Slaughter ban: BJP says move to regulate sale of bovines, Opposition cries foul

The new rules banning the sale and purchase of cattle from animal markets for slaughter aim at regulating such markets and also the sale of bovines, Environment Minister Harsh Vardhan said.

Noting that the rules are very "specific", he said that sellers and buyers have to ensure that cattle are not brought or sold in the markets for slaughter purpose and an undertaking to this effect has to obtained.

"The ministry has notified the 'Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Regulation of Livestock Markets) Rules, 2017'. The aim of the rules is only to regulate the animal market and sale of cattle in them and ensure welfare of cattle dealt in them," he said.

The government has banned the sale and purchase of cattle from animal markets for slaughter and prohibited practices which are cruel to animals including painting of horns and putting ornaments or decorative materials on them.

"The rule provides for a strict district animal market monitoring committee and animal market committee at the local level. The only thing that is required is that the seller and the buyer have to ensure that the cattle has not been bought or sold in the market for slaughter purpose," he said.

He said that an undertaking has to obtained from the member secretary of the animal committee from seller and buyer.

"It is strengthening the hands of the government at the state level also to strengthen the movement of prevention of cruelty to animals. There is nothing else in this," he said.

He clarified that these provisions only apply to animals in the livestock market and animal seized as case properties.

These rules do not cover other areas, he said.

The rules define cattle as a bovine animal including bulls, bullocks, cows, buffaloes, steers, heifers and calves and camels.

The new rules also prohibits establishment of an animal market in a place which is situated within 25-km from any state border and within 50-km from any international border.

Opposition cries foul

The CPI(M)-led LDF government in Kerala and the Congress-led UDF today attacked the Centre for the ban on the sale and purchase of cattle for slaughter.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said the Centre's decision was "surprising" which was unsuitable for a democratic nation.

"It is not right that a government decides the choice of food of the people. With this decision, the Centre is destroying a sector which employees thousands of people," Vijayan said in a strong reaction to the Union government's decision.

The notification was part of Centre's attempt to implement "RSS agenda". The Centre should have consulted with the states and sought their opinion before coming with the notification, Vijayan said in a statement here. While state Finance Minister Thomas Isaac said the decision was 'illogical' and the state would introspect what it could do legally, Local Administration Minister K T Jaleel and Agriculture Minister V S Sunil Kumar felt it was an infringement on the powers of the state and the decision cannot be accepted.

"This was a state subject and the Centre cannot infringe on the state's rights", Jaleel told reporters here.

Sunil Kumar said the notification was a challenge to the country's federal system. India is a democratic nation and the centre's decision to impose the ban without consulting the states amounted to violation of the federal system, he said.

Animal Husbandry Minister K Raju opined that the decision will destroy the federal structure and will have far reaching consequences.

CPI(M) state secretary, Kodiyeri Balakrishnan said in his Facebook post that the government led by Narendra Modi, who was an RSS Pracharak, has come out with the notification at a time when the country was all set to celebrate Ramzan.

Echoing similar sentiments, Opposition leader in the assembly Ramesh Chennithala said the ban was an attempt to usurp the human rights of citizens.

"The Modi Government's effort from the beginning was to curb the constitutional rights and the ban was the latest example of the alleged fascist moves of the government," he said.

KPCC President M M Hassan also criticised the decision saying it was against the Constitution and encroachment on the fundamental rights of the citizens.

The notification banning cattle trade for meat was unconstitutional and violation of federal principles, Dr Varughese George, National General Secretary of Janata Dal(U).