The national animal of India is is tiger and the government does not intend to recognise cow as the national animal, union culture minister G Kishan Reddy told parliament on Monday.
Reddy was replying to a slew of of questions raised by BJP mp bhagirath Chaudhary,who asked the culture minister whether the government intends to recognise gaumata (cow) ,an integral part of Indian culture,as a national animal, considering protection and revival of the Indian and Santan culture by bringing a legislation in parliament.
To that, Reddy clarified that the government of India had notified tiger and peacock as national animal and national Bird, respectively,and that both these had been included in the schedule -I animals of the wildlife protection act 1972.
Government of India were not forthcoming in the official records of ministry of environment, forest and climate change for quite some time,the minister notified tiger and peacock as national animal and national Bird, respectively, on 30th may 2011 ,he added
On the specific question whether the High court of allahabad and Jaipur had ordered and commented to expedite the process of declaring gaumata as national animal, Reddy noted that these matters rested in the hands of these states legislative authorities,while adding,in order to complement and supplement the efforts made by these states and UTs the department of animal husbandry and dairying is implementing rasthiya Gokul mission for development and protection of indigenous breeds including breeds of cattle .the mission is leading to increase in the ability of indigenous breeds including cattle in country .the department has also established the animal welfare board of India for protecting animals including cow and its progeny
