Rajasthan has a problem it can't name: farmers abandoning their cattle

Sooni cattle, or cows and bulls that are not economically useful and have no owners, are becoming a burden and menace in towns and cities but fear of violence and the law blocks any planned solution.

It is the worst kept secret in rural Rajasthan. Everyone is in on the secret, but it is mostly spoken about in hushed tones.

Each village has a story of how it gets rid of its sooni cattle. In parts of Rajasthan, sooni is a term to describe cows and bulls that are not economically useful, and have no owners.

A Muslim farmer in Tonk, who didn’t want to be named, said two villages came to blows sometime back in his district. This was after one village had taken to leaving their ‘sooni’ cows and bulls in the neighbouring village at the