If you’re a non-vegetarian, you may want to avoid taking trains in India on October 2

• Indian Railways is proposing to go all vegetarian to honour Mahatma Gandhi on his 150th birth anniversary on 02 October.
• They are also planning to issue tickets with watermark of Mahatma Gandhi's image.
• It is also planning to run special ‘swachhata express’ trains from Sabarmati, a suburb of the city Ahmedabad, to various stations connected with Gandhiji.

Indians are big on vegetarianism, or so they say. According to research, only 20% of Indians are actually vegetarians. Yet, this year, the Indian Railways is proposing to go all vegetarian to honour the father of the country, Mahatma Gandhi, on his 150th birth anniversary, on October 2. If the proposal is greenlit, in addition to the day being observed as the Rashtriya Swachhta Diwas -- a day dedicated to clean India -- it will also be a ‘Vegetarian Day’.

Last month, a circular was sent out to all railway zones by the Railway Board that said "no non-vegetarian food will be served anywhere on Indian Railways premises", on October 2, 2018, 2019, 2020. Bad news for those yearning for the quintessential railways ‘anda’ (egg) curry may want to consider changing their travel dates.

Not just that, the railways also plans to run a 'special salt rake' from the city of Sabarmati on 12 March to commemorate Gandhi’s famous Salt March (also known as Dandi March) - a non-violent civil disobedience protest lead by the Father of the Nation to produce salt from the seawater in the coastal village of Dandi.

They are also planning to issue tickets with watermark of Mahatma Gandhi's image. Plus, the plan proposes railway stations to have thematic paintings of Gandhiji and ‘digital museums’ are being set up at the station that will highlight the great leader’s achievements. It also wants to display a special logo, that will be designed by the Ministry of Culture, outside the train coaches.

All these proposals are subject to approval from the Ministry of Culture, the nodal ministry for the special commemoration. On 2 May, President Ram Nath Kovind chaired the first meeting of the National Committee for the Commemoration of the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi during which he said, “He (Mahatma Gandhi) was the inspiration for our largely non-violent, inclusive and democratic freedom struggle.’

As an aside, here’s an excerpt from the Mahatma Gandhi’s prayer discourse of 25 July 1947, when he was inundated by multiple requests to implement a nationwide beef ban:

“In India no law can be made to ban cow-slaughter. I do not doubt that Hindus are forbidden the slaughter of cows. I have been long pledged to serve the cow but how can my religion also be the religion of the rest of the Indians? It will mean coercion against those Indians who are not Hindus. We have been shouting from the house-tops that there will be no coercion in the matter of religion. We have been reciting verses from the Koran at the prayer. But if anyone were to force me to recite these verses, I would not like it. How can I force anyone not to slaughter cows.” unless he is himself so disposed? It is not as if there were only Hindus in the Indian Union. There are Muslims, Parsis, Christians and other religious groups here.”