Is there a plan to declare cow as national animal? Govt responds in Parliament

The Centre was responding to a question by BJP leader and former Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat in Lok Sabha.

Union Minister of State for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying S P Singh Baghel on Tuesday told the Parliament that the Centre has no plans to enact any law declaring cow as the national animal.

The minister in a written response to BJP leader and former Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat's question in Lok Sabha, said as per Article 246(3) of the Constitution, "under the distribution of legislative powers between the Union and the States, the preservation of animals is a matter on which the State legislature has exclusive powers to legislate."

Further mentioning about the initiatives undertaken by Union Territories for the promotion, protection, and rearing of cows, he said the central government has been implementing the Rashtriya Gokul Mission since December 2014.

Baghel informed the Parliament that cow milk contributed 53.12 per cent of the country's total milk production of 239.30 million tonnes in 2024, while buffalo milk accounted for 43.62 per cent.

(With PTI inputs)