I hope some of you are aware of the recent circular from the Ministry of Women and Child, Govt. of India, exhorting the state governments to prevent people from indulging in unkind violence towards animals like dogs, birds like peacocks, cocks, of course hens, mosquitoes etc. The animals and birds etc have the same right to life as men and women have, and the humans cannot deny them the right to exist which God has granted them.
I hope some of you are aware of the recent circular from the Ministry of Women and Child, Govt. of India, exhorting the state governments to prevent people from indulging in unkind violence towards animals like dogs, birds like peacocks, cocks, of course hens, mosquitoes etc. The animals and birds etc have the same right to life as men and women have, and the humans cannot deny them the right to exist which God has granted them. The circular exhorted the State authorities to implement the contents of the circular and send periodic reports on the steps being taken.
This set the State officials worried. They called for a meeting of the heads of all Depts.
“How do we implement the orders? In case of dogs, we have stopped catching and killing them. But we are not able to sterilize the dogs and then send them back to their streets.”
“There are constant calls reporting dog bites, and dog menace. In certain streets, people are not able to walk freely. The roaming and barking dogs keep the residents awake all through the night.”
“The citizens have started killing them. The other day they sent the head of a dog infected with rabies to the District Collector.”
“We cannot ignore these reports for long. The govt and private hospitals have reported prevalence of rabies in almost all cities. They also complain that the supply of anti rabies drugs is erratic.”
“Let us forget the dogs. Let us take the recent circular which emphasizes protection to cocks, peacocks, hens, mosquitoes etc. What are we going to do about them?”
There was a chuckle from the second row. The deputy head of Animal Husbandry stood up sheepishly. “How can we protect cocks and hens, Sir? Which means chickens. Can you ban cruelty to chickens? The whole State will be up in arms, particularly on Sundays.”
“The chicken farms in our State supply chicken meat to all the neighboring states. The revenue is enormous and the chicken lobby has a lot of political clout and we cannot order them about.”
“My wife loves chicken, and Sundays without chicken is unthinkable.”
‘Do you think the Hon. Minister took all these factors into consideration when she sent the circular?”
“I don’t know, but we cannot question her. She has an one track mind and brushes aside all objections.”
“Mr. George, you have no right to criticize the Minister. I will expunge your words. Mr. Varadhan, what is your suggestion?”
“Let me be frank Sir. We will send a report saying appropriate and timely measures are being contemplated and implemented in the true spirit of the circular.”
“I don’t understand what you are trying to say.”
“Nor do I. They want periodic reports and we will send them. I will take up the job of writing reports twenty pages long with almost nothing to say.”
“We will take no steps?”
“You will be thrown out if you try to take any step to prevent cruelty towards chickens.”
“The Minister will throw me out if I do not take any steps.”
“Choose your own preference of getting thrown out.” The senior director said with a chuckle.
“It is easy to protect peacocks as it happens to be our national bird. We will issue a warning to the poachers and meat sellers that they will be prosecuted if they kill peacocks.”
“Only the farmers try to poison the peacocks as they destroy the crops.” the Head of the Dept of Agriculture said. “I will instruct the field officers, extension workers and village administrative personnel to keep an eye on the peacocks. I mean the poachers.”
“That is settled. Now about insects, mosquitoes etc, what do we do about them?”
“You mean how we are going to be kind to them and preserve them?”
“That is an anomoly.” someone said vehemently. “The Minister would not have applied her mind when she included mosquitoes in the list of birds to be preserved.”
“That is what we thought when she sent her circular regarding dogs. She means what she says.
“Are mosquitoes birds?”
“Of course they are birds. They fly about, wander towards you and bite you. They are birds no doubt. But preserving them will be a health hazard.”
“You are digressing from the main point. Let us discuss how best we can implement the contents of the circular.”
“We can stop production and distribution of mosquito repellents, mosquito coils, mosquito bats etc.”
“It is essential that we prohibit the TV ads which explain the best way to destroy them.”
“We can’t interfere with the freedom of the media. But we can ask the manufacturers to add a warning on the cartons of mosquito coils and repellants.”
“Warning the mosquitoes to keep away from them?”
“No. A warning to the users on the consequences of denying the right of the mosquitoes to life. Just like the cancer warnings in the films: smoking causes cancer.”
“But mosquitoes can’t read English or Tamil. How can they keep away from the repellents etc?”
“This is a warning to the users of the repellants telling them that they are killing a bird when they use the repellent.”
“To please the Minister, we can launch a campaign to preserve mosquitoes and start a Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Mosquitoes. SPCM”
“That’s an excellent idea. Mr. Raman, you are very creative. You will be the founder-secretary of SPCM. Prepare a report on its formation.”
“Thank you Sir.”
“We can ask the Dept of Health not to clean the drains, garbage bins, stagnant water holes etc wherever mosquitoes breed. We can stop the production and distribution of mosquito nets.”
“Can we send back the funds granted by the State govt for the eradication of malaria, dengue etc? Which is essentially an operation to destroy mosquitoes.”
“We can also write to the World Health Organization to withhold their annual grants to eradicate mosquito-related fevers etc?
“We are going all out to follow and implement the orders of the Minister and she will be pleased to know that at least in one State there are officers who take her orders seriously and implement them. I think our Jt. Director stands a fair chance of getting an award from the Ministry of Women and Child.”
There was vigorous clapping. Along with it, there was a tap on the door of the air conditioned chamber. The Personal Assistant of the Joint Director walked in, bent towards him, whispered something in his ears and gave him an envelope. The JD tore open the envelope and took out a letter; it was from the Ministry of Women and Child. The letter read: "We regret to inform you that terms like cocks, hens, mosquitoes etc were included in the Circular inadvertently; it was a clerical error. The Hon. Minister regrets……"
The Joint Director could feel the award slipping through his fingers.