The Kerala Livestock Improvement Act 1961, Act 17 of 1961

The Kerala Live-Stock Improvement Act , 1961 was a law enacted by the Kerala State Legislative Assembly. (http://www.lawsofindia.org/statelaw/1839/TheKeralaLivestockImprovementAct1961.html)

The above law ,is a classic example of how the ambitious and perverse ideas of a class of men, who had set out to ‘save’ human-kind and ‘improve/reform’ the world, like the Rev.William Carey ,had taken hold of the imagination of people and their law-makers. ie elected representatives And influenced by such alien ideas, to what extent efforts were taken for the fructification of such short-sighted ideas.

The above Law with threats of punishment like fines & imprisonment upto one month, instilled fear in the ordinary people- NOT to rear local pure species/ breeds of live-stock. When the law got enacted our poor farmers were already having local breeds. They were required by law to get licence for bulls possessed by them and if they belonged to the local variety had to castrate such poor creatures. The local breeds were arbitrarily classified as inferior. The net effect of this kind of myopic policy is that a few breeds out of a total 11 local ones (in Kerala) got extinct.

Luckily, Section No.22 of the Act , inadvertently prevented a complete extinction of all the local species. Section 22 states “Nothing contained in this Act shall apply to a bull dedicated to a religious institution in accordance with any religious usage or custom and directly maintained by that institution.” The Hindu religious practice of donating cows, and male calves to TEMPLES, has helped in reviving certain species from the verge of extinction. These facts are explained by Dr.Sosamma Iype and Professor Varkey,in the article ‘Holy Cow! Small is beautiful’ by P.Sainath. (www.thehindu.com/opinion/columns/sainath/holy-cow-small-is-beautiful/article2775282.ece)

In this context it will be interesting to go through the first clause of the “Serampore ‘Form of Agreement” (1805) written by Rev.William Carey, Joshua Marshman, and William Ward. The Missionary language, expressing ideas and intentions are a bit tedious.(www.wholesomewords.org/missions/bcarey13.html) “ Oh! May our hearts bleed over these poor idolators, and may their case lie with a continued weight on our minds, that we may resemble that eminent Missionary, who compared the travail of his soul, on account of the spiritual state of those committed to his charge, to the pains of childbirth. But while we thus mourn over their miserable condition, we should not be discouraged, as though their recovery were impossible. He who raised the Scottish and brutalised Britons to sit in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, can raise these slaves of superstition, purify their hearts by faith, and make them worshippers of the one God in spirit and truth. The promises are fully sufficient to remove our doubts, and to make us anticipate that not very distant period when He will famish all the gods of India, and cause these very idolaters to cast their idols to the moles and to the bats , and renounce for ever the work of their own hands.” (ref. First Point) .A portion of this last sentence ie ‘ casting their idols to the moles and the bats’ was repeated once again in the same agreement, (9th point, last paragraph) and is sound proof of the hold of this fervent hope in the missionary mind.

At the end of it all, inspite of the retrograde law enacted by our legislative assembly and still in force, the ‘superstitious idolatory’ of The Hindoos, has helped preserve the now much sought after local species of cows.

Considering the whole situation,the soul of Rev.Carey will be squirming in the grave !!!