Carriages Without Horses
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Vol 44 No 2 Summer 2021 Journal of Beauty Without Cruelty - India An International Educational Charitable Trust for Animal Rights Carriages without Horses In this Issue: Kumkum Veg Diet Vahana of Deities Vegan Musical Instruments Summer 2021 Beauty Without Cruelty - India 4 Prince of Wales Drive, Wanowrie, Pune 411 040 From Telephone: +91 (20) 2686 1166 WhatsApp: +91 74101 26541 E-mail: [email protected] my Desk... Website: www.bwcindia.org Plant Milk of Contents Human Kindness IFC From my Desk... uess what?! The dairy Gindustry is worried. 2 Victorias sans Horses Cause Euphoria People are giving up milk 6 Vahana of Hindu Deities and milk products. Amul has released full-page newspaper 7 Significance of a Vegetarian Diet advertisements listing so-called 8 Worth the Price Myths and Facts presented in a distorted manner in order 10 Red Alert to sell Amul dairy milk and IBC Vegan Recipe Cucumber Cake fraudulently run down plant milk. BWC sent strong objections Beauty Without Cruelty to the Advertising Standards is grateful to Council of India (ASCI) because the advertisement aims at misleading consumers in order Padma Mansukhani to promote Amul milk. It is not for donating < 1,00,000/- truthful or fair to consumers or towards this issue of to the manufacturers of plant milk who they consider to be their competitors. The heading states that "plant- based dairy analogue products like soya beverages are not Beauty Without Cruelty © milk". But, no one mistakes is a way of life which causes is the copyright of soya or any other plant milk for no creature of land, sea or air dairy milk or thinks that it is an Beauty Without Cruelty - India. terror, torture or death analogue because people who Unauthorised reproduction consume plant milk do so very in any manner, Published and edited by well knowing it is far superior to Diana Ratnagar without written permission Chairperson, BWC - India from the publisher, is prohibited. dairy milk on nutritional, ethical and environmental grounds. Designed by This magazine is printed on paper Mammalian milk is a complete Dinesh Dabholkar free of animal substances Printed at and published every food and a super-food only for Shree Mudra spring (February), one's own biological offspring. 181 Shukrawar Peth, Pune 411 002 summer (May), Therefore our own human Cover: Horse monsoon (August) mother's milk is good for us, not © Pimmimemom at dreamstimes.com and winter (November) milk from any other species. Beauty Without Cruelty Summer 2021 Plant milks are certainly not dairy, but "milk" nevertheless, e.g. coconut milk which has been consumed by humans for as long as, or possibly longer than, dairy milk. They do not impersonate or masquerade as dairy milk but proudly declare that they are of plant origin because they are much more nutritious than dairy and proved to be the best option for human consumption. Dairy farming is cruel in as much as the calf is deprived of the milk meant for it. Why else would calves be muzzled? Male calves are more often than not, starved to death. It is totally incorrect to state, as has been done in the advertisement that no calf is deprived of its mother's milk. In this context it may be noted that "to milk..." in the English language means to unethically extract as much as possible because that is what it exactly does to milch cattle. The calf is not allowed to suckle its mother. Photo courtesy: anipixes.com Today's cattle in India face totally different conditions to what existed thousands of years Last year BWC had also written to the Food ago so quoting ancient legends is irrelevant Safety & Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) and misleading. Despite the growing number that to avoid confusion regarding the origin of of gaushallas, the last Livestock Census of the milk in the minds of consumers, in addition 2019 found as many as 5.02 million stray to the variety (like flavoured, skimmed, powder, cattle across India that were abandoned just etc) FSSAI could make it mandatory that because they were old, no longer giving milk the origin of the milk should be stated on all and unproductive. It has been further proved products that contain it, for example: Cow milk, that dairy farming is unsustainable because Buffalo milk, Goat milk, Camel milk, Coconut it results in greenhouse gas emissions which milk, Soy milk, Almond milk, Cashew milk, and contribute to climate change thus harming the so on. It would not be right to stop non-dairy environment and in turn human health. products from using the word milk. Moreover, We hope the ASCI will take appropriate steps those who are allergic to milks (dairy or nut) will against the objectionable advertisement, immediately know what to avoid and FSSAI will and get it withdrawn because the statements not be accused of favouring the dairy industry. about plant milk are fallacious and misleading. Since the