Sacred or Exploited? The Truth About India’s Cow Protection Politics

Dr. Yamini Narayanan, ARC Future Fellow and Deputy Director of Partnerships, Impact & Engagement at the Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation, Deakin University (Australia), shares insights from Mother Cow, Mother India: A Multispecies Politics of Dairy in India, a conversation exploring cows, politics, identity, and what it truly means to build a just society. Over the discussion, Prof. Narayanan exposes the deep contradiction of India being both a passionate protector of cows and one of the world's leading exporters of beef and leather. She asserts that dairy and slaughter are not separate industries; rather, dairy inherently requires slaughter, which in India is driven underground due to state criminalization. She critiques the non-consensual framing of the "cow as mother," arguing it acts as a form of ideological gaslighting that obscures severe systemic violence, such as mandatory mother-calf separation, chronic tethering, and semen farming, to advance a Hindu nationalist identity. Furthermore, Prof. Narayanan details how this system relies on the exploitation and life-threatening marginalization of Dalit and Muslim laborers who perform the illicit backend tasks of slaughter and tanning, exposing them to mob violence. She compares the revered Brahminical framing of the white cow to the contemptuous treatment of the dark-skinned buffalo, highlighting how both reverence and disdain are weaponized to justify animal exploitation. Looking beyond the status quo, she advocates for a shift toward a multispecies democracy that recognizes animals as political subjects. Recognizing that India's deep-seated dairy dependency was largely built economically post-independence rather than ancient tradition, she argues a post-dairy transition is achievable through systemic agricultural reforms, such as reviving indigenous crops and scaling sustainable plant farming like cashew and jackfruit. This podcast is brought to you by Global Management Consultancy. Disclaimer: 1. The background music incorporated in this video is the intellectual property of its respective developer and is protected under applicable copyright laws. Notwithstanding that it is a free-to-use version, Business Talk, Global Management Consultancy, and Deepak Bhatt do not own, and expressly do not claim, any rights, title, or interest in or to this music. 2. Dr. Yamini Narayanan shared key insights from her compelling book, “Mother Cow, Mother India: A Multispecies Politics of Dairy in India”, in an engaging episode of the Business Talk podcast. The uploaded video contains copyrighted content, so changing any graphics, music, or on-screen appearance of the author or host is not allowed.