Before our own eyes lakhs of human beings live on footpaths unprotected from rain, sun and told, their life a howling hell. Deprived of nourishment, education and reasonable upbringing; their children grow up in the gutters. Millions of the middle class society live in tottering tenements always in tear of a live burial. The solution to this problem has so far eluded all state governments and municipalities. Housing society schemes have provided buildings for a few thousands only. And not even a full one percent of the footpath dwellers can afford living in these costly houses.

Villagers having lost their independent small trades and professions as a result of mechanization, to escape from the increasing grip of shortages created by rationing, zonal restrictions and controls, rush to cities to earn bread. In the cities their only resort is footpath, a life-hell. We dumbly witness this tragic downfall of the Indian culture and religion. Nobody says a word against this. Nobody seems to have an answer to this most uncouth and degrading predicament of human life settlement of this ocean of human beings has to be found. Deprived of any human facilities, their children either succumb to many sicknesses or, if they survive they add, to the growing anti-social elements. If this process is not checked in time a large section of such anti-social roughs will form in the society endangering the very existence of the cultured and good and the entire Indian culture and religions would face extinction. At such a stage, this internal devouring monster would get beyond all control.

There is only one answer to this: a nationwide earnest for adoption of the cow based economy at all government levels and its serious implementation with a view to return this vast millions to the villages, providing them housing and employment.

At the time of building of the Bhakra-Nangal Dam, the Government proudly announced that the Aryans of Rig-Veda times did not know even to build a house where today a dam of the vast magnitude is built. The officials seem to have only heard the name of Rig-Veda. Even a volume may not have passed under their eye. Therefore how would they know that the Rig-Veda describes five types of houses, in detail. namely, those of stone, of bricks, of wood and bamboos, of cow-dung and mud and of tree leaves. Choice of housing should be in consideration of time, financial reach of the people concerned, the circumstances and climate. Our cement production is far below to suffice buildings for all the required houses. Nor can people afford cement built houses. Of the annual one crore ton cement production half has to go for defense purposes. Cement shortage impeded defense constructions of Rommel, enabling Montgomery to break through the German lines in one onslaught. Therefore defense requirements have to be met on priority. A large bulk of the balance would be consumed in large houses and roads, and industries, leaving a negligible surplus for people’s small dwellings. Are we to allow these unhappy millions to rot on footpath and gutters for the next fifty years? And where is the guarantee that at the end of the fifty years the cement supply would meet total requirements of people’s dwellings?

Therefore we should adopt the practical and sensible way of providing cow dung-cum-mud dwellings. more suited to the climate, necessities, circumstances and most important to the finances of the people of our country. Cement structures demand repairs in about five years time while the garmati, dwellings need a fresh wash with the dung and earth carried out by the owner involving no monetary expenses. Two to three hundred years old structures of this combination of clay and cow-dung survive today.
It is seen that even the housing problem can easily be solved with the help of cow. Villagers do not get dung on account of the cow slaughter and so cottages are also not available to them. Housing requirements of the country is 9.3 min. in cities and 56.1 min. In the rural area. To provide one room dwellings to the villages only would need 170 min. tons of cement and our annual cement production is only 10 min. tons. We cannot wait for generations to build cement structures. This mud-dung dwellings would require dung of 6.30 mln. cows and with this the entire rural housing requirements can be met and comfortably solved.