"Doesn't Give Full Picture": Karti Chidambaram To NDTV On Centre's Dog Bites Data

Congress MP Karti Chidambaram expressed concern over increasing dog bite incidents across the country and said it's a "health and safety issue". The Congress MP told NDTV that the Centre's data, shared in the Parliament, showed that over 37 lakh dog bite cases were reported last year, but "does not give a full picture because of the reporting mechanism."

The Congress MP has raised the issue of stray dogs, their rehabilitation, and incidents of dog bites in the past. Mr Chidambaram said he even met Prime Minister Narendra Modi to address the concern. Speaking to NDTV today, he talked about the Centre's data in Lok Sabha and said, "This is a serious health and safety problem in India. The data was shared by the government to a question that was asked in the Lok Sabha. I think the data does not give a full picture...the reporting mechanism does not capture all the incidents of dog bites in India, the real number must be higher than what has been published in the Lok Sabha." 

"It's a health issue because we are the largest sufferers of rabies in India, and we spend a huge amount of money on vaccine safety, because a lot of accidents are happening because of stray dogs. We do have a policy, but it's a failed one because local authorities have to implement the policy. I don't believe that even if we sterilise the street dogs, we can get rid of them," he added.

In a written reply in the Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying S P Singh Baghel said the total dog bite cases in 2024 stood at 37,17,336, while the total 'suspected human rabies deaths' were 54.

He called for a new national policy to build shelters for the strays across the country. "Move the dogs on the street, sterilise them, vaccinate them and keep them in a safe shelter," he said, adding that "We should increase adoption, but stray dogs can't be on the streets."

"The biggest problem is that nobody is responsible for it. Ministry of Health is not responsible, the Ministry of Wildlife is not responsible, the state department is not responsible, so there should be a national policy on it," Mr Chidambaram said.

"This is not a laughing matter. This is a very serious issue. It's a real issue which is occurring every single day in every nook and corner of India, not just in urban India, but also in rural India. The number of stray dogs in our streets is increasing, you know, disproportionately. And we have no policy, nor do we have the resources or the wherewithal to deal with this. I mean, local bodies are supposed to deal with it and local bodies in most cases do not have the funds and don't have the expertise to deal with it," the MP from Tamil Nadu's Sivaganga earlier told NDTV.

"I spoke about it in the Parliament a year ago and met the Prime Minister. When I met the Prime Minister, I said there should be a national policy because there is a gap between the cracks between the bureaucracy and the government; therefore, we need to form a task force which should be responsible for making India a zero-stray-dog population," he told NDTV today.

The Congress MP, who earlier said India can't become a global power with a stray dog problem at home, said, "Dogs have the right to life, but we must move them to a proper shelter, proper infrastructure should be created, sterilise them, vaccinate them and encourage adoption. Those people who feel strongly about dog care should encourage adoption with a vaccination certificate and other papers."