India is in the throes of religious fundamentalism. A portion of Hindus in half of India associate the vegetarian diet with virtue/morality. (I should point out that these people are not vegans and consume an insane amount of dairy)

In the last few years they have been in power - they have pushed vegetarianism really hard - like banning in it mid day meals at school, restricting it in state airlines and public places etc.

Previous governments had pushed egg consumption as an acceptable alternative to many Indians who were reticent to eat meat. But that's been turned back in the last decade.

India is the only country in the world where the average height of children has actually declined in the last 20 years.