Sosamma Iype

Born1941 (age 84–85)

Niranam, Thiruvalla, Travancore, British India

CitizenshipIndia

AlmamaterUnion Christian College, Aluva, Veterinary College, Mannuthy, National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal, Haryana.

OccupationAnimal Conservationist

Sosamma Iype
Born	1941 (age 84–85) Niranam, Thiruvalla, Travancore, British India
Citizenship	India
Alma mater	Union Christian College, Aluva, Veterinary College, Mannuthy, National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal, Haryana.
Occupation	Animal Conservationist
Known for	Conservation of Vechur Cow
Spouse	Late Dr. Abraham Varkey
Children	Dr. Rebecca Varghese, George Abraham
Parent(s)	Kottayil Varghese Iype and Mariamma Iype
Awards	India Biodiversity Award
Honours	Padma Shri

Sosamma Iype is an Indian animal conservationist from Niranam, Pathanamthitta district, Kerala. She was the former Head of the Department of Genetics and Animal Breeding at the Kerala Veterinary University and was awarded the Padma Shri for the year 2022 by the Government of India for her services to conserve the Vechur cow, a native breed of cattle.^[1] She has devoted her life to the conservation of the Vechur cows and is often called "Vechur Amma," literally meaning mother of Vechur cows.^[2]

Personal life

Sosamma Iype was born in 1941 at Niranam village in Thiruvalla of present-day Pathanamthitta district. She was a Professor and researcher at Kerala Veterinary University (formerly Mannuthy Veterinary College).^[2] Sosamma, who holds a PhD from the National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal, Haryana worked as Head of the Department of Genetics and Animal Breeding at the Kerala Veterinary University.^[2] She retired from Kerala Veterinary University in 2001 as the Director, Centre for Advanced Studies in Animal Genetics & Breeding.^[3] Despite retiring from official life, Sosamma is still active in the Vechur Conservation Trust, an NGO formed for the conservation of domestic animals and birds of Kerala State.^[4]

She and her husband late Abraham Varkey (Retd. Professor of Surgery, Kerala Veterinary University) have two children Dr. Rebecca Varghese and George C Abraham.^[4] She now lives in Mannuthy, Thrissur district.^[4]

Conservation of Vechur Cows

The Vechur Cow is a rare breed of Bos indicus cattle named after the village Vechur in Kerala. Dr. Sosamma Iype with like-minded conservationists in Kerala, started a 30-year conservation project in 1989 to save the endangered Vechoor cows.^[5] In the early nineties, Sosamma and her husband, Dr. Abraham Varkey, who was also a veterinarian, traveled for years with a group of young vet graduates to remote villages in the Pathanamthitta, Alappuzha and Kottayam districts in search of pure bred Vechur cows.^[5] The 8 Vechur cows thus obtained were paid for and kept in the stables of the Kerala Veterinary University.^[1] Multiple Ovulation and Embryo Transfer (MOET) technique was used for breeding the cows.^[6] By 1998, the number of animals in the unit had increased and about 30 animals had been sold to cattle farmers to set up some field units.^[6] At present there are about 7,000 Vechur cows in the state.^[2] Her interventions are considered by some people to be the second major biodiversity conservation initiative in Kerala after the campaign to protect the environmentally vulnerable Silent Valley.^[7]

Opponents of the project have accused that the group is working against government policy by reintroducing an unproductive cattle breed.^[5] When the project was successful, Sosamma was accused of collaborating with the Roslin Institute in Edinburgh to patent the vechur cow's genetic code. Environmentalist Vandana Shiva had claimed that the Roslin Institute in Scotland obtained a patent for discovering the genetic makeup of Vechoor cows.^[4] "The patent number is E.P.765390 and the scientists behind the project of Sosamma are behind it" Shiva said.^[4] The national media and the international journal Nature published it with a great prominence.^[4] But the investigations on this allegation proved to be false.^[5] The controversy, which began in 1998, took two years to resolve.^[4] Based on her experiences in conservation of Vechur cows, she has written a book named Vechur Pashu: Punarjanmam which literally means "Vechur Cow: Rebirth."^[1]

