Guest guest Posted February 11, 2004 Report Share Posted February 11, 2004 >Devant <devant >manthan (Manthan) >Manthan <manthan >[manthan] The Cow is the Mother of India >Fri, 6 Feb 2004 06:34:39 -0800 (PST) > >************************************************************************ >manthan: Information Exchange Network for Intellectual Defense of Dharma >Sponsored By: Bharatvani - http://www.bharatvani.org >************************************************************************ > >Cow is mother of India > >I travelled through Uttar Pradesh for two weeks in search of the village of >Kaithalia from which my grandfather Rampartap came 100 years ago. I was >able >to locate distant relatives and reconnect with my past. I also discovered >how the ancient India lives side by side with the modern and dynamic India. > >The villages of northern India reveal the complexity of a throbbing ancient >civilisation thriving on contradiction between ancient and modern; between >the most developed technology and methods as old as the Ramayan; and >between >harmony with nature and the rapid growth of industry competing with nature. > >Cows are everywhere. Each village its goshala, where people feed cows part >of the household meal with their own hands as ritual of worship. > >The cow is a symbol pervasive in the Hindu culture of northern India, known >as "the cow belt." There is a cow energy economy. > >Cow dung cakes are sold. They provide the energy for cooking in millions of >households. The manufacture and marketing of heaps of cow dung cakes >involve >thousands of workers in production and marketing. > >In addition to the cow dung fuel in villages, the cooking gas stove is >beginning to appear in rural kitchens. India produces a large chunk of its >gas and oil needs. > >Tons of cow dung are ploughed into fields to produce bumper crops of rice, >wheat, mustard, sesame, maize, potato and other crops. The role of the cow >in the economy is truly amazing and worth billions of dollars. > >India is the world's leading producer of milk and she is flooded with dairy >products such as ghee, dahee, butter and sweets made from milk. > >The cow is truly the mother of India in many ways. The millions of skilled >woman and men occupied in production and marketing derived from cow >products >represent a large part of rural industry and employment. > >In his book A History Of Indian Culture , N Jayapalan writes: "In the early >rural and still earlier and pastoral communities, cattle was the chief >movable property. It was absolutely essential for cultivation and >transport. > >"The cow, the bull, the buffalo and the goat were the first animals to be >domesticated and great attention was paid to the their breeding. Each >village had its own professional breeder." > >The cow industry is inextricably entwined with the agricultural industry, >which is the foundation of village prosperity. India is not only >self-sufficient in food to feed its billion population, but is a major >exporter of grains and a donor to famine relief through the United Nations. > >The technological foundations of the productivity increases were laid when >the world'###### sophisticated irrigation systems were put in place. >Thousands of small farmers use irrigation water from the Ganges or local >wells. > >Hand pumps are ubiquitous in the villages. India could not connect all the >villages to a national water supply. The country is too vast and the >villages too numerous or widely dispersed. > >Every village has its hand pump, where the women gather as a social ritual >while collecting water. Many books have been written and movies filmed to >capture and glamourise the culture of the village hand pumps and water >wells. > >Water and engineering skills needed to build canal or tap artesian sources >where billions of litres of water have been trapped in rock structures, >show >the intellectual skills of Indian engineers. > >The scattered villages of India are wired up to the world via cell-phone >and >television. India is a leader producer of state-of-the-art communications >technology. You see the rapid modernisation and technological advances when >one observes village children everywhere using mobile phones. > >Bill Gates, the owner/founder of Microsoft, commented recently in Newsweek >magazine on the value of the world of the famous India Institutes of >Technology located in Bangalore, Pune, Hyderabad and other places. > >Bill Gates must know. At least 33 per cent of his Microsoft's senior >engineers and mangers are Indian graduates. Their work is manifested in the >unbelievable technical and economic change taking place in Indian villages. > >T&T is making a serious economic miscalculation to continue focusing on the >lost shipment of Indian rice and ignore what is happening in India. > >Gates in not alone in identifying the great potential for human development >possessed by India. In recent years the British, German and other >Governments have made great efforts to entice Indian graduates to boost >their technology capability. > >Despite this, experts in the UK predict that within the next five years, up >to 20,000 technical, design, architecture and engineering jobs will be lost >in Europe and America. Indians in India using information technology (IT) >will be doing jobs now done in the UK via satellite. > >Last week, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula culminated a four-day >official visit to India by signing seven agreements aimed at strengthening >social and economic ties between the two countries. The agreements not only >cover co-operation in developing space and other technology, but also >promote tourism. > >Goa is a small state on the western coastline of India. This was a colonial >outpost of Portugal. The second language of Goa is Portuguese, which is the >national language of Brazil, another former colony of Portugal. Language >will facilitate a thriving tourist industry in both countries. > >SATNARAYAN MAHARAJ is the Secretary General of the Sanatan Dharma Maha >Sabha > > > >************************************************ >Manthan is a moderated, by invitation only list. >Listowner: owner-manthan >************************************************ > _______________ Create your own personal Web page with the info you use most, at My MSN. http://click.atdmt.com/AVE/go/onm00200364ave/direct/01/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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