we talk to the ground workers involved in gau sewa, the general feedback is that the cattle grazing land has reduced as compared to earlier. There is some effect of development (construction) on the amount of land available but there is also this issue of illegal encroachments. Is the government thinking about this issue? Is the Gau Sewa Aayog helping the government in this regard?

Sh. Mangla – Gau Sewa Aayog has sent this proposal to the government that all the cattle grazing land in Haryana should first be freed and then should be given to nearby goshalas ( cow shelters) on lease so that they can grow crops on them and hence don’t have to depend on donations alone to run goshalas. So this is what we have proposed to government and I am hopeful about it. There is about 72,000 acres of cattle grazing land in Haryana. Government has ordered the DCs to provide area-wise report on cattle grazing land and illegal encroachments. I am hoping I will get this report by the 26th of this month. Then we shall forward it to the state government and we have decided that these land pieces will be given to existing goshalas or new goshalas will be opened, so that unassisted cows on the roads can also be given shelter.

Q – News related to artificial insemination keeps doing the rounds, like different state governments consider cross breeding/ cross bred cows for better production of milk, but till how far can this be legitimately done? I mean, also the balance between artificial and natural insemination, what are your views about this sir?

Sh. Mangla – See, Aayog is thinking that this cross/ mixed breed cow which is called HF (Holstein Friesians) should be discontinued in Haryana because science has suggested that their milk is not nutritious. We want that semen of Bhartiya breeds should be promoted in animal rearing centers / department. We have about 36  breeds of indigenous cows. But we have decided on 5 breeds to be mainly promoted in Haryana – Sahiwal, Haryana, Rathi, Tharparkar and Gir breeds. We are also making ‘nandi shalas’ to rear new born / very young calves and provide them better feeds. This is already happening in Haryana in many goshalas.

As far as milk production is concerned, today, the Haryana breed of cows is also giving 36 to 40 litres of milk. Indigenous breeds of cows are not given as much and as nutritious food as foreign breed cows. Like I spoke about the cow university, so best ways of feeding and quantities will be also be taught in the university. Just like doctors write prescriptions, I saw in Gujarat cow university that they have maintained feeding charts specifying type of food and its quantities. So, following proper feeding instructions will lead to increased production of milk from indigenous breeds.

Milk from indigenous breeds will be more helpful for enhanced cognition. As per our ancestors, the milk of indigenous cow is considered ‘amrit’ (nectar), mainly because of the qualities in this milk. In the indigenous breeds of cow, there is a ‘naadi’ (nerve channel) in the spine (hump area) of the cow called ‘Suryaketu’, which when comes in the contact of sunlight, produces ‘Carotene’ which has traces of gold (can be called swarna bhasma). It then mixes itself into cow’s milk and hence it is considered more beneficial for humans. If you have noticed, when a calf is born, mother cow licks it and just in half an hour, the calf becomes active. But in case of buffaloes, their calves take 2 days and still need help in lactation. So, cow is an intelligent animal and drinking its milk also improves memory. A cow is almost a walking dispensary of medicines, if i start talking about it, it will take very long.

Q- Sir, we shall ask you that too after this…

Sh. Mangla – A cow is said to have 33 types of Devi / Devta (Gods & Goddesses) residing in it, but it has scientific basis. You should publish why an indigenous cow is called ‘mata’ (mother), it has valid scientific reasons. Educated urban people will also get to know the reasons of revering cow.

Q – Sure sir, please tell us why we call cow as mother. Like English media and many people question that how can this be true that Gods / divine energies reside in a cow? How can an animal be so different from rest of the animals? Kindly explain this to us.

Sh. Mangla – Our sages / ancestors were not educated in today’s terms. These days, everything is patented, anything good gets patented. Earlier they used to link everything to Dharma. And whoever gives anything useful for human beings is called a ‘devata’ i.e. God. For example – ‘peepal’ (Ficus Religiosa) and baniyan trees are called Gods because they give out oxygen 24 hours in a day. So, our ancestors told us to consider them as Gods and not cut them as they are very useful to humans. Same for tulsi (basil), it is called a Goddess because it is used in several medicines. If you grow tulsi in your house, harmful insects and snakes don’t come easily. Similarly, cow is considered as mother because the qualities found in a cow’s milk, urine and dung are not found in other animals. People say that all animals are the same but it is not so, just like five fingers in our hand are not the same.

