PIONEER EDGE NEWS SERVICE | Dehradun
Responding to a question asked by the Haridwar MP and former Uttarakhand chief minister, Trivendra Singh Rawat in the monsoon session of the Lok Sabha regarding declaring cow as the national animal, the Union Minister of State for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, S P Singh Baghel clarified that the right to make a law for declaring cow as the national animal rests with the State legislatures as per Article 246 (3) of the Constitution with the Centre having no role in it.
He, however, said at the same time that the Centre has consistently been taking concrete steps to promote conservation and rearing of the bovines. National Gokul Mission has been in place since December 2014 which aims to develop and conserve native breed cows, he stated in the reply, adding that the scheme had been revised and realigned in July 2021.
The Union Minister further declared that given the success of the scheme, the Centre had made an additional allocation of Rs 1000 crore in March 2025, taking the total outlay of the scheme to Rs 3400 crore from 2021-22 to 2025-26.
Sounding satisfied with the content of the reply, Rawat said that the huge hike in the Centre’s budget for National Gokul Mission was commensurate with the importance of cows as an integral part of India’s agriculture, culture and rural economy. “The budget hike shows that the Centre is committed to the conservation and promotion of native breeds and this is a boon for us all,” he added.
