‘Cow Science’ Exam Study Material Not So Scientific After all?

<div>The government wants to hold a countrywide free online test to pique people's interests in the <em>desi </em>cow. But it's the study material that's piquing all the interest instead.<br> <br> </div> <div>“<em>Indian cows are hygienic, hardy and clever enough not to sit at dirty places."<br> “Jersey cows are lazy and not as emotive."<br> </em>“<em>Indian cows have traces of gold in their milk."<br> “Panchgavya is a panacea for health and wellness."<br> </em><br> </div> <div>These are some lines from the syllabus for the Kamdhenu Gau-Vigyan Prachar-Prasar Examination.</div> <div>'Gau Vigyan' literally translated means cow science, but in its scientific pursuit of the value of Indian cows, the Rashtriya Kamdhenu Aayog — which is the government body behind this exam, seems to have provided many dubious observations with little evidence.</div> <div>While the exam will be held free of cost on 25 February, for anybody who is interested, in this episode we fact-check a few excerpts from the study material.<br> <br> <strong>Producer and Host: </strong>Shorbori Purkayastha<br> <strong>Guest: </strong>Aniket Sule, Associate Professor at The Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education</div> <div> <strong>Editor:</strong> Shelly Walia</div> <div><br> </div> <div> <strong>Music:</strong> Big Bang Fuzz<br> <br> <strong>Listen to The Big Story podcast on:</strong> </div> <div><br> </div> <div>Apple: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/redirect?q=https%3A%2F%2Fapple.co%2F2AYdLIl&amp;redir_token=G9sQMbbppKv-LEFD29gDyTmPMzt8MTU3MTM4MDU5NkAxNTcxMjk0MTk2&amp;v=xkpX1V6aUFo&amp;event=video_description">https://apple.co/2AYdLIl</a> </div> <div>Saavn: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/redirect?q=http%3A%2F%2Fbit.ly%2F2oix78C&amp;redir_token=G9sQMbbppKv-LEFD29gDyTmPMzt8MTU3MTM4MDU5NkAxNTcxMjk0MTk2&amp;v=xkpX1V6aUFo&amp;event=video_description">http://bit.ly/2oix78C</a> </div> <div>Google Podcasts: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/redirect?q=http%3A%2F%2Fbit.ly%2F2ntMV7S&amp;redir_token=G9sQMbbppKv-LEFD29gDy