Suraj Indwar is studying Disaster Management at Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai
article flags the issue of cattle (animal) safety on roads, focusing on the livelihood impact on the rural settlement in Alipurduar district of West Bengal, which is majorly a settlement encompassing NH31. Thus, the article highlights the need for suitable compensation policies to secure the subsistence of rural populations.
While road safety for humans is a much-concerned and widely discussed, similar concerns for animals, most specific cattle, are absent from the picture. India certainly boasts as the largest producer of milk in the world (Bhatta & Kumar, 2021), hardly caring for the frequent accidents and consequent deaths that cattle-rearers face for their livestock (Parmar, 2021). Such livestock deaths promise no compensation from the government authorities, and even insurance companies’ terms and conditions ignore to empathize with the road accidents of animals and their consecutive impact on the livelihood of the dwellers of rural India (Livestock (Cattle) Insurance Policy).
The rural settlements thus suffer considerable blows to their livelihood as these deaths are broadly uncompensated. Yet amidst these human-animal hierarchical attitudes and lack of empathy, some states’ policies for compensation are promising – but again, the awareness of these policies is absent on the ground level (Rohith, 2019).
Livestock
Livestock is an essential part of Indian agriculture and contributes to its expansion and development. The agricultural sector, which also includes the
dairy and fisheries industries, is vital to the country’s economy and socioeconomic development. By supplying nutrient-rich food products, generating
revenue and employment, acting as a safety net in case of crop failure, giving draught power and manure inputs to the crop subsector, and exporting goods, livestock help increase food and nutritional security. Additionally, animals provide drought power, manure for fertilizer, and household fuel, reducing the need for petro-products and significantly benefit environmental conservation (Singh & Dr Rajesh, 2015). The livestock industry contributes significantly to the rural economy by augmenting family income and creating gainful employment, notably for women, landless laborers, and small and marginal farmers. Farmers are protected by livestock from the whims of nature, such as recurrent droughts and crop failures. About 87.7% of the cattle are owned by farmers of marginal, small, and semi -medium operating holdings (area less than 4 ha), and the development of the livestock sector is more inclusive (Shrinivasa & Mathur, 2020).
Thus, the overall impact of livestock on the country’s economy and rural development is incomprehensible, and the countrymen still believe India as an agriculture-based nation. Yet the concerns for the safety of livestock still remain at a very personal, emotional level and stand far from being a national concern and mass awareness of its importance. The livestock on the rural stage work completely differently than many of us perceive in an urban scenario of people having pets. In rural areas, the livestock behold sources of both personal attachment and economical security. In this way,
their deaths befall rural families in one and other way.
Why road safety for livestock?
India places a high value on animals beyond just helping to produce food. It is a significant source of home fuel, manure for crop cultivation, and draught power. Thus, cattle contribute positively to economic growth by reducing non-renewable energy usage. Farmers and rural poor people depend on the livestock industry for a significant portion of their income. This industry made a significant contribution to Indian exports abroad. About 6% of cattle die in transit or as due to transport accidents (Patil et al., 2022). Recently, the livestock sector has played a significant role in reducing poverty in rural areas. During the 2006–2007 year, the cattle sector’s contribution to the overall GDP was over 5.26% (Singh & Dr Rajesh, 2015). According to estimates from the Central Statistical Organization (CSO), the value of output from the livestock and fishing sectors combined during the 2007–2008 fiscal year was approximately Rs. 2,82,779 crores, or about 31.6% of the value of the Rs. 8,94,420 crores in output from agriculture and related sectors (Singh & Dr Rajesh, 2015).
