<p>When the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) floated a Rs-2.88 crore tender on July 10 to supply “chicken-and-egg rice” every day to about 4,000 stray dogs in the city’s eight administrative zones, scepticism flared at once. </p><p>Congress MP Karti P Chidambaram, who has long flagged the street-dog problem, argued that “dogs have no place in the streets... feeding and keeping them in a free-roaming state is a huge health and safety hazard.”</p>.<p>That reaction captured an instinctive public safety worry echoed by many. Karnataka recorded 66,489 dog-bite cases and eight human-rabies deaths in the first eight weeks of 2025 alone; so it is reasonable to fear that guaranteed meals might let more pups survive, slow the gradual decline in numbers and, over time, push those tallies higher. </p><p>Yet the legal landscape, Bengaluru’s own dog-control data and a closer reading of the tender suggest a more complicated, and perhaps more promising, picture.</p>.<p>First, the law. The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act does not mandate governments to feed strays, but a 2021 Delhi High Court judgement, later upheld by the Supreme Court, affirmed that community dogs have a right to food at designated spots. Bringing feeding under BBMP oversight, therefore, converts an ad-hoc and often disputed practice into one that is predictable, lawful, and easier to manage.</p>.<p>Second, public health. The World Health Organisation (WHO) says India accounts for 36 per cent of global rabies deaths. Under the National Action Plan for Dog-Mediated Rabies Elimination, the country has planned to reach zero dog-mediated human rabies deaths by 2030.</p>.<p>BBMP has already spent more than Rs 20 crore in recent years on sterilising strays. A centralised feeding schedule makes it easier to attract dogs for anti-rabies shots and Animal Birth Control (ABC) surgery, the only interventions proven to reduce their numbers.</p>.<p>Recent data also supports this approach. BBMP’s 2023 street-dog survey found about 2.8 lakh animals, a 10 per cent drop from 2019, and credited this to neutering coverage rising from 51 per cent to almost 72 per cent. Keeping that rate above the 70 per cent threshold epidemiologists recommend, and using the new feeding routine to gather dogs for shots would push the curve further downward.</p>.<p>Finally, the cost. The tender comes to about Rs 22 per dog per day, just a minuscule 0.016 per cent of BBMP’s Rs-18,120 crore budget. The stakes, however, are far higher: each human-rabies case saddles families with hospital bills, multiple post-exposure vaccines and lasting trauma. Against that burden, this is a small price to pay if it helps the city reach its rabies control goal.</p>.<p><strong>The transparency test</strong></p>.<p>Even so, transparency remains the Achilles’ heel. In late September 2024, BBMP launched the ‘coexisting champion’ drive, inviting feeders to register and marking ward-level feeding spots to see whether predictable meals at fixed points would curb hunger-driven aggression. Nearly a year on, <br>no official data on bite counts, behaviour change, meal quality or attendance have been released. Animal rights activists have also alleged corruption and misuse of funds in the sterilisation programme after heavy spending failed to dent stray <br>dog numbers.</p>.<p>The new initiative must therefore build trust before it spends a rupee. BBMP should first post clear, accessible zone-wise ABC targets online and update them every month. It should also run a live, ward-wise dashboard that logs daily meal deliveries, GPS-tagged photos, veterinary checks, sterilisation totals and bite reports. Resident welfare associations should also be consulted at the ward level so complaints are settled on the spot rather than in court.</p>.<p>Viewed in plain cost-benefit terms, the chicken-and-rice plan looks less like charity and more like prudent risk management that can turn a small food bill into a public-health dividend. It also aligns well with WHO’s ‘One Health’ principles that place human, animal, and environmental health on a single continuum.</p>.<p>Although organised feeding alone cannot solve the stray problem, it can make other tools like sterilisation, vaccination, and data collection work better. If BBMP keeps its neutering quota, maintains transparency via public dashboards and involves citizens, the Rs 2.88 crore will buy the city quieter streets and real progress towards the ‘zero by 30’ target. Let those safeguards slip, and Bengaluru will simply trade one public hazard for a costlier version of the same problem. For now, however, it may be premature to dismiss the feeding plan as frivolous; a fair judgement must weigh its modest outlay against the potential gains <br>for both public health and animal welfare.</p>.<p><em>(The writer is a lawyer and research consultant)</em></p>
