Cow Cabinet
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan announced that the government had decided to set up a ‘Gau Cabinet’. The Cow Cabinet would be set up for the protection and promotion of cattle in the state.
Key Points
- As per the statement from the state’s Minister, over 4,000 cow shelters will be set up this year, to protect the cows.
- The Gau Cabinet would include the Forest, Panchayat and Rural Development, Animal Husbandry, Revenue, Home and Farmers’ Welfare Departments.
- The first meeting of the Gau Cabinet would be held on 22nd November 2020 at Gau Sanctuary in Agar Malwa district of the state.
- In 2016, Madhya Pradesh became the first State in the country to set up a ‘Happiness Department’, with an aim to ensure happiness in the lives of the common people. This was set up on the lines of Bhutan, which introduced a new approach to measure growth using Gross national happiness (GNH).
- The Happiness (Anand) Department and its volunteers (Anandaks) were actively engaged during the Covid-19 pandemic.
India’s first cow sanctuary
The first cow sanctuary of India- Kamdhenu Gau Abhyaranya was set up in Agar Malwa, Madhya Pradesh in 2017. Spread over an area of 472 hectares, the sanctuary was developed at the cost of Rs 32 crore. The discussions of privatizing the sanctuary are going on due to the financial crisis.