Of Laws And Holy Cows
By Cynthia Stephen
10 July, 2010
Infochangeindia.org
In fulfilling its election promise of banning cow slaughter on religious grounds, the BJP government in Karnataka ignores the fact that it is not just minorities whose livelihood will be badly hit but also dalits and other poor sections of society who depend on the cattle industry for a living
On March 19, the Karnataka assembly passed the Karnataka Prevention of Cow Slaughter and Preservation of Cattle Bill 2010 by voice vote after uproarious scenes and an acrimonious four-hour-long debate. All opposition parties were against the bill, which has caused much consternation in the minds of many sections of Karnataka society. It has yet to pass into law as it has not been brought before the upper house, the Vidhan Parishat. The government did not table it in the just-concluded session as it is in a minority in the upper house, a fact that could change once the elections to the vacant MLC seats are conducted. Hence the tactical delay in tabling the bill.
The bill states that the slaughter of a cow, calf, bull, bullock, buffalo was completely banned in the state. There was also prohibition of sale, usage and possession of beef and restriction on transport of cattle.
Clause 5 prohibits not only slaughter, but also “usage and possession of beef”, which would practically mean a complete ban on beef eating. Clause 8 states that not only slaughter, but “sale, purchase or disposal of cattle for slaughter” when the seller or buyer in question has “reason to believe that such cattle shall be slaughtered” will be deemed as a committing crime.
Te bill is also aimed at preservation and improvement of cattle breeds and to endeavour to organise agriculture and animal husbandry in terms of Article 48 of the Constitution. The bill provides for stringent punishment for violation of the act, and also provides for powers of search and seizure of any premises, vessel or vehicle.
The offence is punishable with imprisonment of not less than one year which may extend up to seven years or a fine of Rs 25,000-Rs 50,000 or both; second and subsequent offence would attract a fine of not less than Rs 50,000 up to Rs 1 lakh along with imprisonment penalty.
Home Minister V S Acharya said the bill was "in tune with the sentiments of the majority community", as per the election manifesto of the ruling party in the state, the Bharatiya Janata Party, and the judgments of the Supreme Court and Karnataka High Court.
The BJP government may have brought in this law with the intention of putting pressure on the lifestyle and livelihoods of the minorities, but in fact large sections of the state's population will be affected directly once the bill passes into law, including farmers, milk producers, and leather workers, most of whom are dalits and Muslims, and of course the common man.
One of the main reasons for the bill, claimed C T Ravi of the BJP, is the likelihood of shortage of milk due to the "current rate of cow slaughter in the state".
This assertion is refuted strongly by Mustafa Beig, a researcher and political analyst, and convener of the United Forum for Public Awareness. “There is a 2007 report of the cattle census in the Department of Animal Husbandry that has been kept unpublished because it will give the lie to this claim. The report says that between 2003 and 2007, the number of cattle in the state actually grew from 95 lakh to 1.49 crore," he says. "No one sells milch cattle that are worth over Rs 15,000 to be slaughtered, so the claim is totally specious."
This bill has grave implications for the majority of people in the state. It is a myth to think that this will only affect the minorities, mostly Muslims and Christians, as it is they who slaughter the cattle and for whom it is a means of livelihood and a source of low-cost protein. In actual fact, it is the livelihoods of large sections of the state: farmers, cattle traders, transporters, loaders, milk producers, especially those who have taken loans to purchase milch cattle and are mostly women in Self Help Groups, the leather industry, the pharma industry, the meat producers and sellers who include a large section of the economically weaker section and most dalits.
In the case of milk producers, the profitability of milk production will be adversely affected as they will be forced to care for male cross-bred calves that are considered surplus and sold because they are not suitable for use in agriculture. This will increase the price of milk in the short term. As milk producers will be faced with caring for economically unproductive, aged cows, they will stop rearing cattle. In the medium term this will result in lower milk production thus adding to the cost of milk and milk products, directly affecting the general population. In fact, farmer's groups have already demanded that the government grant a kind of subsidy for rearing aged and unproductive cattle.
To get a further idea of what this implies, let us look at the economic implications of the proposed blanket ban on cattle slaughter:
It is estimated that every day, all over the state, about 20,000 economically unproductive cattle are slaughtered in about 10,000 shops, resulting in the production of about 2 lakh kilos of meat worth about Rs 2 crore. Other by-products generated such as hide, bones, horns, hooves, sinews etc are worth about Rs 1 crore. These by-products are also the raw materials for the leather, pharmaceutical and sugar industries which will be directly affected. The common man will feel the impact with the rise in the cost of products such as iron and calcium supplements, shoes, handbags, and sugar.
It is estimated that the production of meat from cattle directly and indirectly employs about 12 lakh persons, mostly from the poor and marginalised sections - landless and marginal rural individuals who buy, sell and transport cattle, producers and vendors of meat and by-products, etc.
As farmers and cattle-rearers will no longer be able to sell their cattle, they will be forced to look after them at their own expense, with no hope of economic gain. This will discourage them from rearing cattle and will actually cause a decline in the cattle population.
Culling of animals is a scientific and economically prudent method of managing livestock. The ecological impact of looking after lakhs of economically unproductive cattle, daily increasing by 20,000, has to be considered. Where there is less and less arable soil and water, how and where does the state government plan to find the fodder and water to meet the needs of these unproductive cattle, when, according to Mustafa Beig, there is a present shortage of 150 lakh mt of grain for cattle-feed alone, not to speak of the huge demand-supply gap of both green and dry fodder for the existing economically productive cattle.
Further, what is the government's plan for the disposal of the carcasses after the cattle die a natural death? Will they bury or cremate them? Who will pay for the cost? What about the air, water and soil pollution that will be caused as a result?
The government offers goshalas run by charitable trusts attached to religious mutts as an alternative means of "pensioning off" these cattle. But critics say that this is a ploy to transfer public lands and public resources to religious institutions, with total lack of transparency. On the contrary, says Sardar Ahmed Quraishi, president of the Tippu Sultan United Front, it is a way to impoverish and criminalise the 12 lakh population of the poor and marginalised, mostly minority and dalit, whose livelihood is based on the economy around the slaughter of economically unproductive cattle. "After all, when the animal is old, nobody is going to look after it. We are giving it mukti (freedom),” he says.
James, a young dalit activist, is more graphic. "You (upper castes) take the best of the cow - its labour, its milk, its offspring, and sell it after you have no use for it. When we find ways to use this resource, you attack us and even kill us (referring to the killing of five dalits in Jhajjar, Haryana in 2008 who were skinning the carcass of a cow after purchasing it). You are taking our livelihoods from us, even though we make it out of the waste you discard. Is this justice?"
"This law will take away food from the poor who cannot afford to buy chicken or mutton,” says another dalit activist.
"The cost of mutton, already high, will go up to one thousand rupees," said Siddaramaiah, leader of the opposition in the assembly. Thus you will be thrusting vegetarianism on the people. This is only possible in Hitler's regime. Is this a Hitler regime?"
Many civil society groups have already been agitating against the bill and the agitation is likely to gain momentum as the June session approaches. Thus it would behove the government to pause and rethink this hasty and ill-advised law into force. The government's real agenda of using the law to hit out at the minorities is hardly a hidden one. But in the process, it will adversely affect large numbers of the state's population. There will be a daily loss of a minimum Rs 4 crore to a large section of the poor and marginalised population who are bound to become restive at the loss of their livelihood.
(Cynthia Stephen is an independent writer and researcher)
