Jamshedpur: He's a professor from Chhattisgarh, but Md Faiz Khan, 37, would rather call himself a cow saviour.

A professor in Government College, Surajpur in Chhattisgarh, Khan started his 12,000km walk - Gau Seva Sadbhavna Padyatra - on June 24, 2017, from Leh to save cows. He wants to end the walk in Amritsar via Kanyakumari on Republic Day in January 26, 2019.

"Cow slaughter should be banned," Khan, who reached Jamshedpur on Wednesday and spoke to mediapersons in Bistupur on Thursday, said, before answering the inevitable question of why a Muslim man took up the crusade.

A book inspired him.

"I was very inspired after reading Ek Gaye ki Atmakatha by Girish Pankaj in 2012, where a Muslim boy serves a cow. It changed my life," said the man who holds a double masters in Hindi and political science and an MPhil in political science. "For five years, I did gau seva in Surajpur itself, which meant cleaning cowsheds and feeding cows, and then embarked on the padyatra last year," he said.

He said his walk to save the cow was for the good of the planet. "No political interest."

Khan said all holy books, from the Vedas to the Quran, spoke highly of the cow. About his conviction, he said he held the cow in high esteem due to its merit. "We know about its milk, but even its dung is organic manure that keeps our planet pesticide-free," he said. "Pesticides in crops find their way into the human body and may cause cancer."