Cattle development problems and programs in India: A regional analysis

India has the largest cattle production in the world. Generally, Indian cattle are considered to be of poor quality, and it is suggested that most of these animals are useful only for beef but for their religious significance to the Hindu majority. Such generalization at the national level ignores the regional qualities of several superior indigenous breeds. Further, India together with some international agencies has launched the most comprehensive cattle development programs in the world. Known as the Key Village Scheme and Intensive Cattle Development Projects, their main objective is the spatial diffusion of superior quality breeds throughout the country. This study is the first attempt towards mapping andevaluating the problems and success of these programs at the district level in India.Grateful acknowledgement is made to the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada for supporting the postfield work part of this study. The author also wishes to thank Dr. A. G. Phipps for helping in computer programming, Keith Bigelow for cartographic work, Keith Bell and Sue Ann Hipkin for data processing and mapping, and Mrs. Dorothy Young for the typing.