Exciting people is a good way to win elections.

Manas Chakravarty wrote a tongue in cheek article on the amount of meat, fish and eggs consumed in India. The National Sample Survey Office figures for 2011-12 show that only 4% of rural and 5% of urban household eat cow or buffalo meat. How they are getting any such meat is a mystery because slaughter of cows is banned in most states of India, except in Kerala and some northeast states, including West Bengal. "The NSSO data says 6.4% of rural Indians eat mutton, 21.7% eat chicken, 26.5% consume fish, while 29.2% eat eggs. In urban India, it is much worse, with 10% indulging in goat meat/mutton, 21% tucking enthusiastically into fish, 27% succumbing to the charms of chicken and a huge 37.6%, more than a third of the urban population, eating eggs." The survey found that the number of people eating non-vegetarian food has risen from 56.7% in 1993-94 to 62.3% in 2011-12 but the amounts consumed are small. Why do Indians eat so little meat? Maybe due to religious restrictions because Haryana has lowest number of non-vegetarians at 19%, followed by Rajasthan at 20% and Punjab at 23%. Apparently Bangladesh has the lowest consumption of meat in the world, at 4 kg per person per year, followed by India at 4.4 kg. The US consumes the most at 120 kg per person per year. There is a crusade against slaughter of cows, inspired by politicians. Anyone transporting cattle, even if they are doing so legally, is attacked by vigilante cow protectors. One man was killed in Rajasthan recently. Cattle farmers sell off bulls and cows that have stopped giving milk, to reduce the cost of feeding unproductive cattle. If they are stopped from doing so they will stop keeping cows, and just keep buffaloes, and cows will disappear from India. Slaughterhouses have been shut in UP throwing millions out of work. India exported 1.314 metric tonnes of buffalo meat in 2015-16 earning Rs 267 billion and Rs 391 billion, or $5.8 billion, worth of leather goods. Along with attacks on eating meat there are relentless attacks on doctors. The government cannot provide healthcare for 1.3 billion people so it blames doctors for rising costs. The Prime Minister proposes to pass a law to force doctors to prescribe generic medicines. Apparently, doctors prescribe expensive brands because they get gifts from pharma companies. Most gifts are from dubious companies, multinationals rarely give gifts. A survey showed that margins on generics are much higher than on brands so chemists will sell only those that have the highest margins. But the reason doctors prescribe brands is because quality is guaranteed which maybe the difference between life and death. Such details do not matter to Indian politicians. As a result of political propaganda doctors are being assaulted everyday. Maybe, like cows, doctors will also disappear. Politicians and civil servants can get treated abroad at taxpayer expense. With companion.