On the new law making dog-chipping mandatory: how a well-intentioned regulation morphs into a textbook display of administrative incompetence.
So, as of tomorrow: a mandatory chip for Fido, a certificate on top, Rs 350 at the counter, and a Rs 100,000 fine if you’re out of line. Honestly, who hatches this kind of law ? It reads like a sketch. The wretched text is grotesquely bizarre…
Cherry on the cake: Rs 100,000 in fines. Seriously, who pulled that figure out of thin air? We jump from Rs 350 for registration to Rs 100,000 for non-compliance. What’s the mathematical ratio behind that? We’re talking about pets here — not money laundering, not drug trafficking. On what planet does a mere registration default warrant such a delirious financial sanction? Unless the next step is to send Fido straight to the intermediate court, handcuffed at the paws.
A logistics “designed for everyone”
Let’s be serious. Does the MSAW really have the human, technical and logistical means to run this nationwide? Do we have enough vets trained to implant microchips?
And above all, how are families supposed to transport their dogs to the MSAW, when no bus, no metro, no taxi will take them on board? Should we rent a truck, improvise a livestock van, or turn our car boot into a kennel? Bravo — “logistics designed for all.”
The truth is that this law was designed in a bubble disconnected from the realities on the ground, with no thought for citizens’ constraints. We always come back to the same problem: chronic improvisation and a lack of planning.
The solution exists — and it is simple
- deploy mobile units that travel from region to region to register and chip dogs;
- partner with private vets and NGOs to decentralise and accelerate the process;
- provide support for modest families instead of terrorising them with an astronomical fine;
- run a pilot phase before imposing a blanket obligation.
This is not about contesting the need to regulate the stray-dog population. But if we want lasting results, we need pragmatic, inclusive, applicable solutions — not decrees that fall from the sky with sanctions worthy of an authoritarian state.
Today, what is presented as an “animal welfare” measure looks more like a fresh display of administrative incompetence: a law tailored for paperwork, but utterly unsuited to real life.
At this rate, it would not be surprising if the next circular requires us to chip our cats, our chickens… and why not our children.
A word to the wise…
