The Supreme Court’s order suspending the Centre’s notification banning sale, including cows and calves from the animal market, will hopefully and ultimately, calm, quieten and put to rest, an issue which has inflamed India and has taken lives.
And as the very valid observations of the Supreme Court came forth, it is hoped that true Indian will understand that for over two months, a notification banning sale of cattle, including cows and calves, from animal market, has been misused, misunderstood and used as weapon of hate, throwing both lives and livelihoods at stake.
To all those who indulged in violence in the name of protecting the cow, citing the May 23 notification, the following facts need to be read and understood.
The Ministry of Environment and Forests had notified the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Regulation of Livestock Markets) Rules under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, after a Supreme Court directive to stop smuggling of cows and other animals to Nepal for religious sacrifices. It allowed animal purchase from the cattle market only for agriculture purposes, such as ploughing and dairy, and not for slaughter.
However, the Chief Justice of India has observed that the livelihood of people cannot be subjected to uncertainties. He obviously took into account the serious concerns of eat sellers all over the country.
The issue of traditional livelihood, practiced mainly by the minorities, has been critically introduced and raised by the Honourable Chief Justice of India. And these are livelihoods practiced for generations. This sensitivity by the Highest Court of the land, will serve as a much needed balm amidst the confusion, misuse and the very lose interpretation of the notification.
Let’s get one thing clear. There is no beef ban in the country. State governments can no longer take recourse to the centres notification to effectively block the beef trade, which incidentally depends on buffaloes and not cows. The spirit and essence of the notification was to prevent the movement of cattle to Nepal and to prevent them from subjected to cruelty.
On the other hand, we must also seriously look into the aspect of hygiene, cleanliness and breeding of cattle and ensuring that they are free from disease. Slaughter houses must be allowed to function under very strict conditions of safety and cleanliness, and there must be foolproof mechanism to ensure that only cattle free of disease is allowed to be slaughtered. Therefore, the economic reasons for letting trade go on has to be subject to these controls, as any product sold for human consumption should be.
The Supreme Court judgment has indeed come as a relief. It’s a message to India, that loose cannons like cow vigilantes cannot take over an agenda and fuel it through violence. That will never be allowed by the highest court of the land.
To be fair, the Goa government has all along been the voice of reason, very clearly explaining its position that calls for a beef ban were not acceptable and communal remarks on the issue will not be tolerated. In the same spirit the Sadhvi from MP who made the outrageous remark calling for death for beef eaters, at the Hindu convention at Ramnathi, Ponda, should indeed be prosecuted.
The country needs to calm down and douse the fires an thank the Apex court for taking such a considered decision.
