Modi Govt Has A New Mission: Conserving Desi Dogs And Cats & Exporting Them As Pets

The animal husbandry ministry came up with a proposal for this after PM Modi promoted the adoption of indigenous breeds in his Mann Ki Baat last year.

New Delhi: Union Minister Giriraj Singh wants to embark on a new mission: To take charge of domestic and stray dogs and cats, to develop and conserve their desi or indigenous breeds and export them. This comes as a follow up to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s appeal to pet owners to opt for local breeds of dogs in his monthly Mann Ki Baat address in August last year.

The Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying, headed by Singh, had floated the proposal to the cabinet secretariat in September 2020, a month after the prime minister’s appeal to Indians to adopt indigenous breeds, a ministry official who was part of drafting this proposal told ThePrint.

The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) is researching on how “to make Indian breeds better and more useful”, Modi had said. “Next time when you think of keeping a dog, you must bring one of the Indian breed of dogs home. When self-reliant India is becoming the mantra of the masses, then no area should be left behind.”

The cabinet secretariat sent back the ministry’s proposal in January 2021, asking it to hold inter-ministerial consultations on this issue, ThePrint has learnt.

“Other ministries have replied, but we are yet to get a nod from the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. Both are key ministries. Once they send a reply we will again send the proposal to the cabinet secretariat,” a senior functionary in the Animal Husbandry ministry told ThePrint this week on condition of anonymity.

The department has cited the rising number of dog bite cases in cities and India’s aim to eradicate rabies (mostly caused by the bite or scratch of an infected animal) by 2030 to back the proposal. According to the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) of the Ministry of Health, a total of 55,74,644 dog bite cases in humans were reported in 2018.

ThePrint reached secretary, animal husbandry department, Atul Chaturvedi, for a comment via message, but there was no response until the time of publishing this report.

Disclaimer: Please note this article is not edited by the DogExpress team!