Skip to main content

Gujarat Dalit rights leader identifies dumped plastic extracted from dead cows' womb

Natubhai Parmar showing plastic extracted from a dead cow's womb
By Rajiv Shah  
After a long, long time, Natubhai Parmar, a grassroots Dalit rights activist based in Surendranagar in Gujarat, rang me up. I was pleasantly surprised. I have known him for the last about eight years. Though we used to talk on phone, and met once in a while in Ahmedabad to do stories on Dalit issues, it was only after the famous Una flogging incident in 2016 that I found how deep his understanding is on Dalit issues. 
The Una incident – in which four Dalit boys were tied to chain attached with an SUV and were pushed towards the local police station on the main road, even as cow vigilantes flogged them mercilessly all the way – led to a huge turmoil among Gujarat Dalits. Dalit rights leader Jignesh Mevani, currently independent MLA, became famous following an Ahmedabad to Una march he organised to protest against the flogging.
As the cow vigilantes flogged the four Dalit boys on suspicion of cow slaughter, many Dalits, especially belonging to the Rohit sub-caste, stopped scavenging dead cattle, which was their hierarchical caste-based profession. Parmar also gained some prominence after he collected about a dozen cattle carcasses and dumped them all in front of the Surendranagar district collector’s office, asking officials to dispose them of as they liked.
It was a revealing talk with Parmar in 2016. He gave me insight into what exactly Rohits do with cattle carcass. He said, they ate carrion, both in towns and villages, and it was one their main sources of protein intake. This traditional scavenging job, he informed me, was no doubt on decline among Rohits, as many of them had shifted to other jobs – industrial workers, farm workers, masons, plumbers, drivers, and cleaners – but it was still popular in villages.   
Plastic lump from ashram's dead cow
He told me, to do the job, three or four families would get together to form a ‘bham’. The panjrapols (loosely, cattle farms), where most of the aging cattle are sent, would float tenders. The highest bidding ‘bham’ would pay the sum, which was around Rs 7 lakh for a year. With a pickup van at its disposal, the bham would take the dead cattle to a spot where the families separated skin from rest of the body. Every part of the body would be sold after manually cleaning it up – the cow meat, the cow fat, the bones, the skin. This was how they would earn.
A year later, Parmar organised a protest rally in Surendranagar town. I also went there along with senior human rights activist Gagan Sethi. The protest was against the manner in which the cow vigilantes would harass Rohits for cow slaughter, insisting, majority of cows died because they consumed plastic. Led by a tractor, on which plastics extracted from cows was displayed, the two kilometre-long rally ended with an appeal to the state government to stop blaming Dalits for cow slaughter and ban plastic.
Following the rally, Parmar founded a Goseva Ashram, named after Lord Buddha, where he started keeping frail cattle and treated them, even as his motto, seeking ban on plastics, which according to him was the main reason for their untimely death, continued. I have not been to this ashram, but he has been telling him, through WhatsApp messages about this, suggesting, his campaign to ban plastic continues. I did a few stories on his campaigns ever since.
The other day, after Parmar phoned me up, I looked at his two WhatsApp messages he had sent me. The first one said, one of the stray cattle he had give refuge to in his ashram, operating in Vadhwan town, next to Surendranagar town, died after the animal rights helpline number, 1962, failed to provide necessary help on time. Following the death of the cow on November 28, 2020, after skinning it, the message said, they extracted “11 iron nails, six staple pins, several bolts and other ghastly things, as also 53 kg of plastic and dead calf.”
The second WhatsApp message said, he along with an ashram colleague, Sundarbhai Parmar, while through the main road leading to Dhrangadhra from Surendranagar, were stunned to find a huge pile of plastic extracted from dead cows’ wombs. According to Parmar, while the Gujarat government has banned use of plastics below 50 micron thickness, such a dumping suggests the ban is not still now in force for all practical purposes, and stray cows continue to consume them.

Comments

TRENDING

Loktantra Bachao Abhiyan raises concerns over Jharkhand Adivasis' plight in Assam, BJP policies

By Our Representative  The Loktantra Bachao Abhiyan (Save Democracy Campaign) has issued a pressing call to protect Adivasi rights in Jharkhand, highlighting serious concerns over the treatment of Jharkhandi Adivasis in Assam. During a press conference in Ranchi on November 9, representatives from Assam, Chhattisgarh, and Madhya Pradesh criticized the current approach of BJP-led governments in these states, arguing it has exacerbated Adivasi struggles for rights, land, and cultural preservation.

