Rotaract Club of Government College of Technology, Coimbatore hosted a seminar on “Native Livestock of Tamil Nadu and our bio-cultural sports”. Karthikeya Sivasenapathy, managing trustee of Senapathy Kangayam Cattle Research Foundation (SKCRF) and Biodiversity Conversion Council of India was the resource person for this programme.
In his address to the audience, he said "The native breeds which existed in India in the past are facing extinction. Jersey breeds of cattle are prevalent in throughout India. These give huge quantity of milk. They have been brought from foreign countries into India and are spread all over India through breeding programmes. After the second world war ended in 1945 foreign products are dumped in India through chemicals and organisations like People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PeTA). This is destroying our tradition and culture.
Moving the focus to Jallikattu, Karthikeya Sivasenapathy said “Jallikattu has again found a place in Tamil Nadu again due to the students’ who protests for this cause. The protests changed direction due to some anti-social elements who entered the protests. Students are the reason for the conduct of Jallikattu in Tamil Nadu.”
“It is our duty to protect the native breeds in India and Tamil Nadu. Only when we protect the native cattle breeds we can pass them over to the next generation of our people.” This session was an eye opener for a majority of participants.