The elections to Madhya Pradesh Assembly is over and the date of polling in Rajasthan is next week. Whoever comes to power, the farmers in both States have one common demand for them: help control the growing population of nilgais and stray cattle that destroy their crops. They want the new governments to learn from Bihar and Uttarakhand, where nilgais are considered vermin and State governments manage the menace with the approval of the Union Forest Department.
Badrilal Nagda, a farmer from Neemuch, has a variety of crops in his field, including wheat, chickpeas and flaxseed. “They came in large groups yesterday, in the night. It is very difficult to chase them away. They eat everything and in the process they destroy the crops. It is a major problem for us,” Mr. Nagda said, pointing to a huge pile of nilgai excreta on his land and urging the government’s intervention.
Both wheat and chickpeas are at sapling stage, and the farmer showed the destruction caused by the animals. “Here, we do not have much problems with stray cattle, but nilgais are a headache,” he said.
