Is holy cow an udder waste?

Over the years, my parents and my sister have gotten into an interesting way to mark birthdays and other events--they donate money to institutions whose missions they are passionate about.  One of those is a goshala that is a little outside of Chennai.

Cows are, of course, sacred animals in the Hindu faith.  That upbringing is also why when I was walking around in Costa Rica, I was reminded of the kamadhenu. Despite my atheism! 

The reverence for the cow is more than for any utilitarian calculations of milk and manure. The belief is that the animal represents life itself. The mother of life.

When we impose an utilitarian calculation on such a value for a cow, well, of course we might then conclude that a cow is not worth the investment:

India is home to more than a sixth of the world’s population and also more than one quarter of the world’s estimated cattle population. The study’s authors Santosh Anagol, Alvin Etang and Dean Karlan analyzed data from a sample of households in northern India that were asked questions about livestock, farming practices, land holdings, assets, household consumption and income history, savings, borrowing, and shocks. The survey data also provided information on the costs of milk production and data on animal outputs such as milk and calves.
The researchers found that when valuing labor at market wages, these households earned a negative 64% average return for holding cows and a negative 39% return for buffaloes. If the household’s labor is valued at zero, these estimated average returns increase to negative 6% for cows and positive 13% for buffaloes.

Yes, we might want to highlight such a result to those thinking of buying a cow or a buffalo (water buffalo, for you Americans reading this!) with a calculation that selling milk from these animals will lead them to unimaginable riches.

A goshala, on the other hand, is not about making money at all. It is simply a sanctuary of sorts for the cows.  And, yes, the cows are milked as in any other dairy.  But the enterprise is not to make money from the milk.

What I like about the concept of the goshala is that it is a voluntary effort.  If people like my parents want to contribute to it, they do. If they don't, well, there is nothing to force them.

And then there is the insane Indian politics.  Which makes a mockery of anything!

Rajasthan’s right-wing Hindu administration is set to establish a government department for the preservation and protection of cows and to start research institutions, or cow science universities, focused on the rearing and health of the animal.
The Bharatiya Janata Party, which came to power in the desert state, India’s largest by area, in December, is fulfilling a key pledge from its manifesto and plans to declare the cow as the state animal.

Seriously?

Doesn't Rajasthan have a lot more pressing problems, like this one?

In Rajasthan, where cow slaughter is banned, the ruling BJP wants to review and toughen up the existing laws governing cow smuggling for slaughter and plans to give up to 3.5 billion rupees ($57 million) every year to nonprofits and government agencies running cattle smallholdings for feed and upkeep.
To protect cows reared in cowsheds, there will also be a state-wide  campaign to provide them proper health care with clinics held twice a month for cattle, according to the states’ animal husbandry department’s plan for its first 60 days in office.

In other words, government subsidized goshalas. Which will then slowly become government run goshalas. Which will eventually lead to government ill-treatment of the cows themselves!

India is one strange place!