Cattle can be sold only to a person who has documents to prove he is an “agriculturist”, the rule says. “Young” and “unfit animals” cannot be sold.
New Delhi, May 26 (HT): The government has banned the sale of cows for slaughter at animal markets across India, a regulation that will hurt thousands of poor farmers and also choke supplies for the country’s meat exports industry.
The first central regulation for cattle business notified on Tuesday allows trade only among farmland owners. Experts say this will hurt the mostly Muslim bovine traders who are facing mounting violence by cow vigilante groups. The regulation will cover cows, bulls, bullocks, buffalos, steers, heifers and camels.
“Take an undertaking that the animals are bought for agriculture purposes and not for slaughter,” reads a directive to committees overseeing animal markets in the rule notified under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (PCA) Act of 1960 that gives the Centre powers over animal welfare.
The annual meat business in India is estimated to be around Rs one lakh crore with exports worth Rs 26,303 crore in 2016-17. Uttar Pradesh is the market leader followed by Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal and Telangana. Most states in India hold weekly animal markets and many states operate them near borders to attract traders from neighbouring states.
Considered holy by many Hindus, cows are a sensitive political topic and have gained in importance since Prime Minister Narendra Modi stormed to power in 2014 as several BJP-ruled states enacted strict laws to punish cow slaughter.
But many say the expanding protection for bovines is a proxy war against Dalits and Muslims – as exemplified by the lynching of dairy farmer Pehlu Khan in Rajasthan in April or the flogging of Dalit men in Gujarat’s Una last year. Cow slaughter is banned in states except in Kerala and in parts of north-east India.