India’s new “cow science” exam politicizes sacred animals, critics say

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The optional exam will take place annually, mainly for school and university students, although it can also be done by the general public, said Rashtriya Kamdhenu Aayog (RKA) of the country, an agency set up in 2012 for the protection of cows of the Ministry of Fisheries. Livestock and dairy.

“The science of cows needs to be explored,” RKA President Vallabhai Kathiria said said a news conference Tuesday. “I’m a cancer surgeon myself, so I can attest to that.”

“Even if a cow doesn’t give milk, cow dung and cow urine are so precious,” he added.

A member of the opposition National Congress Party of India, Priyank Kharge, criticized the movement on Twitter.

“These wildcards want to explore‘ cow science ’during the pandemic and don’t care about the scientific protocols that companies have to follow while vaccinating the entire population,” Karge said. referring to India’s emergency approval earlier this week of two coronavirus vaccines.

Cows are a controversial topic in India and many of the majority Hindu populations in the country consider the animal to be sacred. Most states have banned their killing.

The political push to enforce these bans has increased since Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014 – the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is strongly aligned with conservative Hindu nationalists.

People suspected of killing cows, or even just eating beef, have been killed in violent attacks in the country. A large number of these people include Muslims. But the surveillance crimes of cows in India would have been ignored or covered up by the authorities since Modi’s rise to power.

Clean and smart

The RKA has published a 54-page examination study guide, which includes topics such as the “religious significance” and the “medical significance” of cows.

“The cow is a living heritage not only of Hindus, but of humanity,” the document states. “In world traditions, the cow represents fertility, prosperity, and life, and is often called the mother-ancestor, perhaps for being the first mammal domesticated by man.”

The document states that large-scale slaughterhouse activity leads to major earthquakes, an unproven claim that the pain emitted by the massacre may generate enough stress to cause a seismic reaction.

It also states that native (Indian) cows produce the best milk quality on earth, compared to “exotic cows”.

“The quality isn’t good at all, but the quantity is more,” he says of the Jersey cow, a breed usually associated with a creamy, high-quality milk.

According to the document, native cows are “smart enough not to sit in dirty places” and are also more emotional than Jersey cows. “Whenever an unknown person approaches the desi (Indian) cow, it will stop immediately,” the document says.

Propaganda tool?

Photographer and activist Sujatro Ghosh, the 2017 series of photographs of Indian women wearing cow masks went viral on social media, calling the exam “another propaganda tool for the Hindu-national government”.
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“After the rise of the far-right government in India, the cow has become a political animal,” Ghosh said. “The cow is used as a tool to divide people and the examination is seen as a way to put the cow on a pedestal. These politicians don’t care about cows, they only care about politics.”

During Modi’s 2014 election campaign, he made a promise to end a “pink revolution,” a phrase he used to describe the nationwide slaughter of cattle.

Other BJP lawmakers have taken it a step further.

“He had promised to break the hands and legs of those who do not consider cows their mother and I will kill them,” said Utram Pradesh state legislator Vikram Saini at a March 2017 event.

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