Status and Functioning of Gaushalas in select Districts of Telangana state: An Economic Analysis
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Date
2020
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ICAR-SRS NDRI
Abstract
India is blessed with rich livestock diversity. As of 2019 the total cattle population
in India has reached to 192.49 million from 190.90 million in 2012. On the other hand, the
proportion of indigenous cattle is decreasing. It fell from 93 per cent in 1992 to 74 per cent
in 2019 whereas the crossbred cattle population has increased from 7 per cent in 1992 to
26 per cent in 2019. With the increasing cattle population, the number of stray cattle has
also increasing significantly. Major reasons for this increasing stray cattle are strict antislaughter
laws prevalent in most states and unaffordability to maintain unproductive cattle.
The alternative solution for maintaining these unproductive cattle is Gaushalas which are
non-profit organizations who mostly depend on private donations and grants from
government. These institutes need to be sustainable in a long run to shelter the increasing
number of stray cattle. With this in mind the present study was taken up with the specific
objectives i) to comprehend the status of Gaushalas in Telangana state, ii) to analyse the
costs and returns in the functioning of Gaushalas, and iii) to assess the constraints faced by
Gaushalas. The study was conducted in fourteen Gaushalas across southern Telangana
State. Both primary and secondary data were collected. The inflow of cattle into Gaushalas
was found to be increasing. The major sources for cattle inflow are unproductive cattle left
by the farmers, rescued animals from illegal slaughter houses etc. The death of cattle was
the major reason for out flow. Adult female cattle constituted maximum percentage of total
cattle population (46 per cent), followed by adult male (22 per cent) in Gaushalas. Average
annual net income across all the Gaushalas was negative indicating their poor economic
status. Operating ratio for all the Gaushalas was high (0.98). This indicates that a major
part of Gaushalas income was spent only to meet operating expenses especially for feed
and fodder (83 per cent). Income diversification was less for most of the Gaushalas as they
were mainly depended on private donations which makes them less sustainable, So, there
is a need to diversify income sources such as income from sale of milk, milk products and
other by-products. To study the economic sustainability of Gaushalas, Economic
Sustainability Index (ESI) was computed using five indicators viz., Net income per SAU,
returns over variable cost, self-sufficiency, dependency and percentage of productive
animals. Based on ESI values Gaushalas were grouped into low, moderate and high
categories. The overall ESI value was 0.393. Two Gaushalas were under low sustainable
category, rest twelve Gaushalas were under medium sustainable category. Lower
sustainability of Gaushalas is mainly because of their higher dependence on donations, low
percentage of productive animals etc. The major constraints faced by Gaushalas in
Telangana state are lack of enough space in Gaushalas, high cost of concentrates,
unavailability of trained inseminators, less availability of labour, lack of adequate market
information to sell Gaushala products etc.