New Delhi Steps Up Efforts To Protect Sacred Cows

India Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration is getting tougher on the illegal use of cows for consumption and export, in light of centuries of Hindu thought revering cows for their gentle, maternal nature.


India relies on cows for dairy products, plowing fields, and fertilizing the fields with their dung.

 For these and other reasons the cow is venerated, and a majority of Indian states outlaw eating or possessing cow meat.

But the cow creates significant tensions that may pose a risk to India’s social fabric.

Under Modi’s administration, extremist groups have increasingly relied on violent force to uphold the sanctity of cows, which number above 300 million, according to US Department of Agriculture data.
  [sputniknews.com]
31/12/16