Indian state appoints ‘cow cabinet’ to lead it through Covid economic crunch

Madhya Pradesh, led by the Hindu nationalist BJP, hopes to provide a boost through ‘the economy surrounding cows’

Indian state to form first cow cabinet for protection of cattle (AFP via Getty Images)

The government of Madhya Pradesh in central India will set up the country’s first “cow cabinet” as a way of boosting the Covid-hit rural economy, while at the same time taking measures for the protection and preservation of an animal considered holy by Hindus.

The cabinet will be composed of officials from seven different state government departments, including not just animal husbandry but also revenue, the forest department, the panchayat (village council) and rural development department and the home department.  

Its work will include the promotion of cow by-products – milk, of course, but also household products and drinks made from cow urine and dung, which some Indians believe to have medicinal properties. 

Deepak Vijayvargiya, the ruling BJP party’s chief spokesperson in the state, said the formation of a cow cabinet will help in developing an alternative source of employment for rural people, who have borne the brunt of job losses due to the national Covid-19 lockdown that began in March.

“Industrialisation cannot be the only solution towards providing employment. The economy surrounding cows is a sustainable one which is going on for over 2,000 years. Through this cabinet, the government will provide for sustainable infrastructure for developing a cow-economy to raise incomes in the rural setup,” Mr Vijayvargiya said.

The sensitive issue of gau raksha or cow protection has remained a matter of central concern to the Hindu nationalist BJP. Cows are considered a sacred symbol of life in Hinduism. Though they are not worshipped like gods, Hindu scriptures do refer to the cow as the mother of all the gods.

Prime minister Narendra Modi has pledged a number of pro-cow policies since coming to power in 2014, and set up a national commission for cattle - the Rashtriya Kamdhenu Ayog - which received £52m in funding in 2019 for the preservation and protection of cows.

Mr Modi’s home state of Gujarat recently approved tests on a cow-based traditional medicine for the treatment of Covid-19. The concoction is based on five cow products – milk, curd, ghee, urine and dung – and has previously been claimed as a cure for many serious illnesses including cancer.

Laws have also been passed in several states to ban the killing of cows, while there has been a rise in incidents of so-called cow protection lynchings – with victims, often Muslims, beaten to death accused of killing cows or trading in beef.

Efforts to prevent the killing of cattle have seen the existing infrastructure of cow shelters filled to bursting, and exacerbated a common problem seen across Indian cities of stray cows living off garbage in the street.

The Madhya Pradesh government, led by the BJP’s Shivraj Singh Chauhan, allocated £1m earlier this year for the upkeep of government-run shelters with capacity for 180,000 cows.