Indian Army Shuts Military Farms After 132 Years – Free PDF Download

What has happened?

• After serving the nation’s troops for 132 years, the Indian Army announced the closure of military farms on Wednesday.
• “After 132 years of glorious service to the nation, curtains were drawn on this organisation.
• All the officers and workers have been redeployed within the ministry to continue providing service to the organisation,” the Indian Army said.

What are military farms?

• The farms were set up with the sole requirement of supplying hygienic cow milk to troops in garrisons across British India.
• The first military farm was raised on February 1, 1889 at Allahabad.
• Post independence, the farms flourished with 30,000 heads of cattle in 130 farms all over India.
• They were even established in Leh and Kargil in late 1990s.
• “Another major task was management of large tracts of defence land, production and supply of baled hay to animal holding units,” the statement said.
• For more than a century, the farms with dedication and commitment supplied 3.5 crore litres of milk and 25,000 MT of hay yearly.
• “It is credited with pioneering the technique of artificial insemination of cattle and introduction of organised dairying in India, providing yeoman service during the 1971 war,
• Supplying milk at the Western and Eastern war fronts as well as during the Kargil operations to the Northern Command,” the Army said.
• In collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture, they established “Project Freiswal”, Credited to be the world’s largest cattle cross-breeding programme and
• They also teamed up with the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) in the development of bio-fuel, the statement said.

Closure if the farms

• There have been several recommendations in the past to shut down the farms.
• In 2012, the Quarter Master General branch had recommended their closure and again in December 2016 by Lt. Gen. DB Shekatkar (retd) committee
• Which was appointed to recommend measures to enhance combat capability and rebalance defence expenditure of the armed forces.

Reason?

• The farms were a necessity as cantonments were located far away from urban areas.
• However, with urban expansion, cantonments have come well within towns and cities and milk procurement is being increasingly done from the open market.
• Over the years, there have been several allegations of corruption surrounding the farms.
• With the closure of British era military farms, the Indian Army will save Rs 280 crore that was spent on the maintenance of acres of land, cattle and salaries to the staff.
• In addition, spread over 20,000 acres of land across the country,
• These military farms had become a liability for the force as they were occupying a substantial amount of land which could be used for other purposes, the Indian Army said.

Current assets with these farms?

• There were approximately 25,000 cows in the 39 farms across the country when the decision was announced.
• The 39 military farms are spread over more than 20,000 acres of prime defence land across the country in cities such as Ambala, Kolkata, Srinagar, Agra, Pathankot, Lucknow, Meerut, Allahabad and Guwahati.
• In an effort to hurry the shutting down process, the cows have been sold to state governments and other departments at Rs 1,000 per animal, the Indian Army stated.
• The cost of each Frieswal breed of cows, known for maximum milk, was around Rs 1 lakh.
• However, there were no takers for the cattle which prompted selling them at cheap rates.
• Despite the low prices the cows have not attracted many buyers.

Q) The Military farms included the stock of Frieswal cows.
It is a mixed breed of Indian which country’s cow?

1. England
2. Netherland
3. France
4. Italy

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