These statistics on the national income contributed by the sector, inform us of the importance and give encouragement for development. Now, this
development can only stream from ensuring the safety of the core factor of the sector. While different government schemes promise safety and nutrition for the livestock and oftentimes the concern finds bold spaces in election manifestos of several states, the reality check offers scarce opportunities for appreciating the efforts. These schemes are numerous across several states and also on the national level. The safety concerns fundamentally approach the nutrition and health of the livestock and fail to touch the matter of compensation for their death which the dependent rural families suffer from. Government compensation for their deaths is majorly unavailable in this scenario, which provides further discouragement to the rural settlements to continue with the sector. In such ways, this becomes one of the factors contributing to rural migration and suffering in urban, metropolitan spaces. Animal deaths like human beings can happen in two ways – firstly natural deaths, which include natural causes like age and the spread of diseases, and secondly, accidental reasons, like road accidents. The deaths of livestock caused by road accidents are popularly dealt with sympathies and generally disregarded for compensation, without considering the owners whose livelihood could depend on that livestock. The policies also sometimes cater only to the natural deaths of the animals (Directorate of Animal Husbandry, Government of Gujarat, 2018), and the road safety of these living beings is hardly taken care of, which is agonizing for the rural settlements. The insurance policies do not include the road accidents of animals as compensation-worthy (Livestock (cattle) Insurance- Policy). This hierarchy between humans and animals is huge and reflected clearly in the government’s attitude in forming policies and framing processes for suitable compensation. It is unlikely that the concern is absent from the nation-state altogether. Recently the efforts from the Karnataka government are appreciable in initiating a proposal for compensation which shows a concern going beyond mere momentary sympathies and thinking it from a livelihood perspective (Parmar, 2021). But it is also notable that though such initiatives on state-level produce a warm hope among the cattle herders and promote encouragement for the posterity to embrace the occupation in continuation – awareness for the same is highly available.
There are many other initiatives and efforts on the national level that are inclusive and promote no discrimination. Such as, in the post-disaster situation, the evacuation process does not exclude livestock, where castles and other livestock animals are recovered with human beings in parallel lines (Ahmadi et al., 2022) We hope such attitudes should flow in other sectors too, taking more seriously the matter of road accidents and the subsequent deaths of the livestock suffering the rural households with the pangs on their sources of livelihood. We must think about human and animal deaths in parallel lines as family members can remain dependent on them. Though the roles played by the livestock differ from the human deaths in road accidents, the concerns are equally financial and require equity in compensation.
Prevention and Compensation
In conclusion, we need to acknowledge that in a country like ours, where humans suffer and face long, frustrating processes to get their righteous
compensation money, proposing a compensation policy for livestock deaths due to accidents is an utterly ideal optimism. And without any reference for a proposed framework to drive this compensation process, this looks even more ideal. In prevention, fences can be made on either side of the busy traffic roads that cut across the residential areas to restrict or ensure the safe mobility of the livestock (Abdo & Al-Ojaili, 2015). Also, reflective tapes can be bound around their necks, whichld protect them from possible grave injuries and deaths in road accidents (The Cattle Site News Desk, 2017). Installation of speed cameras at the crossroads of residential areas would also enforce awareness on the drivers to check the speed limit – which can save both human and livestock deaths from road accidents. To facilitate the compensation mass 
compulsory livestock registration through local governments should be our priority. This will help the government record of the livestock animals and ensure a first step in initiating the compensation process after the appeal from the livestock owners. This registration would aid in providing many other veterinary assistances granted by the local government and will ensure their good health and development. Such ways for prevention from and compensation after road accidents that this article is proposing may seem very preliminary in formation of the argument, but the focus has been to make the concern rolling.
References:
- A. M. Abu Abdo & A. A. Al-Ojaili, 2015. “Assessment of Awareness of Livestock-Vehicle Traffic Accidents in Dhofar Region, Oman.” International Journal of Applied Engineering Research ISSN 0973- 4562 Volume 10, Number 18 (2015) pp 38955-38959. https://aurak.ac.ae/publications/Assessment-of- Awareness-of-Livestock-Vehicle-Traffic-Accidents-in-Dhofar-Region,-Oman.pdf
- Ahmadi, Changiz, et al. “Explain the Challenges of Evacuation in Floods Based on the Views of Citizens and Executive Managers.” Heliyon, vol. 8, no. 9, Sept. 2022, p. e10759. ScienceDirect, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2022.e10759.
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- Directorate of Animal Husbandry, Government of Gujarat, 2018. “Compensation for Accidental Animal Death Scheme.” https://doah.gujarat.gov.in/accidental-death-animal-returns.htm
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Livestock%20(Cattle)%20Insurance.pdf - Jinit Parmar, December 20, 2021- “Who Let The Cows Out? An Insurance Scheme.” Youth Ki Awaaz, 20 Dec. 2021, https://www.youthkiawaaz.com/2021/12/who-lets-the-cows-out-insurance- scheme/.
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