One day last week, across the country came reports of people getting together in major cities to protest the lynching over beef eating and cow slaughter. While Goa has been spared the violence and was also not part of the protests, there have been undertones of resentment that have arisen especially in relation to the Central Government notification titled ‘Regulation of Livestock Markets’ that in effect bans the sale of cattle for the purpose of slaughter and its inter-State trade.
While the notification has drawn censure ever since it came into public space, and been opposed in various States across the country, in Goa where the sale of beef is considerable, given that there is a sizeable percentage of the population that consumes beef, the outrage at the notification has been rather subdued and restricted to the traders, to discussions and to newspaper columns. Even the Goa government took a considerably long period of time to react to the Central Government notification, and when it did react, it was a minister of the coalition partner who did.
Where beef is concerned, Goa is a consumer State and does not supply cattle for slaughter. On the other hand, it gets the cattle from the neighbouring States, which are then slaughtered in Goa and the meat sold by the local butchers. Goa also gets a portion of its beef directly from other States, which is sold, not through butchers, but through various cold storage stores across the State. Any consequences of the notification would be therefore indirect but still hit the trader and the consumer. While the livelihood of the trader in beef would be hit by the notification, the consumer would have to go without the meat on his dinner table.
While these – the economic issues and issues of customs – are definitely aspects to be considered when analysing the notification, own has to essentially ask the question as to why the stress on banning the trade of cattle for purposes of slaughter. The major consumers of beef in the country are the minority communities, so broadly does the entire beef issue go beyond the question of just banning the sale of beef in the country, and is it aimed at the minorities? Why does a government have to spend its time and energy on people’s eating habits? Can’t this be left to be decided by the people?
What is happening today can best be described as ‘beef politics’ and is nothing new in this State. It goes back to 1978 when the then Maharahstrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) introduced and passed The Goa Daman and Diu Prevention of Cow Slaughter Act, 1978 that bans the slaughter of cows in the State, but permits the slaughter of other cattle provided they are certified by a veterinary doctor, and under certain conditions. While this may have been in the long past of almost four decades ago, closer to the current period too there have been instances of the ‘beef politics’ rearing up its head ever so often.
In 2013 there had been a shortage of beef after the Goa Meat Complex had been temporarily banned from slaughter animals following a high court ruling based on a petition by the Govansh Raksha Abhiyaan alleging irregularities at the Goa Meat Complex. The Meat Complex being the only abattoir in the State, there was a shortage of beef for a brief while.
A couple of years later, in March 2015 the supply of beef in the State was again hit when butchers, beef shops and stalls across Goa had downed their shutters after the Food and Drugs Administration had issued notices to shops operating without valid registrations and licences giving them 10 days to comply with all formalities. The shops had also been asked to ensure proper sanitation and hygienic practices. While nobody can fault that, the regularity with which the issue of beef and cow slaughter surfaces is disturbing, considering that at least about a third of the Goan population are regular consumers of beef as are a number of the tourists who sojourn in Goa throughout the year.
The slaughter of cattle is just one of the many examples of growing intolerance that the nation is seeing today, going to the extreme extent of a Sadhvi suggesting at a conference in Goa that people who eat beef be hanged. The confusion between beef and cow slaughter has to be cleared. There are laws to protect the cow from slaughter in Goa and no cows are slaughtered in the State. The beef sold in shop in the State and served in restaurants is not the meat of cows, but that of other bovines. Stopping the trade of all cattle for the purpose of slaughter would stop all the sale of beef in the State and the country.
The hard line on issues being taken by certain organisations needs to be softened, and it can come only if the government reacts strongly to statements extremists, like that of the Sadhavi who wants those who eat beef to be hanged. The tolerance that the people of Goa have been showing to repeated statements by the right wing should not be taken as a licence to continue utterances that would hurt the minority communities.
The minorities, as any other community, have the right to decide their choice of food without interference from the government and that right should not be infringed upon. Consider that on a single day, about 30 to 50 tonnes of beef are consumed in Goa, any ban on the sale of beef will hit, not just the trade in beef, but also the eating patterns of the people, and perhaps give some others a political advantage.
As the debate takes on a shrill and violent turn, the protection of the cow should not result into violence over the cow. The acceptance should be mutual – with one section respecting the need to protect the cow and the other section respecting the right of the others to eat beef.
Alexandre Moniz Barbosa is Executive Editor, Herald
