India Moves Closer to Ban on Cow Slaughter
In August, India’s cabinet agreed to bring before its Parliament a bill that would ban the slaughter of cows throughout that nation.
Cows, of course, are considered sacred by Hindus and India has experienced waves of Hindu nationalism recently with, as the BBC put it, “the country’s two main political parties . . . battling over which one is the more ‘Hindu.’”
The slaughter of cows is already banned in most Indian states, but persists in Kerala, West Bengal, and seven other Indian states that have significant non-Hindu populations (40 percent of the population in Kerala, for example, is Muslim or Christian).
The BBC cites one example of intersection between Hindu extremism and government policy over cows,
Cows are also revered by many in India who believe some cow products have curative powers.
Scientists at the Centre for Medicinal Plants in Lucknow say distilled cow urine enhances the effects of any medicine and is used in traditional Indian medicine along with dung and fat.
Many companies including the VHP have started selling cow urine for 10 rupees ($0.20) in some parts of the country.
A practice, by the way, that is explicitly endorsed by Minister for Human Resources Development Murali Manohar Joshi.
Sources:
India targets cow slaughter. Jyotsna Singh, The BBC, August 11, 2003.
Tags: Cows