Milk is an essential nourishment and even a reduction of its quantum affects the people and therefore the nation adversely. Total deprivation is suicidal. Before the first world war army recruitment required minimum 45 chest measure. But during the passage of time since more and more cows were slaughtered, reducing thereby milk and ghee availability to the people, the construction and physique of the Indians deteriorated so that today the army has to accept recruits with minimum 29 chest. New Zealander consumes one gallon milk per capita and hence New Zealand has proved to be the sturdiest and the strongest soldier during the last world war. Per capita milk consumption in America is 5 lbs. while in Britain it is 2½ lbs. The British Medical Council has prescribed minimum two and a half pounds of milk per man for him to keep physically fit. Provision of two and a half pounds of milk per capital four our people, would need 1250 Million Lbs.. of milk per day. To obtain this quantity of milk we would need 62.5m. milch cows and an equal number for dry period replacements averaging 20 lbs per cow. However against our need of 125 m. cows we have today 54 m. cows and 49 m. heifers. Most of the 54 m. cows give less than 3 lbs. milk a day and possibly less in the case of about 80% of the cows. Because of this reason along their slaughter is unwarranted; and if they are slaughtered the entire social and economic life of the country would be disorganized and in a mess. Moreover, if not for milk, even for the fuel and the housing (as would be seen later) this low yielding cow should not be slaughtered as thereby the people — the villagers would be left in a most helpless position. Such cow, though of negligible value in respect of milk-yield, amply justify their existence as being very profitable to the nation in respect of the cow-dung fuel to the villager; manure and most important the bullock they could give. These forty million cows in their life time would give 200 m. bullocks valuing Rs. 50,000 M. on the present lowest market value. Further this class of cows can be developed and improved to give about 10/12 lbs. of milk per day in about 15 years time, and forty lbs a day in further 15 years. Instead of adopting this sane way if these 40 m. cows are slaughtered, then crores of Rupees worth milk powder and condensed milk shall have to be imported annually for our children, pregnant women and the sick only. Higher prices may be demanded in our such dire need and moreover we shall yearly lose 65 m. tons of cow dung. A life of 15 years for such cows would result in a loss of 972 m. tons of cow dung amounting to loss of fuel to the villager, manure and 12,000 m. lbs. of milk.”

A pregnant mother has to have milk. In cities owing to short supply of milk, calcium can be injected, but what will be the plight of 82% village population’ There are no injections, no doctors and no nurses. And these people have no money to buy injections and to pay for doctors’ services even if these could be available. For them milk is the only valuable source of nourishment. The health of the country, already deteriorated, would be racked to pieces. We have seen the milk requirements of other nations’ and there seems no sense in disregarding their cows and depriving our children and mothers and sick of this precious and sole nourishing food.

We should fix minimum per capital requirements of food grains, nourishment, clothing and housing and should see that this minimum is maintained. Otherwise the Independence is of no avail to the common man. Per capital American consumption of nourishing food is one ounce of butter and 1 ½ ounces of fat. Fatty foods are essential to body and insufficient quantities open the door to many diseases. Against the American nourishment standard if we accept only half the quantity, we need half an ounce of ghee or Vanaspati Ghee and one ounce of vegetable oil.
Provision of half an ounce ghee per capita would need 19 min. cows only for this purpose. (on estimation of 10 lb milk per cow). These 19 mln. cows would mature 3.8 mln. acres of land to yield 76 min. tons of jowar and bajri and the stalk of these corn plants would well feed these cows. The by product, butter milk would be 380 mln. lbs. Both ghee and butter milk would save 2 ounces of food grain per man. This health giving butter milk would reduce the incidence of sickness and illness.

