Jaipur: After coming in for much criticism, the Congress government in Rajasthan seems to have dropped the idea of felicitating on Independence and Republic days, those who adopt stray cows.In December last year, the Ashok Gehlot government’s order was issued, prompting observers to describe it as imitation of the BJP’s gau-seva policies. However, the directorate of gopalan (cow welfare) in Rajasthan has decided not to adhere to the order.Guidelines have not been formalised yet for nominating individuals who adopt cows, with the directorate also not showing any enthusiasm to push it forward.Speaking to The Wire, the director of gopalan, Khajan Singh said the order was “suggestive in nature” and upon its review, wasn’t found feasible. “The recent budget has provided for protection and conservation of stray cows and we are focusing on that,” he said.He also added that a similar order is already in existence, formulated by the previous BJP government, to annually felicitate the best gaushala in each district. “The directorate is already awarding the best gaushala in every district since 2015. Also, there weren’t enough proposals from the individual stray cows’ adopters, so we couldn’t go ahead with that order,” Singh said.The Wire had earlier reported that the order from the outgoing Vasundhara Raje-led BJP government, had been held back on October 6, when the model code of conduct was implemented before the state assembly elections.The order, signed by the then director at the gopalan department, Vishram Meena, was also not extensively discussed with the minister. In fact, no formal meeting or written orders from the ministry were issued to the directorate. It was passed just four days after the Congress’s Pramod Bhaya took oath as the cabinet minister for cow welfare.Officials at the directorate had said that the then director Meena had not sought approval from the minister while issuing the order.“A preliminary meeting was conducted after the [Congress] minister took oath, and before the order was passed, where he put up his intention to resolve the stray cattle menace in the state, as mentioned in the party’s manifesto,” Anil Kaushik, joint director, planning at the directorate of gopalan had previously told The Wire. “The minister was told about it [the order] but not in an elaborate manner.”Also read: Rajasthan Budget Mum on Kisan Credit Card Loan Waiver, Hikes Cow Spending by 145%Sources in the directorate say that Meena was removed from the position in March this year, particularly for this matter. “The director passed the order at his level, without discussing it with the ministry. The minister was not happy about it and that’s the reason why he was removed shortly,” a senior official at the directorate told The Wire, on the condition of anonymity.A worker handling cows in the Hingonia Gaushala. File photo. Credit: Shruti JainThe order had urged district collectors to motivate charitable people (bhamashah), and officials and social workers to adopt stray cows caught by municipal workers under the Cattle Trespass Act. The order reads:“The directorate is already providing 180 days of assistance to the 2,570 registered gaushalas… Still, the cows are in a deplorable state; eating plastic, rotten waste garbage on roads and creating havoc for the public.In view of such miserable situation of cows, the initiatives of the district collectors of Jhalawar and Alwar are certainly admirable and exemplary. They had given the responsibility of upkeep and maintenance of stray cows to charitable donors and social workers by bringing out a resolution to adopt cows from the gaushalas.”Currently, as per the guidelines formulated by the previous BJP government, the directorate hands out awards to the best gaushala in each district of the state annually, based on the facilities made available for the cows. These include personal staff for medical facility of cows, cow conservation and green fodder development program, dairy milk production based on the number of milch cattle in the cowshed, marketing of cow products (milk, curd, dung and cow urine), income earned from its resources in the gaushala, hygiene of cowsheds and bio-gas plant construction and its progress.The directorate is planning to add a provision for online connectivity in gaushalas among the many parameters required for the recognition.On March 2 this year, the Congress government also held a state-level gau-raksha (cow protection) convention to interact with representatives of the registered gaushalas to prepare an action plan and schemes for cow shelters, standardisation of cow products, and cow protection among others. Three best gaushalas in the state were awarded cash prizes of Rs 21,000, Rs 15,000 and Rs 11,000 at the convention.The Congress manifesto in Rajasthan had promised support for cows in the form of increased subsidies for gaushalas. In the recent budget, the government raised the allocation of the gopalan department by 145% to create ‘nandishalas’ or shelters for castrated bulls in every gram panchayat.