Cow exam goes too far in milking nationalism

More than half a million Indians revising for a new Cow Science Exam, testing students on how the animals produce gold in their milk and on the medicinal powers of their dung and urine, have been left frustrated after the government postponed the test amid ridicule from academics.

The online paper was to be the first exam of a new curriculum advanced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist government. After complaints from universities that the exam promoted unscientific hearsay, it has been postponed for ‘‘administrative reasons’’.

Hindus believe the cow to be sacred, but hardliners insist that cows in India possess extraordinary medicinal and scientific powers. Those beliefs have gained ground since Modi and his ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), came to power in 2014.

BJP officials have claimed that cow dung protects from radiation, and that the cow is the only creature on Earth that both inhales and exhales oxygen.

The National Cow Commission was set up in 2019 to promote the ideology. It announced the exam last month, but universities have resisted pressure to promote it.

Academics in Kerala called it a reprehensible step that promoted radical nationalism over science, while universities in states controlled by the opposition said they would not hold the exam.

The course material suggested that Indian cows were ‘‘alert’’ and ‘‘emotional towards humans’’. Other breeds exhibited ‘‘none of these feelings’’ and were lazy.

BJP members have endorsed ranges of soap and health drinks based on cow dung and urine. Party officials have also proposed replacing the tiger with the cow as India’s national animal.

The reverence has recently assumed sinister dimensions. The BJP has restricted the beef and leather trades, dominated by Muslims, amid a rise in hate crimes targeting India’s religious minorities.