Promoting love or instilling hate and fear: Why is RSS seeking a meeting with Rahul Gandhi?

By Ram Puniyani*  India's anti-colonial struggle was marked by a diverse range of social movements, one of the most significant being Hindu-Muslim unity and the emergence of a unified Indian identity among people of all religions. The nationalist, anti-colonial movement championed this unity, best embodied by Mahatma Gandhi, who ultimately gave his life for this cause. Gandhi once wrote, “The union that we want is not a patched-up thing but a union of hearts... Swaraj (self-rule) for India must be an impossible dream without an indissoluble union between the Hindus and Muslims of India. It must not be a mere truce... It must be a partnership between equals, each respecting the religion of the other.”

Right-arm fast bowler who helped West Indies shape arguably greatest Test team in cricket history

By Harsh Thakor*  Malcolm Marshall redefined what it meant to be a right-arm fast bowler, challenging the traditional laws of biomechanics with his unique skill. As we remember his 25th death anniversary on November 4th, we reflect on the legacy he left behind after his untimely death from colon cancer. For a significant part of his career, Marshall was considered one of the fastest and most formidable bowlers in the world, helping to shape the West Indies into arguably the greatest Test team in cricket history.

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

A Hindu alternative to Valentine's Day? 'Shiv-Parvati was first love marriage in Universe'

By Rajiv Shah  The other day, I was searching on Google a quote on Maha Shivratri which I wanted to send to someone, a confirmed Shiv Bhakt, quite close to me -- with an underlying message to act positively instead of being negative. On top of the search, I chanced upon an article in, imagine!, a Nashik Corporation site which offered me something very unusual. 

Andhra team joins Gandhians to protest against 'bulldozer action' in Varanasi

By Rosamma Thomas*  November 1 marked the 52nd day of the 100-day relay fast at the satyagraha site of Rajghat in Varanasi, seeking the restoration of the 12 acres of land to the Sarva Seva Sangh, the Gandhian organization that was evicted from the banks of the river. Twelve buildings were demolished as the site was abruptly taken over by the government after “bulldozer” action in August 2023, even as the matter was pending in court.  

Will Bangladesh go Egypt way, where military ruler is in power for a decade?

By Vijay Prashad*  The day after former Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina left Dhaka, I was on the phone with a friend who had spent some time on the streets that day. He told me about the atmosphere in Dhaka, how people with little previous political experience had joined in the large protests alongside the students—who seemed to be leading the agitation. I asked him about the political infrastructure of the students and about their political orientation. He said that the protests seemed well-organized and that the students had escalated their demands from an end to certain quotas for government jobs to an end to the government of Sheikh Hasina. Even hours before she left the country, it did not seem that this would be the outcome.

Will Left victory in Sri Lanka deliver economic sovereignty plan, go beyond 'tired' IMF agenda?

By Atul Chandra, Vijay Prashad*  On September 22, 2024, the Sri Lankan election authority announced that Anura Kumara Dissanayake of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP)-led National People’s Power (NPP) alliance won the presidential election. Dissanayake, who has been the leader of the left-wing JVP since 2014, defeated 37 other candidates, including the incumbent president Ranil Wickremesinghe of the United National Party (UNP) and his closest challenger Sajith Premadasa of the Samagi Jana Balawegaya. 

Green Revolution’s reliance on chemical fertilizers, pesticides contributing to Punjab's health crisis

By Bharat Dogra, Jagmohan Singh*  Punjab was once synonymous with robust health, particularly in its rural areas, where farmers were known for their strength and vitality. However, in recent years, reports from these villages tell a different story, with rising cases of serious health issues, including cancer. What led to this decline? The answer lies largely in the erosion of good nutrition, once a hallmark of Punjabi village life. The health of a population is closely tied to its nutrition, and Punjab's reputation as a provider of high-quality nutrition has suffered greatly. The loss of biodiversity in agriculture has led to a decrease in the variety and quality of crops, resulting in poorer nutrition. Pulses, a key source of protein, have seen a steep decline in cultivation due to the disruption of traditional farming practices by the Green Revolution. This has had a detrimental effect on both soil and human health. Although pulses are still available in the market, they are exp

Tributes paid to pioneer of Naxalism in Punjab, who 'dodged' police for 60 yrs

By Harsh Thakor*  Jagjit Singh Sohal, known as Comrade Sharma, a pioneer of Naxalism in Punjab, passed away on October 20 at the age of 96. Committed to the Naxalite cause and a prominent Maoist leader, Sohal, who succeeded Charu Majumdar, played hide and seek with the police for almost six decades. He was cremated in Patiala.