Cows are sacred in India. Critics say a new national exam politicizes the animal

[gulli]

Science is in everything bee it living be it non living. Cow have special science and I congratulate the government for showing the interest in the field and making proper move forward.

 

[Surya 1]

Contrarily, Indian governments have for years spent hugely on the Indian military to become the second-largest importer of armaments in the world.

Typical commie cum Jhihadi lie.

Factually incorrect.

India has spent a huge amount on providing free medicine, housing etc.

 

[White and Green with M/S]

I have stated clearly what I mean. If you are an idiot an cannot comprehend simple English, I can't help.

You didn't explain any thing to us, i repeat my question again, how cows take care of you like your real mother, kindly explain

 

[jamahir]

Typical commie cum Jhihadi lie.

Factually incorrect.

India has spent a huge amount on providing free medicine

You mean that silly program called PM-JAY / Ayushman Bharat ?

Then why are there crowdsourcing advertisements on NDTV India appealing citizens to donate towards getting people cured of blindness ? Why is the Ketto crowdsourcing website putting out ads, including appearing on this very forum, appealing people towards curing of cancers and organ transplants ? Why does exist the system of life insurance companies ?

A TV and film actor, Ashiesh Roy, died late last year because of lack of money. He had kidney ailment. Read this article :

Ashiesh had been admitted to hospital a few times in the last couple of years and had run out of money. He had complained about lack of funds and no work, a condition made worse by the lockdown. “I don’t have money. I had Rs 2 lakh which I gave to the hospital because within two days, the bill that was given to me amounted to that much. Right now, I don’t have a single penny. People are coming forward to help me, they are calling up and telling me, let’s see what happens. Because of the pandemic I am kept in a special ward which is costly. My dialysis happens on some other floor and it goes on for 4 hours. There are medicines, injections which are costly,” Ashiesh had said in an interview in May this year as he requested for funds.

housing etc.

Tell that to the street-living and slum-living people of Bombay who daily look up at Mukesh Ambani's 27-storey "house" for a family of five.

Even Ratan Tata, a fellow rich man of Ambani, has this to say about Ambani's obscene house :

Tata Group former chairman Ratan Tata said Antilia is an example of rich Indians' lack of empathy for the poor. Tata said, "The person who lives in there should be concerned about what he sees around him and asking can he make a difference. If he is not, then it's sad because this country needs people to allocate some of their enormous wealth to finding ways of mitigating the hardship that people have." "It makes me wonder why someone would do that. That's what revolutions are made of."

There are so many people in India living on the roads and in slums.

 

[Surya 1]

You mean that silly program called PM-JAY / Ayushman Bharat ?

Then why are there crowdsourcing advertisements on NDTV India appealing citizens to donate towards getting people cured of blindness ? Why is the Ketto crowdsourcing website putting out ads, including appearing on this very forum, appealing people towards curing of cancers and organ transplants ?

A TV and film actor, Ashiesh Roy, died late last year because of lack of money. He had kidney ailment. Read this article :





Tell that to the street-living and slum-living people of Bombay who daily look up at Mukesh Ambani's 27-storey "house" for a family of five.

Even Ratan Tata, a fellow rich man of Ambani, has this to say about Ambani's obscene house :



There are so many people in India living on the roads and in slums.

This is typical commie argument. Go and search how many people lifted above poverty line by India in last decade. Commie and Jhihadis forward this argument to criticize government but where ever they are in power, they have made those places a hell for people.

 

[jamahir]

This is typical commie argument. Go and search how many people lifted above poverty line by India in last decade.

Please tell that to the ghosts of Ashiesh Roy, Rohith Vemula, Aishwarya ( a student who committed suicide recently because her scholarship money was not coming. My thread on her here ) and those 300,000+ farmers who committed suicide between 1995 and 2015 because of socio-economic reasons.

Commie and Jhihadis forward this argument to criticize government but where ever they are in power, they have made those places a hell for people.

