Transforming Lives With Desi Cow Initiatives

Team GoPals – The Beginning

India has witnessed tremendous changes in the past few decades. The exponential increase in the pace of life has had its impact not only on the urban population, but on the rural population as well, which is primarily based on agriculture. The urban population is suffering from unprecedented stress leading to numerous lifestyle-based diseases. On the other hand, with ever increasing load on our farms and farmers to produce more yield every year, mechanised and chemical fertiliser-based farming is now the trend affecting the health of both the producer and the consumer of such crops. There is also a mutual disconnect between the Urban and Rural population of our country which have become alien to each other; this goes completely against the principles of the community based Indian society.

Keeping this in mind, in the year 2014, a group of professionals based in Bengaluru decided to do something about this growing problem. They decided to create a group called GoPals, which basically are two words, “Go” meaning Cow and “Pals” meaning friends.

“Friends of Cow” group or Team GoPals has only one objective and aim; to create awareness about traditional Indian practices based around native breed of Desi Cows for sustainable living in the life of both Urbanites and Ruralites.

A male GoPal volunteer taking care of a desi cow.

Why only the native Indian Desi Cow?

With the White Revolution, to boost Milk production, foreign breeds of Cows like Jersey and HF were introduced in our country. In the race to increase Milk production, it was completely forgotten that the function of Desi Cows in India was not just giving Milk but also to increase soil health through its extremely high-quality Dung and Urine. There are innumerable practices in the Indian culture which revolve around Desi Cows, for ex – The Panchagavya‑based medicines in Ayurveda which are now gaining immense popularity but can be only made from the products sourced from Desi Indian Cows.

The Green Revolution led to mechanised agriculture based on chemical farming and Hybrid seeds which pushed the Desi Cows further out of use. The Desi Bulls were the worst sufferers as they could neither give Milk nor used in farming due to tractors. This has resulted in almost decimation of our native variety of Desi Cows whose breeds have been reduced to 30-35 out of the over 100 before independence; still many face extinction.

We are now seeing the negative impacts of these reckless revolutions which destroyed India’s once completely organic Cow-Bull-based farming. The result is the rising cost of agriculture, plummeting water table, rising diseases among the people, thirsty soil devoid of organic material (Humus), health effects of the harmful foreign breed Cow’s A1 Milk instead of the elixir like A2 Milk of the Desi Cows and depleting forest cover.

GoPals aims to solve these issues by reconnecting the Desi Cow back into the life of people, pushing Desi Cow-Bull-based farming, sensitising the local populace towards the environment, creating a network based on the utility of native breed Cows and lifestyle based on traditional Indian practices.

Volunteers at the event with Desi Cow-based Gaushalas.

Model of Team GoPals

GoPals organises various events by collaborating with Desi Cow based Gaushalas, natural farming practicing farmers, environmentalists, etc., and works on a model of active volunteering by interested participants. Since the chapters are present in cities with large corporate sector, Team GoPals is actively involved with corporates who regularly send their employees and support to its events. GoPals is also connected with many devoted farmers who have dedicated their lives for Gou-based organic farming.

The group not only believes in theoretical lectures but also makes the enthusiastic participants integrate with Cows and nature by making them physically toil in activities like cleaning the Gaushala, feeding the Cows, planting saplings, mulching of plants, making Panchagavya‑based products, preparing seed balls and many more.

This unique model of GoPals makes people unite with farming based natural lifestyle, promotes healthy & environment friendly practices, reduces the Urban-Rural divide and most importantly, encourages them actively get involved in this mission to conserve the Indian breed Desi Cows.

GoPals – Activities and Impact

What started as a small group of motivated volunteers in Bengaluru is now slowly becoming a Pan-India movement spread across Chennai, Mysuru, Hyderabad and Delhi-NCR, with the most recent chapter being Coimbatore. Team GoPals has also made its presence felt in remote areas of Western Ghats.