<p>When the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) floated a Rs-2.88 crore tender on July 10 to supply “chicken-and-egg rice” every day to about 4,000 stray dogs in the city’s eight administrative zones, scepticism flared at once. </p><p>Congress MP Karti P Chidambaram, who has long flagged the street-dog problem, argued that “dogs have no place in the streets... feeding and keeping them in a free-roaming state is a huge health and safety hazard.”</p>.<p>That reaction captured an instinctive public safety worry echoed by many. Karnataka recorded 66,489 dog-bite cases and eight human-rabies deaths in the first eight weeks of 2025 alone; so it is reasonable to fear that guaranteed meals might let more pups survive, slow the gradual decline in numbers and, over time, push those tallies higher. </p><p>Yet the legal landscape, Bengaluru’s own dog-control data and a closer reading of the tender suggest a more complicated, and perhaps more promising, picture.</p>.<p>First, the law. The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act does not mandate governments to feed strays, but a 2021 Delhi High Court judgement, later upheld by the Supreme Court, affirmed that community dogs have a right to food at designated spots. Bringing feeding under BBMP oversight, therefore, converts an ad-hoc and often disputed practice into one that is predictable, lawful, and easier to manage.</p>.<p>Second, public health. The World Health Organisation (WHO) says India accounts for 36 per cent of global rabies deaths. Under the National Action Plan for Dog-Mediated Rabies Elimination, the country has planned to reach zero dog-mediated human rabies deaths by 2030.</p>.<p>BBMP has already spent more than Rs 20 crore in recent years on sterilising strays. A centralised feeding schedule makes it easier to attract dogs for anti-rabies shots and Animal Birth Control (ABC) surgery, the only interventions proven to reduce their numbers.</p>.<p>Recent data also supports this approach. BBMP’s 2023 street-dog survey found about 2.8 lakh animals, a 10 per cent drop from 2019, and credited this to neutering coverage rising from 51 per cent to almost 72 per cent. Keeping that rate above the 70 per cent threshold epidemiologists recommend, and using the new feeding routine to gather dogs for shots would push the curve further downward.</p>.<p>Finally, the cost. The tender comes to about Rs 22 per dog per day, just a minuscule 0.016 per cent of BBMP’s Rs-18,120 crore budget. The stakes, however, are far higher: each human-rabies case saddles families with hospital bills, multiple post-exposure vaccines and lasting trauma. Against that burden, this is a small price to pay if it helps the city reach its rabies control goal.</p>.<p><strong>The transparency test</strong></p>.<p>Even so, transparency remains the Achilles’ heel. In late September 2024, BBMP launched the ‘coexisting champion’ drive, inviting feeders to register and marking ward-level feeding spots to see whether predictable meals at fixed points would curb hunger-driven aggression. Nearly a year on, <br>no official data on bite counts, behaviour change, meal quality or attendance have been released. Animal rights activists have also alleged corruption and misuse of funds in the sterilisation programme after heavy spending failed to dent stray <br>dog numbers.</p>.<p>The new initiative must therefore build trust before it spends a rupee. BBMP should first post clear, accessible zone-wise ABC targets online and update them every month. It should also run a live, ward-wise dashboard that logs daily meal deliveries, GPS-tagged photos, veterinary checks, sterilisation totals and bite reports. Resident welfare associations should also be consulted at the ward level so complaints are settled on the spot rather than in court.</p>.<p>Viewed in plain cost-benefit terms, the chicken-and-rice plan looks less like charity and more like prudent risk management that can turn a small food bill into a public-health dividend. It also aligns well with WHO’s ‘One Health’ principles that place human, animal, and environmental health on a single continuum.</p>.<p>Although organised feeding alone cannot solve the stray problem, it can make other tools like sterilisation, vaccination, and data collection work better. If BBMP keeps its neutering quota, maintains transparency via public dashboards and involves citizens, the Rs 2.88 crore will buy the city quieter streets and real progress towards the ‘zero by 30’ target. Let those safeguards slip, and Bengaluru will simply trade one public hazard for a costlier version of the same problem. For now, however, it may be premature to dismiss the feeding plan as frivolous; a fair judgement must weigh its modest outlay against the potential gains <br>for both public health and animal welfare.</p>.<p><em>(The writer is a lawyer and research consultant)</em></p>