FSSAI's mandate is basically to ensure Between April and December 2020, food & safety, the use of commonly understood words beverage brands were the third most violators to describe ingredients can not be legally with 68 misleading ads. (Education ranked first, confined for use by a particular industry. second healthcare in duping consumers with Diana Ratnagar false claims.) Chairperson 1 Summer 2021 Beauty Without Cruelty Victorias sans Horses cause Euphoria "Just like horse-drawn carriages of Mumbai were to be run without horses, Kolkata should also consider converting its tongas, phaetons and landaus into battery-operated ones" says Ashoke Dasgupta orses have been humans’ allies over that the use of Victorias and horse-drawn 5,000 years. The domestication of the carriages in Mumbai be completely stopped Hhorse was of paramount importance after a year. The bench felt that using horse- in creating the world as we know it, for drawn carriages in Mumbai for joy-rides was the roles they played in transportation, an avoidable activity and illegal, violating warfare, agriculture, communications, trade Sections 3 and 11 of the Prevention of and culture. We are indebted to the horse, Cruelty to Animals Act. but have betrayed them for profit in an The division bench of Justices of the High industrialized equine system. Court said, “In other cities, such carriages To commemorate the International Carriages may be used for other purposes too. But if Without Horses Day (the first Saturday of it is noticed that carriages are used for joy- December 2012), Beauty Without Cruelty rides, then that should be stopped by the had sent out a Hinsa vs. Ahinsa highlighting concerned authority.” the fact that despite the horses suffering, Then, in April 2016, the Supreme Court horse-drawn carriages continued to be dismissed a special leave petition challenging tourist attractions in Mumbai. It was also the Bombay High Court order and directed pointed out that human safety was at stake the Victorias’ owners and drivers to approach since the Victorias were not designed or the High Court to review the government’s made by coachbuilders and wheelwrights. rehabilitation plan for them, since becoming Hence, they lacked balance and brakes. hawkers was unacceptable. Ill-shod In February 2021, when it was announced How often horseshoes are changed for that battery-operated Victorias without Mumbai’s carriage horses is unknown. (In horses would make a comeback in Mumbai, Mumbai race horses run with aluminium BWC’s campaign as well as the efforts of shoes which are lighter compared to steel, other NGOs against the use of horse-driven but need to be changed by a farrier before carriages for joy-rides resulted in a win-win each race.) However, given the conditions in situation for man and horse because the old which the horses live, BWC felt it was time owners and drivers had been rehabilitated, Mumbai’s Victorias were abolished but it and there was no chance of them asking for didn’t happen till years later. horses to draw the carriages again. In response to a PIL (Public Interest While animal activists were vigorously Litigation) filed by the Animals and Birds campaigning to end horse-drawn Victorias Charitable Trust of Mumbai, in June 2015 the in Mumbai, in July 2012 Janwani, the social High Court directed all authorities to ensure initiative wing of the Mahratta Chamber 2 Beauty Without Cruelty Summer 2021 of Commerce, Industries and Agriculture, proposed the inclusion of a tonga ride with Horses Without Carriages the Heritage Walk in Pune. BWC wrote to International Day the Pune Municipal Commissioner to drop the tonga rides in view of the exploitation First Saturday of December 2012 involved. The standing committee approved the heritage walk proposal – without a tonga ride. Yeh Kulkutta hai In Kolkata, horse-drawn carriages that were in demand during the last century were found waiting in front of Victoria (pun unintended) Memorial for customers on Ram Navami in March 2018. The open carriages are called phaetons and enclosed ones used for weddings are landaus. They Horse-drawn carriages continue are usually painted silver and gold, with to be used as Mumbai tourist multicoloured glass fittings. Thirty-odd attractions despite animal rights carriages come from Rajabazar, Metiabruz, activists’ objections. Park Circus and Kidderpore to congregate The exploited horses suffer no end. near the Victoria Memorial to offer joyrides around the Maidan. The horses are bought from Sonepur fair in Bihar, and new phaetons from Gujarat and Bihar. However, in August 2020 it was reported that after Cyclone Amphan battered the city and tourists disappeared due to the pandemic the tongas (horse carriages) of Kolkata were driving into the sunset. In February 2021 BWC wrote to the Municipal and Police Commissioners of Kolkata that just like Victorias or horse-drawn carriages of Mumbai were to be run without horses, Human safety is at stake too.