A cow never urinates and defecates while sitting while a buffalo does that. Cow always stands up and then only urinates. Farmers know this well. Flies and mosquitoes never sit on a cow’s urine and dung. This has already been proven. If cow urine is consumed by humans, it works like a medicine. If it is used on germs, it works like an antibiotic. It has doubly useful properties. Cow dung has similar properties. When we were small kids, we used to hear that if we drink a calf’s urine, we shall be immune to various ailments. So, indigenous cows have many qualities, and their milk is very beneficial for humans. People don’t know the old age truths.

Many people keep dogs as pets; a dog’s breath has various germs and people in big cities who live in small rooms with dogs as pets, the air in their house becomes more contaminated. If you keep a cow as pet, a cow’s breath carries oxygen. And it is proven scientifically. Our ancestors knew this. A cow is a walking dispensary in itself. If someone has the problem of asthma, and he ties a cow to his bed and we don’t give any other medicine for 15 days, most likely the asthma will get cured. The cancer medicine that is being made from ‘gomutra’ (cow urine), our panchgavya pharmacy is making this medicine, is a very good medicine.

All in all, a cow is extremely useful for human beings, hence it was declared as ‘gau mata’. Our ancestors were not stupid. If somebody has high blood pressure, and if he spends some time every day stroking lovingly an indigenous cow, the blood pressure gets controlled. You might not be knowing that, earlier houses had ‘kachcha choolhas’ (earthen hearths / old fashioned stoves) and houses were ‘kachcha’ too, and the houses and the earthen hearths used to be smeared with cow dung. Why were they smeared with cow dung? To make the surfaces germ free. When the sun rays used to fall on these smeared surfaces, the area would become pure. Earlier, people did not have so many ailments all the time. They used to live for around 100 years.

So for the people who don’t know these benefits & values of our indigenous cow due to which it is called ‘mata’ (mother), for them we are getting a documentary film made and also getting a booklet printed. We are also trying to add few paragraphs on this in education courses. We shall try to explain to people these facts and I hope we’ll succeed in explaining to them that cow is very different and isn’t comparable to other animals. Our ancestors and sages linked cow to ‘Dharma’ so that cows are protected and people get benefits from them.

Q – Very well sir. Thank you for telling us these facts. My next question is sir, this word ‘gau rakshak’ has become a huge issue in itself. News reports were filled with incidents on gau raksha. Like Modi ji also said that 70 to 80% of these gau rakshaks are corrupt and their dossiers need to be maintained. But there are many gau rakshaks who rescue cows and rehabilitate them. How does one differentiate between genuine and corrupt ones? May be media is misusing the term.

Sh. Mangla – In this regard, this government that has come into power in center and Haryana state,  people had hopes that this government is sensitive to the cause of protecting cows. And to protect cows in Haryana, the first law that got passed in state assembly by the efforts of our respected CM was ‘Gau Samvardhan & Gau Sanrakshan Adhiniyam 2015‘. And it was passed unanimously by all 90 MLAs of Haryana state assembly, even the Muslim MLAs of Mewat passed it and everybody stood in favour of it.

Q – Sir, kindly elaborate a little on this law passed.

Sh. Mangla – Under this law, now in Haryana, cow slaughter, cow smuggling and transportation of cows for trafficking is totally prohibited. If somebody is caught doing the above, there is provision for 10 years imprisonment and 1 lakh rupees fine. Also, the vehicle in which cows were being smuggled for slaughter will be seized and will not be given back.  The vehicle won’t be retrievable even from court. The accused can appeal once in the office of DC; SDM has been given the powers. The vehicle will then be auctioned. Apart from this, keeping, carrying and consuming beef ( cow meat) in Haryana is now totally prohibited. If somebody is caught with cow meat in Haryana, there is provision for 3 to 5 years of imprisonment and 30,000 to 70,000 rupees fine.

So before these stricter laws were passed, there was consistent demand from our gau rakshaks for such stringent rules. Recently, in the last month, I had called a meeting of 250 gau rakshaks from Haryana. I explained to them that earlier we used to demand from governments such strict laws against cow slaughter and cow meat. Also, we used to demand formation of special task force for cow protection in Haryana. Now, all this has been done by Haryana government. We have formed a ‘Haryana Cow protection Task Force’ headed by DIG Ms. Bharati Arora. Every district has been given a team of 17 people who will be vigilant on cow smuggling and slaughter. They have been given a police vehicle; the team consists of an inspector, 2 sub-inspectors and 14 policemen.

So, when the government is doing complete work on cow protection, there is no need for gau rakshaks and common people to do cow protection. But still, police sometimes cannot do all the work by itself, so for continued support from gau rakshaks,  we have decided to ask for identity details of all members of gau raksha organizations. We will provide them ID cards after due police verification. This is because these days criminals in the guise of gau rakshaks are also looting trucks on the roads. These criminals think police will not catch them by claiming to be gau rakshaks. So it is important to stop these people, who take law into their hands. We have told the gau rakshaks that they should support and intimate police on issue of cow protection, instead of taking law into their own hands.