Where ?

 

[Surya 1]

Please tell that to the ghosts of Ashiesh Roy, Rohith Vemula, Aishwarya ( a student who committed suicide recently because her scholarship money was not coming. My thread on her here ) and those 300,000+ farmers who committed suicide between 1995 and 2015 because of socio-economic reasons.

Let those commies rest in hell. I don't need to tell this to them. There are many good people who died because of genuine reasons. You cherry picks those commies to give exples. This tells us about your sick mentality.

Please tell that to the ghosts of Ashiesh Roy, Rohith Vemula, Aishwarya ( a student who committed suicide recently because her scholarship money was not coming. My thread on her here ) and those 300,000+ farmers who committed suicide between 1995 and 2015 because of socio-economic reasons.



Where ?

Across all mainstream and social media.

 

[-=virus=-]

The optional exam will take place annually, primarily for school and university students...

What's the problem, then ?

Don't like it, don't take it.

 

[jamahir]

Let those commies rest in hell.

So Ashiesh, Aishwarya and those farmers were commies ?

Across all mainstream and social media.

You were supposed to give examples of countries where commies made people's lives hell ?

Like in Cuba, Libya, Venezuela, Iraq, Syria, USSR etc ?

What's the problem, then ?

Don't like it, don't take it.

It is like saying "Don't like Yogi, don't vote for him for PMship in 2024". There will be a large number of people who will vote for him.

The issue is the anti-human, regressive, superstitious and plainly nonsense ideas being slowly made official and binding in the country.

 

[-=virus=-]

It is like saying "Don't like Yogi, don't vote for him for PMship in 2024". There will be a large number of people who will vote for him.

The issue is the anti-human and regressive ideas being slowly made official and binding in the country

No, it is nothing like that at all.

So what if a large number of people will take the exam ? Nobody is forcing anyone to do it.

How is it "anti human and regressive" ? While you, quite obviously, are repulsed by certain Indian/Hindu traditions, you can't wish them away. Be happy we're not an authoritarian communist state that forces it's ideology on it's subjects.

 

[jamahir]

How is it "anti human and regressive" ? While you, quite obviously, are repulsed by certain Indian/Hindu traditions

It is not just about me being a Muslim. I don't believe in the existence of jinns while many Muslims do. Nor do I believe that the first humans on the Moon heard the azaan there.

In my previous post I edited-in "superstitious and plainly nonsense ideas" too. Am I not correct ?

you can't wish them away.

But surely superstition and anything not progressive cannot be just allowed to proliferate ?

I quote this article about how RSS' "scientific research" wing the VIBHA has since 2014's BJP ascendant government has been given official sanction and funding :

New Delhi—The most widely discussed talk at the Indian Science Congress, a government-funded annual jamboree held in Jalandhar in January, wasn't about space exploration or information technology, areas in which India has made rapid progress. Instead, the talk celebrated a story in the Hindu epic Mahabharata about a woman who gave birth to 100 children, citing it as evidence that India's ancient Hindu civilization had developed advanced reproductive technologies. Just as surprising as the claim was the distinguished pedigree of the scientist who made it: chemist G. Nageshwar Rao, vice-chancellor of Andhra University in Visakhapatnam. "Stem cell research was done in this country thousands of years ago," Rao said.

His talk was widely met with ridicule. But Rao is hardly the only Indian scientist to make such claims. In recent years, "experts" have said ancient Indians had spacecraft, the internet, and nuclear weapons—long before Western science came on the scene.

Such claims and other forms of pseudoscience rooted in Hindu nationalism have been on the rise since Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power in 2014. They're not just an embarrassment, some researchers say, but a threat to science and education that stifles critical thinking and could hamper India's development. "Modi has initiated what may be called ‘Project Assault on Scientific Rationality,’" says Gauhar Raza, former chief scientist at the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) here, a conglomerate of almost 40 national labs. "A religio-mythical culture is being propagated in the country's scientific institutions aggressively."

