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HomeIndiaGovernanceCow is the ‘national cattle of India’, says Delhi's AAP government

Cow is the ‘national cattle of India’, says Delhi’s AAP government

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Delhi’s Department of Forests and Wildlife says cow is national cattle, but doesn’t know when it was done. Experts suspect it is a goof-up.

New Delhi: The Aam Aadmi Party government in Delhi isn’t ordinarily known for indulging in cow politics. But, in a rather curious response to an RTI application, the Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi government has declared the cow to be the “national cattle of India”.

Befuddled with the response, especially since nobody seems to be aware of when this decision was taken and who took it, animal rights activists have raised plenty of questions.

Enquiries made by ThePrint showed that even the RTI Cell, which had sent the response to the applicant about the new special status accorded to the cow, wasn’t sure of the source of this information.

When asked for the government notification on which the information was based, the RTI Cell’s response was: “It may have been added on the basis of the proposal made by the Rajasthan High Court to declare the cow as the national animal.”

Prodded further, the cell in-charge acknowledged that it could also be a “technical error”.

Incidentally, even the date of the RTI response was incorrect: 28 March 2018.

Why the RTI was filed

The RTI application, filed by Sukanya Kadyan Berwal, requested for information pertaining to the “rules and regulations” under which the national animal, national bird, national heritage animal, national aquatic animal, national cattle, state animal of Delhi, state bird of Delhi and national game of India are accorded special status.

While the official website of central government lists the national animal, flower, bird and even tree, the other categories – including “national cattle” — are not mentioned anywhere.

“I have never heard of national cattle of India,” said Jayasimha Nuggehalli, an animal rights activist. “There was a National Cattle Commission constituted in 2002, which recommended making cow the national animal, but that never actually happened.”

“For us, the Delhi government’s response is a government notification,” said Naresh Kadyan, chairman of People for Animals (PFA) Haryana, who along with Berwal has started an online petition to declare cow the “national cattle of India”.

Incidentally, last month, the Rajasthan High Court had directed the state government to coordinate with the Centre and take steps for declaring cow as the national animal.

In recent years, cows have been at the centre of national politics, with several cases of mob lynchings and communal violence in the name of cows being reported from across the country, including Rajasthan.

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5 COMMENTS

  1. Will someone please declare citizens as National Humans of India and stop the killings? Also when will they declare law&order as National Responsibility of the government?

  2. Honourable Prime Minister says gorakshak have no right to take the law in their hands. But why Animal Transportation Rules n 125E of Motor Vehicle Rules amended in 2015 are not implemented strictly so there may not be any incident of lynching by cow vigilantes.

  3. Cow should be declared as national cattle so that smuggling n slaughtering of cows n progeny is stopped so also meat export policy should be reviewed n recommendations of Rajya Sabha committee on petitions no. 151 tabled on 13.2.2014 should be implemented.

    Meat export is root cause of cows smuggling n slaughtering.
    Besides animals have also right to live with dignity. Supreme Court held in A. W. B. I. V. A. Nagaraja n others on 7.5.2014, rights of animals n directions given to government for implementation thereof but in vain. Why? because mute beings cannot raise their voice.

    Apart from it, as per United Nations reports approx fifty Percent global warming is on account of animals n birds killing for non veg.
    So everyone has to be vegan by 2050, otherwise it will not be possible to survive because of global warming..

    So stop killing cows n other animals n birds for food. Use them for productive purposes only.

    Thanks.

  4. National Cattle of India declared as Cow by the Govt. of Delhi and same was disclosed today by the Wildlife Department of Delhi on Mrs. Sukanya Kadyan Berwal petition but OIPA – Scouts and Guides for Animals, PFA Haryana Abhishek Kadyan with Mrs. Suman Malik Kadyan, in the opinion that it is possible only under section 9 (k) in the shape of Advisory for educational purpose for the quality of Cow along with section 10 of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960 to regulate the protection of Cow progeny, besides it toothless PCA Act, 1960 also needs immediate replacement along with AWBI to National Commission on Animal Welfare with judicial powers.

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