IDs for Indian cows

MURSHIDABAD, India — To stop the smuggling of Indian cattle to Bangladesh, in one Indian border district, authorities have come up with a novel solution: photo-identification cards for all local cattle.

Earlier this year, local authorities asked residents of all villages bordering Bangladesh in the Indian district of Murshidabad to prepare photo IDs for local cows and buffaloes.

The cattle ID cards are being issued to help Indian Border Security Force (BSF) and police intercept cattle — mostly cows and water buffaloes — smuggled across the border.

According to one estimate, at least 25,000 head of cattle are smuggled into Bangladesh every day from India — mostly through the Indian state of West Bengal.

“The traffickers have a well-entrenched network in the bordering villages where the cattle are kept in transit, before being sent across the border. These ID cards can help us easily identify the cattle brought into Indian villages for smuggling,” said Harish Chandra Upadhyaya, head of the BSF in Murshidabad.

India doesn’t legalize the export of cattle to any country but they are smuggled to Bangladesh and Pakistan regularly. Indian traffickers bring the cattle by truck to West Bengal from as far as north India, he said.

People in bordering villages are busy getting their home cows photographed in local photo studios for the special cards to avoid harassment by the BSF and police who often raid villages in search of cattle waiting to be smuggled to Bangladeshi slaughterhouses.

West Bengal shares 1,300 miles of border with Bangladesh and the entire border, which is partly fenced, is used for smuggling. In villages along only about 75 miles of the international border the cattle ID cards have come in practice.

More than 75 percent of the cattle smuggled into Bangladesh are brought from northern half of India. In 2006, the BSF intercepted 122,000 Bangladesh-bound cattle in the border districts of West Bengal.

In Bangladesh, the counterparts of Indian cattle smugglers are identified as cow traders or importers who pay duty to Bangladeshi customs for importing the cattle from Indian smugglers.

It is thought that more than 80 percent of cows slaughtered in Bangladesh are from India.

The cattle are usually carried at night across the border through unmanned illegal crossing points by boat or on foot. But local villagers also attempt to smuggle the animals in the daytime in the border area — where Indian territory stretches up to 5 miles beyond BSF checkpoints — with the excuse of letting the cattle graze before handing them over to Bangladeshi traffickers.

“Soon these ID cards are going to be made mandatory for all cattle in border villages,” said Mr. Upadhyaya. “Then, during our raid if villagers cannot produce the ID cards, [it’ll be easier for us] to confiscate the cattle and book those villagers on charges of smuggling.”

This year in Murshidabad, according to government sources, about 5,000 cattle IDs have been issued to their owners. The applications of hundreds more are waiting to be processed.

In Murshidabad’s villages bordering Bangladesh, most cows are now found grazing or ploughing with their IDs dangling from their necks or horns.

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