Western Railways to Observe Gandhi Jayanti as 'Vegetarian Day'
The Wire Staff
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New Delhi: For Mahatma Gandhi's 150th birth anniversary, the Western Railways has rehashed a year-old plan for honouring the occasion and announced that it will not serve non-vegetarian food anywhere on its premises, reports say.
A similar plan, put forth by the Indian Railway Board through an order sent to IRCTC to celebrate Gandhi Jayanti as 'Vegetarian Day' last year, had to be scuttled after drawing flak from various quarters.
Indian Express, in its report, quoted a circular issued on Monday by Western Railway's Ahmedabad division assistant commercial manager F.M. Gaurav Jain as having said, “All station masters are advised to follow these instructions and ensure that no non-vegetarian food is served at any catering unit at the stations.”
The order reportedly extends to licensed eating stalls at the 510 railway stations under the Western Railway division as well, the paper reported.
Also read: In Chhattisgarh, a Mid-Day Meal Battle Between Eggs and Soya
Various divisions of the Railways have come up with plans to honour the occasion as well. Twenty two of Central Railway's diesel locomotives will be painted with Gandhi's picture in the backdrop of the national flag's colours, reported ANI. They will be attached to trains that will be ceremonially flagged off from Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus.
Gandhi was a famous advocate for vegetarianism in his time and his line has now been adapted with increasing enthusiasm under the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party. In his pamphlet, The Moral Basis of Vegetarianism, Gandhi had notably pronounced milk as non-vegetarian and eggs as vegetarian.
His eagerness for vegetarianism, however, operated largely within the ambit of its purported heath benefits. However, discussions on the exclusion of eggs, onions and other items of indeterminate food groups from midday meals in schools and Anganwadis - largely as a political ploy to further an ideology - have recently dominated news.
This article went live on September twenty-fifth, two thousand nineteen, at two minutes past twelve at noon.The Wire is now on WhatsApp. Follow our channel for sharp analysis and opinions on the latest developments.