Shashi Tharoor joins stray dog debate following SC order, flags 'unwillingness of municipalities to neutering' canines
Shashi Tharoor's comments come after the Supreme Court on Monday, directed Delhi authorities to remove stray dogs from localities and house them in shelters due to increasing dog bite incidents.
"This is a thoughtful response to the problem that is affecting ordinary citizens in every city. We need to protect humans while being humane to dogs. But one point no one mentions is that the flaw in our system is not lack of resources, but the unwillingness or inability of municipalities to perform the task of rounding up and neutering stray dogs, even when funds have been provided. These funds are never actually spent where needed — in making the arrangements that the SC, in understandable exasperation, has now decreed.
Perhaps the funds should instead be allotted to Animal Welfare groups and sincere NGOs with a track record of sheltering animals? They are more likely to implement the ABC programme than the municipalities are," Tharoor posted on X. Calling the stray dog situation in the city "extremely grim," the Supreme Court on Monday ordered the Delhi government and municipal bodies to begin removing stray dogs from all local areas without delay and house them in designated dog shelters.
A bench of Justices JB Pardiwala and R Mahadevan directed Delhi authorities to set up shelters for about 5,000 dogs within six to eight weeks, to be expanded in phases. The court also warned that anyone obstructing the relocation drive — whether individuals or organisations — could face contempt proceedings.
(This is a developing story. Keep checking for more updates)
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The news of the famine reached Pune when Gandhi was fasting, but hardly anyone paid attention. After all, famines visited the country regularly. It took a few months for the city to register the gravity of the situation. Almost a thousand Bengalis lived in Pune then. The 'Bangiya Sammelan', or 'Bangiya Association', established in 1936, celebrated festivals like the Durga Pooja, and each year, some contribution was made from the Pooja funds towards some charitable or humanitarian work. The Bengal famine years witnessed subdued celebrations of the Durga Pooja and the Sarasvati Pooja in Pune. While the goddesses were offered their favourite dishes, the menu for feasts for devotees was limited, and the money thus saved was donated to famine relief. The Association organised a charity performance of a Bengali drama, and from the proceeds of the tickets donated nearly ₹3,500 to the Bengal Famine Relief Fund. 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Lakshmibai Thuse, along with ten other women volunteers from Pune, was part of the relief committee constituted by the All India Women's Conference that had taken upon itself the work of attending to children and the mothers. The committee established fifteen centres in Calcutta and eleven centres in the mofussil at which over 5,000 children were given milk and rice daily. It had also started several medical relief centres in Calcutta and nearby villages. But the most important programme of the women's committee was the opening of homes for orphan children in Calcutta, Barisal, Diamond Harbour, and Bankura. Members of the committee organised donation drives in Pune. They urged women to cook frugally and donate grains for the starving children in Bengal. Pune was then reeling under the effects of rationing owing to the Colonial government procuring grains for its troops fighting in Asia and Africa. A Bombay newspaper reported that at a meeting convened to tackle the insufficiency of food in the Bombay Presidency, a British official had commented, 'It is a shame that they (Indians) did not learn to starve from Gandhi'. Gandhi ended his fast on the morning of March 3, 1943, with a reading from the 'Bhagavad Geeta' and a glass of orange juice. The Great Bengal Famine, a man-made disaster, killed an estimated 3 million out of a population of 60 million. The government never admitted its responsibility for the disaster. Winston Churchill said, 'I hate Indians. The famine was their own fault for breeding like rabbits.' All through the history of mankind, food sources have been destroyed, blocked, denied, altered, or substituted to force people to obey, move, and accede to power. Be it India, Africa, or Gaza, rulers have used hunger to grab land and subjugate and humiliate the ruled. It is an effective weapon for ethnic cleansing. The freedom from starvation and the freedom to eat what one desires are still elusive. May we have the compassion for those who starve and the will to resist the use of hunger as a weapon against humanity. Chinmay Damle is a research scientist and food enthusiast. He writes here on Pune's food culture. He can be contacted at
