Mumbai, June 18 (IANS): Amid the controversy over the central notification that effectively bans sale of cattle for slaughter, Union Minister Hansraj G. Ahir on Sunday said the Centre was considering to set up ‘cow sanctuaries’ and initiate ‘Project Cow’ on the lines of Project Tiger. “It is difficult to maintain cows which are not self-sustaining animals. We need to protect them by setting up cow sanctuaries on the lines of those for tigers,” Minister of State for Home Ahir said at a national conference on “BOS INDICUS - The Glorious Indian Cow” at the Bombay Stock Exchange Building here. Addressing the gathering, Bharatiya Janata Party’s Rajya Sabha member Subramanian Swamy, who is founder-President of Virat Hindustan Sangam, said ban on cow slaughter has been guaranteed by the Constitution. Accordingly, the Centre has withdrawn 13 subsidies given by the previous government on export of cows and beef, he said. “Even the western world has realised that beef is not a very good source of protein and that they can get much more protein from pulses and soyabeans,” Swamy said while advocating ban on cow slaughter.
