MP CM Shivraj Chouhan declares formation of ‘Gau Cabinet’

Photo Credits: Hindustan Times

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan made an official announcement on Wednesday regarding the decision of the state government for formulating ‘Gau cabinet’ with the objective of protecting the cows of the state.

Shvraj Singh Chouhan took to Twitter to share the news, “A decision has been taken to set up a ‘gau cabinet’ for the protection and promotion of cattle in the state. Animal husbandry, forest, panchayat and rural development, revenue, home and farmers welfare departments will be included in the cow cabinet.”

He further added, “The first meeting will be held on November 22 at 12 noon on Gopashtami at the cow sanctuary in Agar Malwa.”

The ‘Cow Cabinet’ will comprise of several departments like Animal Husbandry, Forest, Panchayat, Rural Development, Home and Farmer welfare, said Shivraj Chouhan.

The chief minister was addressing first cow sanctuary of India, established by BJP led MP government in September 2017. A Madhya Pradesh government official said, “A steep cut from the Rs 20 per day, per cow, given earlier. Not only this, the first of its kind scheme of inviting people for donation for cow protection has led to a collection of only Rs 22,000 so far and has proved to be a flop show.”

Another official stated, “The department’s one-month budget requirement for cow protection, which includes running of shelters, procuring cow feed, maintenance of biogas plants and vermicompost and other expenses, amount to Rs 11.5 crore, but this year the government allocated the total budget of Rs 11.80 crore. With this budget, even if we stopped all other work except providing cow feed, we have just Rs 600 per year to feed a cow in the shelters, which house 1.80 lakh cows.”

RK Rokde, the director from Animal Husbandry Department stated, “In the absence of the budget, we are taking the help of NGOs and gram panchayats to run more than 1,300 cow shelters in Madhya Pradesh. The department is facing a budget shortage and we have requested an additional budget of Rs 129 crore from the state government and are hopeful that will get it.”

• Melukote – Vairamudi Festival – 2022
• Bengaluru metro to function on weekdays, closed on weekends from July 1
• India provides reciprocal exemption of EU Digital COVID Certificate to include Covishield, Covaxin
• PM Modi will address the Digital India beneficiaries at 11 am tomorrow
• Pvt hospitals will obtain Covid vaccine doses via CoWIN starting from July 1