Now instead of pure ghee, if we were to provide Vanaspati ghee the requirement would be 255 mln. ounces or 6975 tons per day. Today we produce 1000 tons. (Here we do not propose to go into its demerits on human health and consider it only from its economic aspects). Our dehusked groundnut production is 4 min. tons which quantity if fully crushed would give 1 .6 mln. tons of oil. (Of course we do not crush entire production of groundnut). To get this daily production of 1000 tons of vegetable ghee we use 375000 tons of the oil annually. To get daily 6975 tons of vanaspati we would need 2.6 mln. tons of oil annually. For this purpose only 9.7 min. tons of groundnut will have to be harvested and the area under groundnut crop will have to be increased six times. The result would be so much less acreage for food grains. The loss of food grains on account of this six fold acreage under groundnut would be of such a magnitude that the deficit cannot be made up with any large scale means of whatever nature. Then again the transport problem arise. These 9.7 mln. tons of ground have to be transported from fields to oil mills and more than two and a half min. tons of vegetable ghee to be returned to villages. This would further load our already over burdened poor transport means to a cracking point. Above all these vanaspati supplies will be monopolized into say, a few capitalist hands, and the entire nation would be at their mercy as to the prices they would extort from the people. The profits of these 2.5 mln. tons of vanaspati will be shared by only these few capitalists whereas the distribution of the profits of pure ghee will be amongst more than one Iakh MALDHARIS. Decentralization of the production of ghee between these one lakh people would doubtlessly be a curb to any price rise by them for hoarding would be beyond their reach. Further, because of production being in the consuming areas themselves the transport has not to carry extra burden. Also one Iakh of the Indian citizens would earn their bread in an honorable way out of the ghee production as against a few hundred employed in the vanaspati ghee industry. Industry is for people and not people for industry. Vegetable ghee factories’ uproar of loss of investment should be ignored and the factories be scrapped if other uses cannot be found.

There are a few instances to show that the cow slaughter brings about price rise while cow protection and propagation would actually and effectively counter act it as also bring ease in life of people. To put it in a nutshell, pure ghee is socialism, while, vegetable ghee is capitalism. Moreover it is obvious how pure ghee production instills healthy national economy while how the vanaspati production gnaws at the very core of the national life.

Now let us consider edible oil. One ounce per head per day would need 52,00,000 tons of oil. Industrial requirements are not included in this figure. This quantity of oil would need crushing of 12 min. tons of groundnut, which if crushed at mills would involve transport to cities and back resulting in added cost to consumers and added load on transport means. More damaging to the consumer interest would be the resulting monopoly in hands of the few hundreds industrial crushers, and these wealthy gentlemen by whatever means would keep the prices higher, the Government remaining helpless, onlooker and people being stripped. In some areas artificial shortage may be created by hoarding resorted to by these speculators while in others by zonal restrictions. This is happening today. The profits of the entire oil industry will flow to the bulging coffers of these few hundred individuals exploiting the common man. How do we reconcile this aspect with our avowed socialistic pattern of the society? Further elaboration on oil prices does not become necessary for the fact that people of all the States have experienced to their cost that in spite of lakhs   tons of oil production and despite the fact that about 50 per cent of the people cannot afford to buy oil, the prices are soaring higher and higher and one or the other state is always in the grip of oil shortage
If this situation is to be counter-acted effectively and the prices of oil have to be brought down, we shall have to seek the assistance of the bullock. Gandhi always preached that production of a commodity should be in the area it is consumed. The entire produce of oil seeds should be crushed in the traditional Bullock-ghani, in the areas in which It is consumed. Each village should have sufficient ghani in proportion to the local consumption of crop. Having fulfilled the local requirements, the surplus should be carried by bullock carts to the nearby cities. This would put an end to hoarding, by decentralization of production and distribution through small traders and so would check price rise. Such production and distribution would reduce adulteration to the minimum and provide earning to the lakhs of ghaniwalas and small traders and the profits that the vat oil industry Is pocketing would be distributed among these lakhs; instead of among the few millionaires.

This switch over to ghani would need 6,70,000 ghanis and 13,40,000 bullocks, apart from those required for the transport. Mechanized oil crushing has gifted us with artificial speculative hoardings and resultant shortages, zones, tax evasion, price rise, and such harmful legacies; whereas bullock-oriented industry would lower prices, provide living and employment to millions, create a fair distribution of the commodity, and distribute the profits amongst the people reducing their economic and mental strains.

If on account of the cow-oriented economy, the people were to get cheaper and better food grains, sufficient ghee, milk and buttermilk, oil etc., their life would be easier and ample and free from worry and their health would improve adding to their capacity for work. As a by-product the drugs and medicines thus saved can be exported