v t e Recipients of Padma Shri in other fields
1950s	No awards were given in this category during these years.
1960s	No awards were given in this category during these years.
1970s	No awards were given in this category during these years.
1980s	Govind Bhimacharya Joshi (1986) No awards were given in this category during the other years.
1990s	Gisela Bonn (1990) Inder Sharma (1990) Rajinder Singh (1990) Shanti Lal Jain (1992) Alfred Georg Wuerfel (1992) Nil (1993) Nil (1994) Nil (1995) Nil (1996) Nil (1997) Nil (1998) Nil (1999)
2000s	Aloysius Prakash Fernandez (2000) Nil (2001) Nil (2002) Pratapsinh Jadhav (2003) Nil (2004) Sunita Narain (2005) Nil (2006) Rabinder Gokaldas Ahuja (2007) Tarla Dalal (2007) Lalit Pande (2007) Nil (2008) Syed Iqbal Hasnain (2009) Surinder Mehta (2009) Ameen Sayani (2009)
2010s	Ranjit Bhargava (2010) Ghulam Mohammed Mir (2010) Om Prakash Agrawal (2011) Madhukar Keshav Dhavalikar (2011) Shanti Teresa Lakra (2011) Gulshan Nanda (2011) Swapan Guha (2012) K. Ullas Karanth (2012) K. Paddayya (2012) T. Venkatapathi Reddiar (2012) Kartikeya V. Sarabhai (2012) Ravindra Singh Bisht (2013) Ritu Kumar (2013) Wendell Rodricks (2014) Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin (2015) Chewang Norphel (2015) Jadav Payeng (2015) Amrta Suryananda Maha Raja (2015) H. Thegtse Rinpoche (2015) H. R. Nagendra (2016) Predrag K. Nikic (2016) Simon Oraon (2016) Subhash Palekar (2016) Piyush Pandey (2016) Imitiaz Qureshi (2016) Ravindra Kumar Sinha (2016) Hui Lan Zhang (2016) Meenakshi Amma (2017) Asoke Kumar Bhattacharyya (2017) Sanjeev Kapoor (2017) Genabhai Dargabhai Patel (2017) Arun Kumar Sharma (2017) Bounlap Keokangna (2018) Narayan Das Maharaj (2018) Nouf Marwaai (2018) Somdet Phra Maha Muniwong (2018) V. Nanammal (2018) Nguyen Tien Thien (2018) Romulus Whitaker (2018) Bangaru Adigalar (2019) Dilip Chakravarty (2019) Kanwal Singh Chauhan (2019) Babulal Dahiya (2019) Rajkumari Devi (2019) Vallabhbhai Vasrambhai Marvaniya (2019) K. K. Muhammed (2019) Jagdish Prasad Parikh (2019) Bimal Patel (2019) Hukumchand Patidar (2019) Tao Porchon-Lynch (2019) Kamala Pujhari (2019) Narender Singh Sultan Singh (2019) Sharada Srinivasan (2019) Bharat Bhushan Tyagi (2019) Ram Saran Verma (2019) Swami Vishudhananda (2019) Venkateswara Rao Yadlapalli (2019)
2020s	Enamul Haque (2020) Rahibai Soma Popere (2020) Chintala Venkat Reddy (2020) Radhamohan and Sabramatee (duo) (2020) Batakrushna Sahoo (2020) Trinity Saioo (2020) Nanadro B Marak (2021) Pappammal (2021) Prem Chand Sharma (2021) Chandra Shekhar Singh (2021) Ali Manikfan (2021) Amai Mahalinga Naik (2022) Seth Pal Singh (2022) Sosamma Iype (2022) Abdul Khader Nadakattin (2022) Guru Tulku Rinpoche (2022) Sadguru Brahmeshanand Acharya Swami (2022) Sivananda (2022) Sukama Acharya (2023) Cheruvayal Raman (2023) Patayat Sahu (2023) Nekram Sharma (2023) Kushok Thiksey Nawang Chamba Stanzin (2023) S Subbaraman (2023) Tula Ram Upreti (2023) Sarbeswar Basumatary (2024) Sathyanarayana Beleri (2024) K Chellammal (2024) Charlotte Chopin (2024) Chitta Maharaj (2024) Yanung Jamoh Lego (2024) Sanjay Anant Patil (2024) Kiran Vyas (2024) Baijnath Maharaj (2025) Chandrakant Sompura (2025) Hariman Sharma (2025) K. Damodaran (2025) L Hangthing (2025) Lama Lobzang (2025) Subhash Khetulal Sharma (2025) Swami Pradiptananda (Kartik Maharaj) (2025) Vijay Nityanand Surishwar Ji Maharaj (2025) Buddha Rashmi Mani (2026) Jogesh Deuri (2026) Narayan Vyas (2026) Raghupat Singh (2026) Rama Reddy Mamidi (2026) Ramamurthy Sreedher (2026) Sant Niranjan Dass (2026) Shrirang Devaba Lad (2026)

Personal life

Conservation of Vechur Cows

Awards and honors

References

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