The gaushala 'manual'

Management of cow shelters needs to be improved

Union Minister for Women and Child Development Maneka Gandhi has reportedly written a “manual” for cow shelters or gaushalas. Ms Gandhi has put in this effort, not as a minister — cow protection is not one of her ministerial responsibilities — but, presumably, as a concerned citizen, animal-rights activist and senior member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which, of course, has increasingly come to be politically identified with the cause of cow welfare. Given that the BJP is by far India’s dominant political party, and thus cow welfare has become a major policy priority, it is worth taking Ms