Some blame the rapid rise at least in part on Vijnana Bharati (VIBHA), the science wing of Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS), a massive conservative movement that aims to turn India into a Hindu nation and is the ideological parent of Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party. VIBHA aims to educate the masses about science and technology and harness research to stimulate India's development, but it also promotes "Swadeshi" (indigenous) science and tries to connect modern science to traditional knowledge and Hindu spirituality.

VIBHA receives generous government funding and is active in 23 of India's 29 states, organizing huge science fairs and other events; it has 20,000 so-called "team members" to spread its ideas and 100,000 volunteers—including many in the highest echelons of Indian science.

VIBHA's advisory board includes Vijay Kumar Saraswat, former head of Indian defense research and now chancellor of Jawaharlal Nehru University here. The former chairs of India's Space Commission and its Atomic Energy Commission are VIBHA "patrons." Structural biologist Shekhar Mande, director-general of CSIR, is VIBHA's vice president.

Saraswat—who says he firmly believes in the power of gemstones to influence wellbeing and destiny—is proud of the achievements of ancient Hindu science: "We should rediscover Indian systems which existed thousands of years back," he says. Mande shares that pride. "We are a race which is not inferior to any other race in the world," he says. "Great things have happened in this part of the world." Mande insists that VIBHA is not antiscientific, however: "We want to tell people you have to be rational in your life and not believe in irrational myths." He does not see a rise of pseudoscience in the past 4 years—"We have always had that"—and says part of the problem is that the press is now paying more attention to the occasional bizarre claim. "If journalists don't report it, actually that would be perfect," he says.

But others say there is little doubt that pseudoscience is on the rise—even at the highest levels of government. Modi, who was an RSS pracharak, or propagandist, for 12 years, claimed in 2014 that the transplantation of the elephant head of the god Ganesha to a human—a tale told in ancient epics—was a great achievement of Indian surgery millennia ago, and has made claims about stem cells similar to Rao's. At last year's Indian Science Congress, science minister Harsh Vardhan, a medical doctor and RSS member, said, incorrectly, that physicist Stephen Hawking had stated that the Vedas include theories superior to Albert Einstein's equation E=mc2. "It's one thing for a crackpot to say something like that, but it's a very bad example for people in authority to do so. It is deplorable," Venki Ramakrishnan, the Indian-born president of the Royal Society in London and a 2009 Nobel laureate in chemistry, tells Science. (Vardhan has declined to explain his statement so far and did not respond to an interview request from Science.)

Critics say pseudoscience is creeping into science funding and education. In 2017, Vardhan decided to fund research at the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology here to validate claims that panchagavya, a concoction that includes cow urine and dung, is a remedy for a wide array of ailments—a notion many scientists dismiss. And in January 2018, higher education minister Satya Pal Singh dismissed Charles Darwin's evolution theory and threatened to remove it from school and college curricula. "Nobody, including our ancestors, in written or oral [texts], has said that they ever saw an ape turning into a human being," Singh said.

Those remarks triggered a storm of protest; in a rare display of unity, India's three premier science academies said removing evolution from school curricula, or diluting it with "non-scientific explanations or myths," would be "a retrograde step." In other instances, too, scientists are pushing back against the growing tide of pseudoscience. But doing so can be dangerous. In the past 5 years, four prominent fighters against superstition and pseudoscientific ideas and practices have been murdered, including Narendra Dabholkar, a physician, and M. M. Kalburgi, former vice-chancellor of Kannada University in Hampi. Ongoing police investigations have linked their killers to Hindu fundamentalist organizations.

