India’s new ‘cow science’ exam politicizes sacred animal, critics say

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The optional exam will be held annually, primarily for school and college students, although the general public can also take it, said the country’s Rashtriya Kamdhenu Aayog (RKA), a cow protection agency established in 2012 under the Ministry of Fisheries. Animal husbandry and dairy farming.

“Science in cows needs to be explored,” said RKA Chair Vallabhai Kathiria told a press conference on Tuesday. “I am a cancer surgeon myself, so I can confirm that.”

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

A member of the opposition party, Priyank Kharge, criticized the move on Twitter.

“These pranksters want to explore ‘Cow Science’ during a pandemic and don’t give a shit about the scientific protocols companies must follow in vaccinating the entire population,” said Karge. referring to India’s emergency approval of two coronavirus vaccines earlier this week.

Cows are a contentious topic in India, and many of the country’s Hindu population consider the animal sacred. Most states have banned their slaughter.

The political pressure to enforce these bans has increased since Prime Minister Narendra Modi – whose Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is strongly linked to conservative Hindu nationalists – came to power in 2014.

Violent attacks in the country have killed people suspected of killing cows or even eating beef. A large number of these people are Muslims. But cowguard crimes in India have reportedly been ignored by the authorities or covered up by the authorities since Modi took power.

Clean and smart

The RKA has released a 54 page exam study guide covering topics such as “religious significance” and “medical significance” of cows.

“The cow is a living heritage not only of Hindus, but also of humanity,” the document states. “In world traditions, the cow represents fertility, prosperity and life, and is often referred to as the mother ancestor, perhaps because she was the first mammal to be domesticated by humans.”

The document claims that large-scale slaughterhouses lead to major earthquakes, an unproven claim that suggests that pain emitted by mass slaughter can generate enough stress to trigger a seismic response.

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

“The quality is not good at all, but the quantity is more”, says the Jersey cow. a variety normally associated with high quality creamy milk.

According to the document, native cows are “smart enough not to sit in dirty areas” and are also more sensitive than Jersey cows. “When an unknown person comes close to a desi (Indian) cow, she will immediately stand,” the document states.

Propaganda tool?

Photographer and activist Sujatro Ghosh, whose 2017 photo series of Indian women wearing cow masks went viral on social media, called 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 means of dividing people, and the exam 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 national election campaign in 2014, he pledged to end a “pink revolution” – a phrase he used to describe the slaughter of livestock across the country.

Other BJP lawmakers have gone one step further.

“I had promised to break the hands and legs of those who don’t consider cows to be their mothers and kill them,” Vikram Saini, a lawmaker for Uttar Pradesh state, said at an event in March 2017.

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