Selamantham
The project started a year and a half ago to rescue male calves from going
for slaughter. The third largest cattle market in Tamilnadu is the Poigai shandi (12 kms from Vellore), where every Tuesday between 5 am and 3 pm, approximately 15,000 cattle are brought for sale. The promotion of the high milk-yielding jersey cows by the government, has resulted in a large number of jersey male calves, which due to their short necks are neither suitable for agriculture nor as draught animals. They become a liability to the owner and are sent to the shandy for sale very young (approx. 75% of the male calves that come for slaughter are jersey). Srinivasan identified that these cattle, in spite of being non-native and not suited to agriculture, are an asset because they can eat vegetable waste and produce dung, which can be vermicomposted and used on the Vellore Hills and to promote organic farming.

Over 2 years, Srinivasan and Satish (animal rights activist), have rescued 190 male calves. They have constructed three cattle sheds in Salamanatham, Kammavanpettai and Thuthippattu villages in Vellore. There is one shed in Vellore Institute of Technology, and another one in Gandhinagar Town Panchayat. The idea is that one cattle shed would be constructed along with every recycling center, so that all good quality vegetable market, hotel and marriage hall waste would be fed to the cattle, and the dung taken for composting using earthworms along with the other organic waste.

The Thoothukkudi district collector has ordered for a compost shed (which will house cattle) to be constructed in each of the 40 villages in the district. He has further instructed the temple authorities in Thiruchendur to donate all the cattle (1000-1500 per year) they get as offerings from devotees, to these cattle sheds. These cattle were otherwise being auctioned, and most of them sold for slaughter.

Organizations that has been showing interest and participating in various capacities in this project: Sree TN Jain Mahamandal, Sree Chandraprabhu Nayamonhi Trust, Theosophical Society, Animal Welfare Board of India, Jaygopal Garodiya, Mehta Jewellers, International Vegetarian Congress.

There has been a lot of local support too. Village panchayats donate land for the project. A local ragi mill owner has been donating ragi and husk for cattle feed. Villagers, who find it difficult to manage their cattle and don't want to sell them for slaughter donate them to the project. There are instances of people bringing their calves and leaving them at the sheds, just like in orphanages!

15 village women have been employed in all the cattle projects. There is scope for employment of hundreds of women in projects to come up.

A story from Vandana Shiva's ‘Stolen Harvest’ illustrates the significance of this project. "Al-Kabeer, one of the biggest abattoirs in Andhra Pradesh, slaughters 1,82,400 buffaloes every year, animals whose dung could have provided for the fuel needs of 90,000 average Indian families of five. Kerosene imports quadrupled in 1993 from 1988. If livestock were not slaughtered in AP, farmyard manure would cultivate 384 hectares producing 530,000 tons of food grain. The state of AP must now spend Rs.9.1 billion to import nitrogen, phosphorous and potash previously provided by livestock over the duration of their lives. The projected earnings of Rs.200 million by Al-Kabeer is actually leading to a drain of billions of rupees in foreign exchange. Finally, in a law-suit against Al-Kabeer, the court ordered a 50% reduction of its capacity, in order to save the cattle wealth and the rural economy of AP."

Photos:

Village woman employed in the cattle project		Cattle in Poigai shandi going for slaughter
Satish and Tholkappiam with rescued calves		Rescued cattle grazing in a fenced area
Food preparation in Bio-Gas stove (Eco-friendly fuel)		Bio-Gas Plant to divert cattle dung and produce methane
Rescued cattle feeding a vegetable waste		People's participation in Selamanatham (Pongal Festival)