Ample greens of Lutyens’ Delhi can be used for animal husbandry

The irrepressible former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad’s exhortation to the prime minister to tell his Cabinet colleagues to, in effect, practice what they preach – rear cows in their own expansive ministerial estates – may not be all that off the wall. After all, in these times of adulteration, not to mention the push for consuming local produce, cows in the backyard have a trendy ring.

Indeed, given that the ministerial abodes in central Delhi boast compounds that often encompass several acres, it may not be farfetched to assume that New Delhi’s main architect Sir Edwin Lutyens himself may have expected the inhabitants to keep their own livestock. Sadly, only a few have actually done so, including Chaudhary Charan Singh, Devi Lal and Lalu Prasad.

Bovines were no stranger to the exclusive green acres of official Delhi back in the day, being both the pullers of the antiquated lawn mowers fielded by the horticulture department as also the consumers of the tasty byproduct of their own labours — freshly cut grass. Machines and modernity have now obviated the need for mowing or milching bovines on most premises. However, given that the RJD leader’s daughter Misa Bharati has become a member of the Rajya Sabha, at least one corner of Lutyens Delhi will surely give him enough cows to smile again.