Declare cow as Gujarat's 'Rajya Mata': Congress leader in assembly
Gandhinagar, Mar 28 (PTI): The Congress on Friday asked the BJP government in Gujarat to bring a bill to recognise the cow as "Rajya Mata" or state mother to ensure that the "holy" animal is protected.
Congress Legislative Party leader Amit Chavda made the demand during a discussion in the state assembly on a bill introduced by the government for the regulation of bovine breeding.
Before Chavda, BJP MLA D K Swami said the cow is considered a mother in Hindu culture.
He went on to say that Speaker Shankar Chaudhary and deputy Speaker Jethabhai Bharwad do not need reading glasses because they drink cow milk regularly.
"Our Speaker and deputy Speaker do not have glasses because they consume cow milk. We believe in cows, not buffalos. Though we also need buffalos, that is a separate issue. The holy cow is our mother. It is a symbol of Earth," said Swami, supporting the Gujarat Bovine Breeding (Regulation) Bill.
Agriculture minister Raghavji Patel, who introduced the bill, recovered from health problems recently due to the "blessings of cow", said the BJP MLA.
Congress's Amit Chavda claimed that cows were suffering in Gujarat because large tracts of `gauchar' or grazing land were given away to industrialist.
"In Hindu culture, the cow is considered a mother. That is why we pray to the cow on auspicious occasions. But cows are now suffering because the government gave away nearly 103 crore square meters of land used as gauchar (grazing land) to industrial houses through sale or lease," the opposition leader alleged.
As per the figures shared by the state government in the assembly, nearly 2,800 villages do not have designated grazing land, Chavda said.
"We all should be worried about the situation of cows in these villages. After the loss of gauchar land, our cows have no other option than to eat plastic and other waste on the city roads," he added.
Though the state government has framed laws against cow slaughter, it is also earning revenue from the export of meat otherwise, the Congress leader further said.
The government should also give more grants to cow shelters, he added.
"I urge the state government to bring a bill to declare cow our 'Rajya Mata' (state mother). We have already submitted a private member's Bill to the Speaker regarding the same. But I demand that the government bring a bill....That will ensure that cows get proper food, shelter and treatment," he said.
The bill was passed unanimously.
On the last day of the Budget session, two other Bills -- The Gujarat Land Revenue (Amendment) Bill and The Gujarat Fisheries (Amendment) Bill -- were also passed unanimously.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Xi Jinping calls for 'elephant-dragon tango' on 75th anniversary of India, China ties
Beijing (PTI): In a message marking 75th anniversary of their bilateral relations, Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday stressed on partnership between India and China for “mutual achievement” and the need to do the “dragon-elephant tango” to serve their fundamental interests.
Apart from President Xi's message to his counterpart Droupadi Murmu, Chinese Premier Li Qiang and Prime Minister Narendra Modi too exchanged congratulatory messages to mark the occasion, the Chinese Foreign Ministry announced here.
In her message, Murmu said a stable, predictable and friendly bilateral relationship will benefit both countries and the world, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
The development comes amid the efforts to reset the ties after over four years of freeze due to the eastern Ladakh military standoff.
President Xi, in his message to Murmu, said China and India, both ancient civilisations, major developing countries and important members of the Global South, are at a critical stage of their respective modernisation efforts.
“The development of China-India relations demonstrates that it is the right choice for China and India to be partners of mutual achievement and realise the 'dragon elephant tango,' which fully serves the fundamental interests of both countries and their peoples,” Xinhua said quoting Xi.
Xi called on both sides to view and handle bilateral relations from a strategic height and long-term perspective, seek a way, which features peaceful coexistence, mutual trust, mutual benefit and common development, for neighbouring major countries to get along with each other, and jointly promote a multi-polar world and greater democracy in international relations.
He also said he stands ready to work with Murmu to take the anniversary of ties as an opportunity to enhance strategic mutual trust, strengthen exchanges and cooperation in various fields, deepen communication and coordination in major international affairs, jointly safeguard peace and tranquility in the China-India border area, push forward a sound and steady development of bilateral relations and contribute to world peace and prosperity.
For her part, Murmu said India and China are two major neighboring countries that are home to one-third of the world's population, noting that a stable, predictable and friendly bilateral relationship will benefit both countries and the world.
She proposed to take the 75th anniversary of diplomatic ties as an opportunity to jointly promote the sound and steady development of India-China relations, Xinhua reported.
Earlier, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun while announcing the exchange of greetings by the leaders told media briefing here that the historical course of our bilateral relations shows that being partners that contributed to each other's success and the cooperative dance of 'the dragon and the elephant' is the right choice for both sides.
Under the strategic guidance of the leaders of our two countries, China stands ready to work with India to view and handle bilateral relations with a strategic and long-term perspective and take this occasion as an opportunity to enhance strategic mutual trust and step up exchanges and cooperation in various fields, Guo said.
He was referring to how Modi and Xi provided strategic guidance for the development of bilateral relations at their meeting at Kazan in Russia on the sidelines of the BRICS summit last year.
The two sides are implementing the consensus of the two leaders and are promoting cooperation and achieving fruitful outcomes.
Both the countries should also deepen communication and coordination in major international affairs, jointly maintain peace and tranquility in the border areas and advance China-India relations on the track of sound and stable development, Guo said.
To a question about the plans by both the countries to celebrate the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations, he said the two sides have the willingness to take the occasion to advance the bilateral relations.
Details of the specific events will be released in due course, he said.
After last year's meeting between Modi and Xi, both countries held a series of high level meetings, including that of the Special Representatives (SRs) of the boundary mechanism followed by the visit of Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri to Beijing for talks to normalise relations after the four-year freeze in relations due to the Ladakh standoff.
This year, on March 25, India and China held a fresh edition of diplomatic talks in Beijing focusing on ensuring effective border management and early resumption of cross-border cooperation and exchanges, including on trans-border rivers and resumption of the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra.
In the meeting of WMCC (Working Mechanism for Consultation & Coordination) on China-India Border Affairs, the two sides explored various measures and proposals to give effect to the decisions taken during talks between NSA Ajit Doval and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi at the Special Representatives (SR) dialogue in December.
On the following day, Gourangalal Das, the joint secretary in the MEA's East Asia division, and Liu Jinsong, the director general at the Chinese foreign ministry's department of Asian Affairs met in Beijing during which they explored ways to rebuild ties and agreed to initiate efforts to promote people-to-people exchanges, including arrangements for resumption of direct flights and to resume Kailash Manasarovar Yatra this year.
In the meeting, the two sides also discussed resumption of dialogue mechanisms in a step-by-step manner to utilise them to address each other's priority areas of interest and concern and move the relations to a more stable and predictable path, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) had said in a press release.