Some Indian scientists may be susceptible to nonscientific beliefs because they view science as a 9-to-5 job, says Ashok Sahni, a renowned paleontologist and emeritus professor at Panjab University in Chandigarh. "Their religious beliefs don't dovetail with science," he says, and outside working hours those beliefs may hold sway. A tradition of deference to teachers and older persons may also play a role, he adds. "Freedom to question authority, to question writings, that's [an] intrinsic part of science," Ramakrishnan adds. Rather than focusing on the past, India should focus on its scientific future, he says—and drastically hike its research funding.

The grip of Hindu nationalism on Indian society is about to be tested. Two dozen opposition parties have joined forces against Modi for elections that will be held before the end of May. A loss by Modi would bring "some change," says Prabir Purkayastha, vice president of the All India People's Science Network in Madurai, a liberal science advocacy movement with some 400,000 members across the country that opposes VIBHA's ideology. But the tide of pseudoscience may not retreat quickly, he says. "I don't think this battle is going to die down soon, because institutions have been weakened and infected."

VIBHA's associates include the former chief of DRDO, Indian Space Research Organization, the Atomic Energy Commission and Council for Scientific and Industrial Research. Look at the ridiculous ideas these so-called scientific people believe in and project. This is dangerous for the country.

Be happy we're not an authoritarian communist state that forces it's ideology on it's subjects.

Though I don't like the authoritarianism in certain communist / socialist states why will they promote superstition and regressive ideas among the populace ? Where has this happened ?

 

[-=virus=-]

It is not just about me being a Muslim. I don't believe in the existence of jinns while many Muslims do. Nor do I believe that the first humans on the Moon heard the azaan there.

In my previous post I edited-in "superstitious and plainly nonsense ideas" too. Am I not correct ?



But surely superstition and anything not progressive cannot be just allowed to proliferate ?

I quote this article about how RSS' "scientific research" wing the VIBHA has since 2014's BJP ascendant government has been given official sanction and funding :

VIBHA's associates include the former chief of DRDO, Indian Space Research Organization, the Atomic Energy Commission and Council for Scientific and Industrial Research. Look at the ridiculous ideas these so-called scientific people believe in and project. This is dangerous for the country.



Though I don't like the authoritarianism in certain communist / socialist states why will they promote superstition and regressive ideas among the populace ? Where has this happened ?

Do you not understand culture at all ? We're an ancient civilization, there's all sorts of rituals and customs and ancient mystical spiritual stuff. You don't have to believe any of it though.

I do agree in bits with your general sentiment, not too sure about the AYUSH surgeons for example.

Not worried about ISRO falling to Hindu nationalism though, you shouldn't either. We should worry about all sorts of different priests and imams blessing new fighter aircraft and submarines etc either.

and nobody is forcing you to take the optional Cow exam, so relax.

 

[shanlung]

QUOTE="FairAndUnbiased, post: 12898996, member: 134981"
LMAO. Indians say to study cow and respect cow with their mouths.

Their wallets say: cow what? We only know beef and USD.

National Beef Wire

National Beef Wire is an interactive platform for the display of real-time pricing and news relevant to the cattle and agriculture industries.

beef2live.com

You sell beef to make burgers and dare talk about respect to cows.
/QUOTE

 

[Invicta]

Holy Cow, BJP fixated by Bovines more than people:-

India's new 'cow science' exam politicizes sacred animal, critics say - CNN


Cows are sacred in India. Critics say a new national exam politicizes the animal
By Rhea Mogul, CNN

Updated 0513 GMT (1313 HKT) January 8, 2021

Hindu devotees from the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) worship cows on the outskirts of Amritsar on November 22, 2020.
(CNN)India has introduced a nationwide "cow science" exam to "infuse curiosity" about the bovine, according to officials, in the latest promotional push by the country's Hindu-nationalist government that critics say politicizes the sacred animal.
The optional exam will take place annually, primarily for school and university students, though the general public can also take it, said the country's Rashtriya Kamdhenu Aayog (RKA), an agency established in 2012 for the protection of cows under the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying.
"The science in cows must be explored," RKA Chairman Vallabhai Kathiria told a news conference Tuesday. "I am a cancer surgeon myself, so I can attest to that."
"Even if a cow doesn't give milk, cow dung and cow urine is so precious," he added.
A member of the opposition Indian National Congress Party, Priyank Kharge, criticized the move on Twitter.
"These jokers want to explore 'Cow Science' during pandemic & don't give a damn about scientific protocols to be followed by companies while vaccinating the entire population," said Karge, referring to India's emergency approval earlier this week of two coronavirus vaccines.

