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Gau figure: Why Animal Welfare Board of India looks like a cow protection society

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Pathikrit Sanyal
Pathikrit SanyalJun 14, 2017 | 23:27

Gau figure: Why Animal Welfare Board of India looks like a cow protection society

The lion may be the proverbial king of the forest, but in both the urban and rural landscapes of India, it is the cow that gets the royal treatment. We have extraordinary laws to protect cows, we have vigilantes killing people over cows, and we even worship cows. To top things off nicely, the government’s Animal Welfare Board now has a decisive cattle-based agenda.

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According to reports, the Animal Welfare Board (AWB) – a statutory board that was established in 1962 under Section 4 of The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960, in fact, the main agency for framing laws for the protection of animals – has made a rapid gau-turn, with seven out of eight independent board members associated with cow research and cow shelters, including those who have been vocal about cow protection.

Apart from the independent members, the board also consists of eight directors from the government.

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Photo: Reuters

How did this happen?

The AWB has four principal functions, namely recognition of animal welfare organisations (AWOs), providing financial assistance to the recognised AWOs, making suggestion about laws and rules about animal welfare issues, and raising awareness about various animal welfare issues. 

In its 55-year old history, the AWB has always been chaired by persons outside the government, including veterinarians, animal welfare activists and retired judges. But not anymore. 

Differences developed between the Centre and the AWB after Prakash Javadekar-led environment ministry came out with a notification that allowed Jallikattu to happen in Tamil Nadu. The AWB, following this, moved the Supreme Court against the environment ministry. Immediate ramifications came in the form of the resignation of the AWB chairman, retired Major General RM Kharb.

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Consequently the Centre replaced all 22 members of the board at the end of their three-year-tenure by not reappointing any of them. For the first time, not one old member was reappointed, bringing into force an entirely new board.

Who are these new members?

According to a report in The Print, all seven independent members have what is best termed a cow-centric background. The board includes Girish Shah of the Samast Mahajan, an organisation that provides financial aid to a network of gaushalas (cow shelters) across Gujarat, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh.

Then there is Dr RS Chauhan from the College of Veterinary and Animal Science, where he has performed research on the properties of gaumutra (cow urine) and how it increases immunity and helps cure cancer. Additionally, there is also Dr Hitesh Jani, the head of the department of Panchkarma from Gujarat Ayurveda University, who is affiliated with the RSS and is the head of Gau Vigyana Adhyayan Evam Sodha Sanstha and Garbhvigyana Anusadhan Kendra.

There is Sunil Mansinghka, of the Go Vigyana Anusadhan Kendra, an organisation that started in year 1996 with a vision to develop a way of life, based on the Indian cow, for farmers. Dhan Pal Singh comes from the Gayatri Parivaar in Haridwar, an organisation that runs 70 gaushalas, while providing training to entrepreneurs who have, till date, opened 200 more gaushalas. He was previously a member of the Gau Seva Ayog as well.

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There is Ajit Kelkar of the Abhinav Krishi Manav Vikas Sngathan. An author, Kelkar has written a book called Abhinav Krishi Chintan exploring new agricultural methodology. His book was published by Gaurashtra. And finally there is Mohan Singh Ahluwalia of Gwala Gaddi, an organisation that works against milk adulteration and cow slaughter.

If their credentials are not enough evidence of the government’s obvious cow leanings, their words are certainly more illuminating.

“In our scriptures, there are 84 lakh creatures, so do you think there should be 84 lakh members in the board?” said Sunil Mansinghka, when asked about the cow-centric board of the AWB. "Cow is life on earth and represents all animals. The milk, urine and dung of dogs, cats and other animals are of no use,” he added.

According to Girish Shah, who believes that the way cows are held up in closed environments is not conducive to their growth and development: “We must replace the current model of stall feeding. This was adapted from Holland and New Zealand. But, why do we need the cattle to eat and urinate at the same place? Which is why I think it’s apt for us to adopt the traditional model of animal keeping. They move out freely, feed themselves and return to their owners on their own. They must have that liberty.”

Dhan Pal Singh, on the other hand, has the idea that “there should be a free, huge land, like a sanctuary, where people can come and see cows”.

Backlash

According to a News18 report, animal rights activist Rukmini Sekhar slammed the government for the appointments. Criticising a move that essentially ignores all other animals except cows, something that has been an apparent BJP agenda, she said: “Cow is one animal among many others. A bullock or an ox would feel the same pain as a cow. I really hope the cow experts on the Board deal with issues with respect to the law.”

On the other hand, Union environment minister Harsh Vardhan defended the move, saying, "Is it a crime to be gau rakshak (cow protector)? If someone has put his life into cow protection, it is a significant certification of their commitment to the environment and to animal welfare."

What probably escapes the minister’s eyes is the kind of mayhem that so-called gau rakshaks are creating in India at present.

In April, the manager of Hotel Hayat Rabbani in Jaipur was roughed up by a mob over rumours of serving beef. According to reports, Naeem Rabbani, the owner of the hotel, said that his manager was brought back among the cow vigilantes by the police to pacify the self-styled gau rakshaks. The hotel's manager was also slapped and manhandled in police presence.

In the same month, 55-year-old Pehlu Khan and his men, who were dairy farmers from Mewat, were attacked by gau rakshaks in Behror area of Alwar, on National Highway 8. The gau rakshaks were so brutal and merciless in their attack that Khan succumbed to his injuries. He had all the necessary papers with him that proved beyond the sliver of a doubt that they weren’t transporting the cows for slaughter. They were going to sell their milk like any cattle farmer would.

But of course, the minister is completely fair in asking: “Is it a crime to be gau rakshak?”

Only a day ago, Tamil Nadu officials transporting 50 cows and 30 calves from Rajasthan’s Jaisalmer were attacked by cow vigilantes. The officials were assaulted and the vigilantes tried to set a truck – part of a convoy of five trucks carrying the cattle, purchased by the state’s husbandry department – on fire. Thankfully, the cops were able to avert that.

A trend of government interference

The Modi government has been, ever since its rise to power, interfering with statutory bodies and academic instituitions. These are places that have an agenda very different from the conservative BJP government. Last year, the government, through a panel headed by Narendra Modi, appointed BJP vice president Avinash Rai Khanna as a member of the National Human Rights Commision.

For the NHRC, a body that is supposed to be an independent and powerful statutory instrument to hold all governments accountable for upholding human rights, having a BJP member on the board is not a good sign at all. There was also the appointment of BJP’s Gajendra Chauhan as the head of Film Technology Institute of India, a thoroughly liberal academic and arts institution, that raised eyebrows.

Most recently, there was the appointment of Braj Bihari Kumar, the 76-year-old editor of Sangh-inspired quarterly journals Dialogue and Chintan Srijan, as the new chairman of the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR), the apex body of social science research in the country. The man’s views on matters like origin of caste oppression in India in medieval invasions, influence of Marxism and left-liberal secular schools of thought on India’s higher education easily reflects the degradation of an esteemed body — owing to the shadow of the Sangh influence.

The gau-tilt of the animal welfare board is as scary as it sounds. In an age when cow vigilantes are given a free reign and incidents like lynching by gau rakshaks continue to take place without any condemnation from the Centre, a statutory board with a set agenda is all that was needed.

The way things are progressing, by the next year, we’ll probably end up with the cow as our national animal.  

 

Last updated: June 15, 2017 | 12:49
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