GoPals, with its volunteer, has engaged with Desi Cow Gaushalas across India to create awareness about Indian breed Cows. In Bengaluru, wonderful Gaushalas like Sri Raghavendra Gou Ashrama in Malur, Pasuthai Naati Hasu Gaushala in Rajankunte, ISKCON Gaushala in HBR Layout and many more have been venues of GoPals events. In Hyderabad, GoPals collaborated with Venugopalaswamy Mandir Gaushala at Shankarapally. Similarly, in Chennai the Govindan Goushala, in Mysuru the Deshee Goushala Chowdikatte at Hunsur Taluka and in Delhi-NCR the Kamadhenudham Gaushala at Gurugram. There many other mention worthy Gaushalas as well with which Team GoPals has engaged and co-operated as well.

Thousands of people have participated in these events and have merrily cleaned the Gaushala, fed the cows, prepared products like dhoopa and diyas based on Panchagavya of Desi Cows, etc. Even children are kept in mind and activities like Bullock Cart rides are arranged for them. Through such activities they experience the natural life around Desi Cows which has an impact on them and their families.

The group is also involved in the mega tree plantations, like over 1000 rare sapling plantation done at Mahanandi Gouloka at Hosanagara, Shivamogga which is in Western Ghats and is suffering from deforestation. A 1000 tree plantation drive was conducted in Chennai and a similar kind of tree plantation drive was conducted at Doddabetigere Village, Sedam Taluka, Gulabarga which is worth mentioning. Through tree plantation, Team GoPals is benefitting not only the environment but Goushalas as well as trees having medicinal value, fruit‑bearing trees, etc. are planted which are commercially viable for them for preparing products. For such events Team GoPals gets support and active involvement from its corporate partners and environment-based NGOs.

Sometimes, events are customised as per the needs of participants, like corporate employees, who cannot come to remote locations due to limitations. For such volunteers, Team GoPals organises activities like seed ball preparation which can be conducted in small campuses.

Team GoPals is also engaging with natural farming, promoting farmers from various agricultural universities to find a solution to this acute problem facing our native breeds. One such activity was done with Farmers of Doddabeitgere village in Gulbarga who were distributed with tree saplings as a matter of farmer engagement initiative. The group is aiming to make this village as a model Gou Grama (Desi Cow village).

The recent ambitious project taken by Team GoPals is “Adopt a Nandi(Bull)” initiative. Desi Cows are still convincing for farmers to use as they have financial viability, but it is the Bulls that are suffering the most as they have no role left. Even in breeding, due to artificial insemination, their role has been made void. To tackle this problem, GoPals through “Adopt a Nandi” project will create a community-based environment to take care of Bulls who are in desperate need of support. This will further lead to integration of many families with the divine Indian Desi Cows and Bulls.

The Desi Cow vision of Team GoPals

The vision of Team GoPals is to integrate back the Desi Cows and Bulls back to the life of the farmer and the common Indian. GoPals believes that the best home for the cattle is in the home of a farmer, or a family in the city or a village. Through the activities mentioned above its volunteers, who are not full timers, are working with passion to make this dream a success.

Team GoPals is of the firm belief that the solution to our country’s problems, be it lifestyle or agriculture, lies in the upliftment of the native Indian Cow breeds and placing them in the position they once were.

From its inception, Team GoPals is working towards creating an awareness about desi cows apart from their utility in daily life. The utility of cows goes beyond the milk and this is the message that all our volunteers have realized in the last many years. Every month our volunteers visit associated Goushalas/villages.

Swachh Goushala Abhiyan

Medicinal plants

Initiative from the agriculture team

A case in point is the work being done at the Raghavendra Goushala near Malur. GoPals is actively involved in a novel activity modeled on the ”Swacch Bharat” initiative, termed as the “Swachh Goushala Abhiyan”. This involves cleaning the cowsheds as a seva initiative.

We don’t limit ourselves to cleaning the goushala. We have slowly progressed beyond this with the volunteers getting sessions and being involved in various activities.

Preparing “Jeevamrutha” (Ref- Jeevamrutha is Devamrutha) which is a bio energizer.

