The Humane Society International (India), a not-for-profit organisation working for protection of animals, has written to the Railway Board “to not limit itself to servicing only vegetarian food but also exclude any animal derivative, and instead promote plant-based food [food derived only from plants, including grains, pulses and vegetables, and excluding meat, eggs and dairy].”
The letter comes in after the Railway Board had proposed that non-vegetarian food will not be served to passengers on railway premises on October 2 in 2018, 2019 and 2020, when the Central government has planned a special commemoration of the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.
The Humane Society, while being appreciative of the Board’s initiative to uphold the Gandhian principle of ahimsa by serving only vegetarian food on Gandhi Jayanti, said, “We are compelled to specify that the application of the principle of ahimsa is not restricted only to the slaughter of animals. The principle of non-violence does not only require one to refrain from killing but also cause no harm to other living beings.”
Animal cruelty
The group noted that India has 327 million cattle, the most in the world, which are subjected to unspeakable cruelties on a daily basis for production of milk.
“Untrained and inexperienced persons use unsterilised equipment to artificially inseminate dairy animals; calves are separated from their mothers just days after birth so as to retain more milk for human consumption; brutally hit with sticks, chained constantly, and confined all their lives until they become ‘unproductive’ [i.e. cannot produce enough milk], and then sold for slaughter — at which time they are transported across State borders, crammed in trucks, and slaughtered in horrific conditions,” the letter stated.
Similar model
The organisation has, further, recommended that this programme be applied to one day every week. Such a programme is already adopted and highly successful in approximately 44 countries across the globe, including Bhutan, Israel, Iran, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Brazil, the United States and South Africa.
“We urge you to consider extending your initiative and proposing a similar model for the Indian Railways to undertake. A meatless Monday programme, where for every Monday, meals built around vegetables, beans and grains are served on the trains,” said the letter.
