MCD teaches a cow-concerned citizen e-cow-nomics

Phone rings

MCD: Haalo?

Ram: Haan hello, there is a dead cow lying outside our house — can you please come and remove it?

MCD: Are you sure it’s a cow?

Ram: What?

MCD: Are you sure it’s a cow – not a horse, or goat?

Ram: Well, looks like a cow, has two horns, an udder…

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MCD: Forget all that. Does it have a Cowdhaar bar code on its ear?

Ram: A what?

MCD: A Cowdhaar bar code. Just as your Aadhaar card has biometric information, every registered cow is now required to have a bar code attached to its ear that contains all relevant details.

Ram: ‘Wait, let me check — no I can’t see any bar code.

MCD: An unregistered cow — that’s going to be a problem.

Ram: Is there something I can do — I don’t want it lying outside the house?

MCD: You need to get a ‘No Objection Certificate’ from the local Gau Rakshak Dal leader, duly attested by the panchayat head or district magistrate as well as the local police chief.

Ram: Why do I need that?

MCD: You don’t, Sahib, but I do. See, if I take away a cow that does not have a valid Cowdhaar code, then someone later can claim it was taken illegally. And the Gau Rakshaks will not spare me.

Ram: I don’t even know there was a local Gau Rakshak dal — how do I get hold of them?

MCD: Dial 1800 Gau Mata — they will assist you.

Ram: Okay, then you will come to pick up the cow?

MCD: Sure, as long as you have the death certificate.

Ram: For a cow? Who will give me a death certificate from a cow?

MCD: Any licensed Gau-ne-cow-logist, with a Hindu priest as a witness.

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Ram: What’s a Gau-ne-cow-logist?

MCD: A doctor who specialises in bovine medicine — it’s the latest field of study in our medical schools. With over 180 million potential patients, whose lives are all very valuable to society, there is a lot of money to be made!

Ram: Ok, so NoC, followed by death certificate — then you pick up the cow?

MCD: We need a release form from the district animal welfare unit — basically that the cow is not someone else’s property and that you have the right to ask me to take it away.

Ram: But it’s dead!!

MCD: And that makes it even more important — if it were a live cow, would you even be calling me?

Ram: No, but this is ridiculous — how long will it take to get the release form?

MCD: It depends, some animal welfare officers require you to place the ad for 14 days, others for an entire month.

Ram: An ad??? What kind of ad?

MCD: Basically like a missing person’s ad — you place it in two local papers, one English and one vernacular — asking if anyone has claim to the cow. Take a picture of the cow and submit it along with any identification marks.

Ram: But in 14 days, the carcass would rot completely — what’s the point of your coming then?

MCD: The point is that we need to follow the rules and regulations so that everyone’s interest is protected — especially that of the cow!

Ram: This is ludicrous. You know what, I’m just going to get a few people and pick it up myself and move it.

MCD: I would strongly advise you against doing that.

Ram: Why — who’s going to stop me?

MCD: Your local Gau Rakshak Dal, for one — all calls to this number are being recorded. So the fact that you have a dead cow at your house is already known to the various authorities, and they will expect you to contact them for the relevant forms. And fees.

Ram: Fees?

MCD: Of course — do you think the NoC, death certificate etc. come for free? It will cost you 5-15,000 rupees by the time you’re done.

Ram: That’s extortion!

MCD: No, just the new e-cow-nomics!

Madhav Acharya works for a multinational in the oil sector. The views expressed are personal .