People first mp wants to impose cow cess even as human capital is pitifully low

People first mp wants to impose cow cess even as human capital is pitifully low

Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s plan to impose a cess on the public to fund cow welfare betrays skewed priorities. Chouhan mooted the new cess at the first “cow cabinet” meeting, a governance innovation for greater synergy in cow welfare, encompassing six ministries: home, revenue, animal husbandry, agriculture, panchayats and forests. The cow is a revered animal for many. But when MP is lagging on many human development indicators, prioritising animal welfare with special taxes can wait. Cesses, if at all preferred, must benefit those fund starved sectors with the greatest potential to improve human capital.

Union education ministry data indicates that only 2.57% of MP schools have a functional computer against the national average of 20.3%. Comparable figures are 87.5% in Delhi, 72.4% in Kerala, and 56% in Gujarat and Maharashtra. Higher education lags too: against the national average of 28 colleges per lakh population, MP has just 24. The latest Sample Registration System bulletins reveal that MP has the highest infant mortality rate and third highest maternal mortality rates in India. These statistics cry for greater governmental intervention in education and health: both critical for uplifting human capital.

MP has also picked up on self-defeating policies like job reservations for locals, which hinders investments into the state. Cow politics may be the latest pitch in competitive populism, but enlightened politics everywhere puts citizens first. The ideological decision to replace eggs with milk in the anganwadi menu is just as unfortunate. Instead, more states should follow the Karnataka model of providing children at risk of malnutrition the benefit of both protein-rich eggs and milk. Vegetarianism must be a personal choice, not a state imposition. On cow welfare too, encourage voluntary organisations to do more. Let tax funds flow towards nurturing human capital.