Holy cow! Look what’s on the cards

When told that a rancher owned 30,000 heads of cattle, the visiting city slicker asked, “Who owns the rest of the bodies?"

Possibly it is in order to avoid confusion of this kind that the Centre is reportedly planning to provide the bovine equivalent of human Aadhaar cards to all Indian cattle.

Addressing the Supreme Court on the issue, solicitor general Ranjit Kumar told the bench that “each animal will be tagged with a Unique Identification Number (UIN) with records kept of details such as age, breed, sex, lactation, height, body colour, horn type, tail switch and special marks”.

However, some might feel that such identification is not comprehensive enough in that Aadhaar cards are not deemed to be proof of nationality.

The need to distinguish between desi and videshi cattle is based on grounds not of nationalism but nutrition. The milk of desi cattle is said to contain A2 type of beta casein that is easily digestible.

The milk of cows of udder breeds is said to have A1beta casein that is believed to cause diabetes and heart disease.

So, apart from Aadhaar-style identity tags, should our cows also be given CIO cards, denoting Cattle of Indian Origin, to distinguish them from illegal migrants? While sceptics might dismiss it all as a load of bull, such measures might find enthusiastic endorsement among those whose dil mange moo.