Stray cattle menace topmost priority of Yogi 2.0

Lucknow

The Uttar Pradesh (UP) polls have shown that the opposition plank about a presumptive undercurrent of farmers’ anger against the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over the central farm laws was largely amplified.

Yet, the Yogi Adityanath government was aware of the state farmers’ real concern — the issue of stray cattle that not only damaged standing crops but also posed hazards on the highways and tertiary roads in the state.

Taking a course correction, party mascot and Prime Minister Narendra Modi had proactively assuaged the concerns of the farm community in his series of whirlwind rallies and public meetings.

In his outreach, Modi promised that the BJP would find a permanent solution to the stray cattle menace after returning to power in UP.

Now with Yogi government 2.0 in the offing, the saffron party leaders have already started to burn the midnight oil to resolve the sticky issue.

Since the 2024 Lok Sabha elections are merely two years away, the BJP does not want to keep the issue open-ended and allow a potent issue to the opposition to corner the government. Besides, the issue, if not addressed, will erode public confidence in the party’s pre-poll planks.

In the recent UP Assembly elections, the opposition, especially the Samajwadi Party (SP), had highlighted the plight of farmers due to stray cattle. In his rallies, SP president Akhilesh Yadav vociferously said that the farmers were compelled to guard their agricultural fields to keep the stray cattle at bay lest they devoured their produce.

According to sources, the state government is studying the stray cattle template in other Hindi heartland states of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh which have successfully tackled the issue to the satisfaction of farmers.

The UP government targets to develop a sustainable model by integrating stray cattle with economic viability. This would include the marketing and commercialization of various by-products such as cow dung, urine, organic manure etc.

Now, the government is working to create a robust value chain with the help of individuals, societies, cooperatives and self-help groups (SHGs). This would not only create job opportunities in the rural areas but convert stray cattle into an economic asset.