A Goushala tour which consists of the introduction of various desi cow breeds. This encourages people to understand the different breeds.

A session on terrace gardening where people get to see some of the medicinal and other plants which are there at goushala.

De-Weeding activities across the goushala

This goushala has an associated small-scale industry that is manufacturing 40+ desi cow-based products including Panchagavya. This requires many medicinal herbs and plants. We prepared an elaborate list of medicinal plant species used for making these products. Accordingly, a plan was drawn out to plant these useful saplings. 50 species which are beneficial in terms of medicinal, culinary and fodder were shortlisted. Corporates were roped in to sponsor the GREEN initiative. During July 2017, 700 tree species and 300 herbs were planted.

Did we randomly plant it? Well no. Our agriculture team planned the whole exercise based on the topology of the land available with the goushala.

All along the borders, we planted trees that tend to grow tall growing and are thorny species.
There is a small hillock inside the goushala where no trees can survive as it is rocky. As is common knowledge to villagers, we have planted that Sitaphala (Custard Apples) where there are huge rocks.
We have made use of rainwater harvesting trenches and planted several fruit species in it.
In the parking areas and walk paths, we have planted trees that provide ample shade along with flowers. We have planted Kadamba, Nagalingapushpa, Sampige, Bakula, Akasha mallige here. We have many Endangered species like Saraca Asoca (the real Ashoka), Guggal and many medicinal herbs as well. People knew the use of Ashoka tree since ages. Sita Mata was kept at Ashoka Vana by Ravan. Now research says that just by inhaling the air from this tree, many female ailments can be prevented and cured.
As is known fodder will be scare in summer. However, we have planned such that even in summer there will be sufficient fodder available. We have used the knowledge of our ancestors – Tree Based Fodder system. We have planted several Agase/ Agati (Sesbania grandiflora). These not only give high-quality fodder, it also fixes atmospheric Nitrogen and enriches the soil.
Under the aegis of Uttishta Bharatha, hundreds of school kids prepared seed balls of Subabul near the goushala. This will also serve as green Fodder in summer.
We planted several Drumstick plants. Drumstick is high in vitamins and Nitrogen. It will serve as a protein source for cows.
The goushala has two farm ponds to hold rainwater. We have planted Neem and Pongamia trees all-round the pond to purify the water and to hold the soil firmly.

Result

Raghavendra Goushala‑Malur is located in a place where it is almost impossible to get groundwater even after a thousand feet. Added to this, the whole area is surrounded by Eucalyptus trees that have contributed to the depletion of groundwater levels. Now after reading that so many plant species are planted, one may have doubts as to how these plants are doing.

For one’s surprise, more than 90% of the saplings that we planted are surviving and some have already started to yield. This is just because of adopting DESI COW BASED FARMING TECHNIQUES.

A female GoPal volunteer with a desi calf.

Sustenance

Every month we prepare 600 liters of Jeevamrutha. In our previous knowledge series, we have explained about Jeevamrutha. We apply to the roots of the plants that we have planted. In addition to that, we do mulching. Mulching is a process used to cover the soil with leaves or any agricultural waste. Word of caution – No leaves of Eucalyptus, Acacia and Silver oak or anything which has an allelopathic effect.

We have also done Live mulching i.e., growing Pulse crops to cover the soil. Horsegram was used for this purpose. All around the saplings we have Horsegram seeds that grew very quickly and covered the soil. This has helped in conserving moisture, reduced weed growth and also it saved all beneficial microbes of Jeevamrutha by not exposing them to direct sunlight. Not only this, Horsegram being a Leguminous species, it also fixes ample atmospheric Nitrogen and enriches the soil. This has also ensured that we conserve water, increase organic matter content of the soil, and increase the count of Desi/ native Earthworms.

Summary

If this is the success story of Raghvendra Goushala‑Malur, why can’t other Goushalas also consider adopting this model? Every drop counts. Team GoPals will assist interested organizations and individuals who serve Desi Cows. Together we can make a difference to sustain the nature.

What We Do