MP: PIGS AND THE CITY
With municipal elections soon to be held in Madhya Pradesh’s Shivpuri, a long-simmering problem faced by the city authorities—how to address the safety risks posed by stray pigs—may acquire a political dimension. Following a petition by an animal rights activist, on March 19 this year, the division bench of the Gwalior High Court ordered the Shivpuri Municipal Council (SMC) to abandon its current method of controlling the stray pig population—hiring sharpshooters for culls—and find a new solution. This has pleased members of the city’s 12,000-strong Valmiki community, who make a living as scavengers and sanitation workers and raise pigs to help them with their work.
In 2012, Dr Rajendra Gupta, a resident of Shivpuri, had filed a petition in the Madhya Pradesh High Court highlighting the menace posed by stray pigs in the city. Saying that they were being reared locally and being used unofficially in sanitation work, Gupta had pointed out that the pigs were animal hosts for disease vectors and pleaded with the court to issue an order to the SMC to rid the city of them. In 2014, the HC instructed the SMC to ensure that pig farming was moved out of the city limits, failing which stray animals were to be culled. Soon after, the SMC worked out an agreement with sharpshooter Nawab Shafath Ali Khan to cull Shivpuri’s stray pigs. (Shafath has taken on similar jobs across India, including the controversial killing of tigress Avani in Maharashtra in 2018.) According to data from the corporation, he shot 4,559 pigs in Shivpuri between 2014 and 2017, and was paid Rs 240 per kill. Following this, on July 31 last year, the SMC issued a new tender to recruit shooters. However, on March 19 this year, after hearing a petition filed by animal rights activist Sangeeta Dogra challenging this plan, the Gwalior HC ordered the state to find an alternative solution—such as sterilisation—to control the pig population. Dogra’s petition also proposed that scientific methods be employed for waste management, such as bio-methanation, aerial composting or incineration.
The Valmiki community in Shivpuri, while welcoming the decision to halt the culling of pigs, is not on the same page as Dogra when it comes to waste management, as they fear the loss of livelihood. “Pigs are used to clean half the town,” says Sudhir Kode, state president of the Safai Mazdoor Congress. “If the government claims to be pro-Hindu, it should also remember that the pig is an avatar of God,” he adds, referring to Varaha, believed by many Hindus to be one of the avatars of Vishnu. Kode says if the SMC were serious about shifting pig farming beyond the city limits, it would have arranged for land for the Valmikis. “The community traditionally rears pigs,” he says. “It is fine for people to say that the community should do something else, but the caste system is still a reality—no one supports our community members when they get into other businesses or [seek other] employment.”
AN UPCOMING MUNICIPAL ELECTION AND A COURT ORDER GIVE THE GOVERNMENT PAUSE, TO RECONSIDER WAYS OF DEALING WITH SHIVPURI’S ANIMAL MENACE