India is to ban school children from wearing leather shoes
Instead canvas plimsolls will replace uncomfortable and "environmentally hazardous" leather shoes . The move by the country's school boards follows a campaign by Maneka Gandhi, Indira Gandhi's widowed daughter-in-law, who is now an member of parliament for the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party. She is one of India's leading animal rights campaigners and a fierce opponent of slaughtering cows, which are revered among Hindus. India's Central Board of School Education and the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examination has accepted her proposal. Black leather shoes were introduced as mandatory items in Indian school uniforms during British colonial rule and have continued unchallenged ever since. Their widespread use has made school children the country's largest consumers of leather products, according to the People for Animals (PFA) campaign. Sixteen schools in Madras have already banned leather footwear in response to their campaign and proteste