May 30, 2017: The Left Front Government in Tripura today ruled out enforcement of Union Government’s ban on cattle slaughter and trade. Saying that the ban would affect the interests of common people of the State, Animal Resource Development Minister Aghore Debbarma mentioned the central government is yet to send us the new cattle trade and slaughter rules.
Meanwhile media reports, the Madurai bench of the Madras High Court has granted an interim stay on the implementation of rules banning the sale and purchase of cattle for slaughter at animal fairs — notified by the central government in May — marking the first judicial pronouncement on an issue that has sparked off heated debate countrywide. The ban has sparked heated debate across the country and taking a dig at ban, a section of media termed it ‘gau wapasi’. The West Bengal Government also ruled out enforcing the ban.
“The new cattle slaughter and trade rules framed by the Central Government is against the interests of the people of the State”, he commented and added people will face serious financial problem if they can not sell their livestock once it turns unnecessary and no longer useful for him. Debbarma maintained that it would be preposterous to think all cattle sold in the market were meant for slaughtering.
The union Forest, Environment and Climate Change Ministry, with aim to curb cruelty to animals, notified the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Regulation of Livestock Markets) Rules, 2017 last week making it mandatory to ensure that cattle are not bought or sold at cattle markets for slaughtering. The list of animals includes cows, bulls, buffaloes, heifers, calves as well as camels.
As CPM state secretary Bijan Dhar recently mentioned such a ban will affect thousands of people – mostly from the Dalit community who are engaged in the cleaning and clearing cattle carcass activities, farmers who need to sale their unusable cattles and also the minorities who depended on beef for their source of protein would be severely affected.
