Recently Doordarshan (DD National) the national television channel was found airing a video of Dos and Don'ts in fighting COVID 19 where in it's don't section it said "not to come in contact with live animals".
Thankfully the channel has stopped running that video but today on 13th April 2020 a COVID-19 poster just popped up during the telecast of a very hit serial ''Chanakya' at around 5:30 PM (the pic in the post). The poster again says that don't come in contact with animals. The prevention is misleading and unnecessarily creates fear and hatred in the minds of the people towards animals.
Also it seems the picture of the animal is that of a dog. The poster was shown just once during the telecast of the serial and that too for few seconds.
But those few seconds means a lot. Doordarshan has a wide coverage right from cities to the villages and across all India. People of all strata watch Doordarshan, right from most educated to the illiterate.
God knows since when that poster is being flashed but now the DD officials should not show the poster. Already a lot of dogs have got abandoned in India. We cannot afford to have more dogs abandoned.
The other awareness programmes related with COVID 19 are commendable. The new ones with audios do not say anything which is detrimental to animals.
Also videos of Celebrities from various areas talking about how one can prevent oneself from being infected by the corona virus are really good. It's easier for people to understand when celebrities tell them.
Now what has been done cannot be reverted. But the least Doordarshan channel can do is send a message across India not to abandon pets as they don't spread COVID 19. Already majority of Indians are not friendly with dogs and there is hardly any pet keeping and then on top of it such awareness only makes the life of the man's best friend worse. And with it the life of the caregivers too.
Here are some of the Bollywood stars who can be seen with their pets. If Doordarshan finds it suitable then they can play these videos during serials like Ramayan, Mahabharata and Chanakya.
The following video is of Bollywood actress Madhuri Dixit dancing with her pet during lockdown who happens to be an Indian breed. Rarely people in India like to adopt an Indian breed dog. So this is a very good example. One can just hope that more people adopt a stray after seeing the celebrity dancing with her pet
Feel really very proud of her. To watch the amazing dance go on the following link:
This is a video which was recently uploaded by the famous Bollywood singer Shaan. He with his wife and their pet can be seen telling people not to abandon their pets as they don't spread COVID-,19. To watch the video kindly go on the link below:
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=2869602233109189&id=575112275891541
Dr Chandrakant Panday, Head, Centre for Community Medicine at AIIMS, Delhi has said that animals cannot spread COVID-19 to humans.
Kindly go to the following link to know in detail what the doctor said:
The epic Ramayana which is being telecast by the national television is about the victory of goodness over evil. The protagonist Ram who is also revered throughout India and considered as an incarnation of Lord Vishnu fought with the demon Ravana and finally killed him and won the battle. What is interesting and quite amazing is the fact that Ram fought the battle with the help of animals. His army consisted of monkeys and bears. Also squirrels helped him in making the bridge from India to Lanka (today's Srilanka). It was a bird (Jatayu) who fought with Ravana when he kidnapped Ram's wife and was taking her to Lanka.
Anyway the truth is that India has a very rich heritage. A heritage where animals are respected and given equal right to existence. But with changing times the ethos have degraded and the rich heritage has only been restricted to books and not in action .
Our honourable Prime Minister has already said that COVID -19 can only be countered by Compassion.
So let's not be cruel to animals. They need us more at this time so let's not abandon them. And the least we can do is to be kind to them.