No plans to declare cow national animal: Centre tells Parliament

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

In his written reply to a question by senior BJP leader and former Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat in Lok Sabha, Baghel said: "No, Sir. 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."

The minister said the central government has been implementing the Rashtriya Gokul Mission since December 2014 to support and strengthen initiatives undertaken by states and Union Territories for the promotion, protection, and rearing of cows.

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