Govt of India introduced National Action Plan for dog mediated rabies elimination in India by 2030 in the year 2021 but 4 precious years gone & till today nothing is being done to eliminate canine rabies from India
The plan has 2 components
First Component is for prevention of canine rabies which comes under Strategies for Human Health component where humans who have been bitten by rabid or rabid suspected animals are to be administered rabies vaccine and Ministry of Health & Family Welfare is implementing this
Second component which is most crucial for elimination of canine rabies & which comes under Animal Health Component where dogs and other animals are to be given rabies vaccine to make them immune to rabies has been completely ignored & neglected
To make India canine rabies free 70% of the dog population have to be vaccinated on an yearly basis that too consecutively for 3 years & for this the animal husbandry dept, municipal corporations & NGOs have been given responsibility but till today no such action plan on ground can be seen
To make matters worse all focus is only on prevention of rabies & not its eradication
Hence, dogs are being feared and hated
The general perception amongst Indian masses is that every dog is rabid & any bite by a dog will infect humans with rabies &
unfortunately nothing is being done to bust this myth
Media too has not spared dogs
It spits venom against dogs without any fear because no action is taken against them for false reporting
They freely write what they like even if it means mass killings & relocations of dogs due to their hateful reporting
In the past media has accused dogs for death of humans many of which were later found to be false
Recently Media reported death of a young kabbadi player living in a village of India due to rabies
It claimed that the player died due to rabies which he got from a pup whom he rescued from a drain
The pup bit him while the kindhearted player was rescuing him
https://m.economictimes.com/news/india/state-level-kabaddi-player-dies-of-rabies-after-rescuing-puppy-from-drain-and-ignoring-vaccine-calling-bite-nothing-serious/articleshow/122223516.cms
Are claims made by media based on any authentic medical tests or postmortem reports which confirms that the unfortunate player died of rabies?
Anyway soon after the case was reported by media administration got 29 villagers vaccinated
Were all these villagers bit by dogs that they were given rabies vaccine? Should rabies vaccine be given to those who have not been bitten by any rabid or rabid suspected animal?
And What about the dogs of the village who are the cause of rabies & being blamed for biting the player & causing his death due to rabies?
Why humans are being vaccinated and dogs of the village not?
After the news went viral about the demise of the player people as usual started killing dogs
To be honest killing, beating, relocating of dogs have never stopped in India & one of the primary reason for that is rabies
https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1F2Lm1zXHW/
Who are the real culprits for Human deaths due to rabies and the death of this young & dynamic player who may have died due to rabies?
Indian dogs???
Or
Animal Welfare bodies who have failed to get dogs vaccinated & create right awarehess about canine rabies?
While all the other countries of the world are working towards eradicating canine rabies from their country by conducting mass vaccination of dogs & by creating right awareness about the disease, India on the other hand is silently watching their dogs get killed due to human ignorance & negligence of the system
So Yes India shall become canine rabies free by 2030 but not by eradicating rabies but by eradicating canines