Now, UID numbers for cows to curb cattle trafficking: Centre to SC

As the debate over cow vigilantism rages, the Centre has proposed providing a unique identification number for India's bovine population. However, the cows wouldn't have to wait in long queues to get their unique identities as technicians would visit them to affix the 12-digit yellow-coloured tag in the centre of the earlobe.

This has been suggested by an expert panel to evolve a mechanism to stop trafficking of cattle across the Indo-Bangla border, the Centre on Monday told the Supreme Court.

The committee, set up in pursuance of the court order, has recommended having tamper-proof identification of cattle by using polyurethane tags and a state-level database may be uploaded to a website which may be linked with a national online database.

The recommendations were placed before a bench of Chief Justice J S Khehar and Justice D Y Chandrachud which listed the PIL filed by Akhil Bharat Krishi Gosewa Sangh for Tuesday for passing directions by considering these recommendations.

The issue before the apex court also included concern over smuggling of cattle to Nepal for being sacrificed at the Gadhimai festival, held once in five years, and a petition relating to it filed before the festival in 2014.

"Each cow and its progeny across India should get a unique identification number for tracking," the government said in its report to the top court.

The government has also recommended special care for cattle beyond the age of milking while stressing on the launching of a scheme for distressed farmers. According to the report, the animal husbandry department had assigned technicians to affix a tag with a 12-digit unique identification number inside the ear.

According to a senior official in the agriculture ministry, the proposal was initiated to keep a tab on milch animals to timely vaccinate the cattle so that their breeding and milk production could be increased. "It is a fact that farmers or people domesticating animals are not very aware of common bovine diseases and their vaccination. Farmers think about veterinary doctors only when their cows get afflicted with any serious disease, which sometimes results in the death of the animal," the official said.

According to the official, about one lakh technicians have been armed with 50,000 tablets. They have been tasked to affix a polyurethane tag on the ear of the cattle with a tag applicator.