Q – Apart from the above, would you like to talk about other activities of Gau Sewa Aayog? What are the other plans in the near future?

Sh. Mangla – The biggest problem today in this state, in fact the entire country, is of unassisted cows, the cows who cause and suffer accidents on roads, who get into farms and spoil the crop etc. There is a need to make a plan for such cows. So recently our government in Haryana, under the leadership of ML Khattar ji, has given Rs. 15 lakhs to each DC to rehabilitate such cows, like making cow shelters of 50 cows each on the land of panchayat so that these cows can be contained at the village level only. Similarly, in cities, ‘nagar nigams’ have been instructed the same, to make moderate size cow shelters for unassisted cows. Also, we have identified large size goshalas.

In Haryana, there are 430 goshalas currently out of which 103 goshalas have more than 20 acres of land. We have sent our survey teams to these to know their maximum capacity and their requirements like storage, food etc. We have promised people that we shall provide protection to unassisted cows in  2 months time. This is our priority as this is a big problem. We already gave Rs. 15 lakhs to each DC and shall be giving Rs. 35 lakhs more to every DC for this purpose, for doing it carefully and with priority.

Q – Sir, how will you control corruption in this cause?

Sh. Mangla – Corruption will not happen here because NGOs and goshalas themselves are involved in this activity. After providing a place for unassisted cows, the next step is going to be making them financially independent. We are planning for getting panchgavya products made from cow urine and cow dung in every large goshala. We are planning on things like bio gas plants, panchgavya phenyl, organic farming etc; the idea is make this project self-sufficient. We shall be providing subsidy through the government for these purposes. Gau Sewa Aayog will provide 50% subsidy for these products. Our government’s Animal Husbandry and Dairy department is providing subsidy on cow rearing / keeping. If anyone wishes to rear 5 cows, government shall provide 50% subsidy for the same.  If anyone wishes to rear 10 cows, government shall provide 25% subsidy for the same and so on.

On 6th and 7th June, we had organized an exhibition of cows in Rohtak for Haryana state. It was for indigenous breeds of cows. We had awarded Rs. 2.51 lakhs to the best / most milk-giving cow. All the cows exhibited there were among the best ones, about 10,000 indigenous cows were exhibited from all over Haryana. I was pleasantly surprised to see that people did not sell their cattle even when offered very high prices like 10 lakhs or so. I have seen people keeping expensive horses as pets but people have such beautifully maintained cows too! Our Agriculture and Animal Husbandry ministers were also present along with us. There was no one we awarded less than 10,000 rupees as encouragement award. This was to promote the desi/Bharatiya breeds of cows and encourage people to keep them and rear them.

Q – So , are you also planning to phase out Jersey cows from the state gradually?

Sh. Mangla – It will take time, will happen very gradually. Now the semen of indigenous breeds is being sent to the hospitals / breeding centers in sufficient quantities. Earlier, this was not happening.  Now both are available, Jersey and Bhartiya breeds, and we are promoting the distribution of semen of Bharatiya breeds. I am hopeful that in a couple of years, indigenous breeds will be much more prevalent in Haryana. Haryana will become the number 1 state to have most indigenous cows.

Q – My last question is that it’s been heard that Haryana government has approved 3 slaughter houses recently. Is this true, and if this is true, why is it so sir?

Sh. Mangla – I do not have complete information on this yet. What I know is, the couple of slaughter houses approved in Mewat were actually approved by previous government. I had also received similar complaints, that this government has given some licenses for these slaughter houses, so I have written to relevant departments. I am yet to receive all the details, and can tell you after I receive complete information. But like I received one verbal response from Animal Husbandry department that this slaughter house is only for sheep and goats and the final products will be totally packed and will either be sent to military or exported. Slaughter of large animals like cows and buffaloes is not involved, this is the information I have received. Rest I can tell you once I have all the information.

Hindupost thanks Sh. Bhaniram Mangla, Chairman of Haryana Gau Sewa Aayog, for talking to us.

Reading References :

• Haryana’s stringent cow protection law comes into force
• http://www.india.com/news/india/haryana-government-for-police-verification-of-gau-raksha-dals-1400989/
• http://www.india.com/news/india/after-beef-policing-gau-seva-ayog-wants-cow-university-in-haryana-1497217/
• http://www.india.com/news/india/haryana-considering-formation-of-cow-protection-task-force-1313953/