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Cows are a contentious subject in India, and many among the country's majority Hindu population consider the animal to be sacred. Most states have banned their slaughter.
The political push to enforce these bans has increased since Prime Minister Narendra Modi -- whose Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is strongly aligned with conservative Hindu nationalists -- came to power in 2014.
People suspected of killing cows, or even just eating beef, have been killed in violent attacks in the country. A large number of these people include Muslims. But cow vigilante crimes in India have been reportedly ignored or covered up by authorities since Modi's rise to power.
Clean and clever
The RKA has released a 54-page exam study guide, which includes topics like "religious significance" and "medical significance" of cows.
"The cow is a living heritage not just of Hindus but of humanity," the document states. "In the world traditions the cow stands for fertility, prosperity and life, and is often called the mother-ancestor, perhaps for being the first mammal to be domesticated by man."
The document claims that large-scale abattoir activity leads to major earthquakes, an unproven claim that suggests that pain emitted by mass slaughter can generate enough stress to trigger a seismic reaction.
It also states that native (Indian) cows produce the best quality of milk on earth, compared to "exotic cows."
"The quality is not at all good, but the quantity is more," it says of the Jersey cow, a breed normally associated with high-quality, creamy milk.
According to the document, native cows are "clever enough not to sit at dirty places" and are also more emotive than Jersey cows. "Whenever any unknown person comes near desi (Indian) cow, she will immediately stand," the document states.
Propaganda tool?
Photographer and activist Sujatro Ghosh, whose 2017 photo series of Indian women wearing cow masks went viral on social media, called the exam "another propaganda tool for the Hindu-national government."
View attachment 704661
Three arrested in connection with police killing during 'cow vigilante' clashes in India
"After the rise of the extreme right-wing government in India, the cow has become a political animal," said Ghosh. "The cow is used as a tool to divide people, and the exam is seen as a way of putting the cow on a pedestal. These politicians don't care about cows, they only care about politics."
During Modi's 2014 national election campaign, he made a promise to end a "pink revolution" -- a phrase he used to describe the slaughter of cattle across the country.
Other BJP lawmakers have taken it one step further.
"I had promised that I will break the hands and legs of those who do not consider cows their mother and kill them," said Vikram Saini, a legislator for the state of Uttar Pradesh, at an event in March 2017.

This is epic , this statement is the best "According to the document, native cows are "clever enough not to sit at dirty places" and are also more emotive than Jersey cows. "Whenever any unknown person comes near desi (Indian) cow, she will immediately stand," the document states."

Most animals stand and get alerted when someone unknown comes closer. They might be clever but I doubt they taste as good as aged Scottish beef.

Other BJP lawmakers have taken it one step further.
"I had promised that I will break the hands and legs of those who do not consider cows their mother and kill them," said Vikram Saini

And I will break the hands and legs of those who interfere with my steak.

 

[Surya 1]

QUOTE="FairAndUnbiased, post: 12898996, member: 134981"
LMAO. Indians say to study cow and respect cow with their mouths.

Their wallets say: cow what? We only know beef and USD.

National Beef Wire

National Beef Wire is an interactive platform for the display of real-time pricing and news relevant to the cattle and agriculture industries.

beef2live.com

You sell beef to make burgers and dare talk about respect to cows.
/QUOTE

View attachment 704746

I am sure that you are not naive enough to interprete bead means cow meat only.