How to end cow violence? Modi minister suggests building cow sanctuaries on forest land

Union Minister of State (Home) Hansraj G Ahir has proposed that 1,000 hectares of forest land be allotted to set up cow sanctuaries in every district of the 16 states where cow slaughter is banned. This, according to the minister, will prevent "violence due to cattle smuggling".

According to a report published in The Indian Express, Ahir is expected to meet Union Environment and Forests Minister Harsh Vardhan early in September to “take the proposal forward”.

"By setting up cow sanctuaries at district levels, the incidents of cow slaughter can be reduced. Violence due to cattle-smuggling in states where slaughter is banned has led to a law-and-order situation. The Home Ministry faces questions in Parliament on these incidents. I have taken up this matter in the past, too," Ahir said.

Cost involved?

According to Ahir, there will be 'zero' cost. Fodder can be collected from the forest using MGNREGA. This will in return provide employment to locals.

Shift gaushalas to sanctuaries

Hansraj Ahir has suggested to Modi government to shift cow shelters across the country to the proposed sanctuaries. This will stop the sale of non-milching and old cows to slaughterhouses, he said.
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Inside story behind Modi govt's move to regulate cattle slaughter markets

While there has been outrage over the new rules framed by the government banning the sale of cattle slaughter, the exercise to frame these rules started out to put an end to something happening in neighbouring Nepal. The government is on record saying that the new Cruelty to Animals (Regulation of Livestock Markets) Rules 2017 was conceived on the directions of the Supreme Court (SC). The SC, in turn, had set the ball rolling after a petition filed by Gauri Maulekhi, animal rights activist. Maulekhia told Business Standard, “The government has done the right thing by introducing these rules. Yet a lot of misinformed people are criticising this move. They should look at the despicable conditions in which animals meant for slaughter are treated at animal markets. I am completely happy with the new rules. If we have to be secure as a nation, we have to protect our livestock from the cattle mafia.”

Maulekhi’s petition seemed to have achieved what she hadn’t set out to achieve in the first place. “That is the beauty of a Public Interest Litigation. It doesn’t need to be confined to specifics. Although I wanted to put an end to ritual sacrifice of cattle in Nepal, the highest court directed that rules be framed for an end to barbaric treatment of animals at various markets where the organised mafia operates” said Maulekhi.

The petition sought the court’s intervention after pointing out that cattle was being illegally transported from Indian states of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and West Bengal “across the India-Nepal border for a gruesome and barbaric ritual sacrifice at the Gadhimai festival held every five years in the village of Bariyapur, across the India-Nepal border. In a space of two days over 5 lakh animals are slaughtered making it the largest animal sacrifice in the world.”
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Modi govt's cattle trade ban to halt $4 bn beef exports, lead to job losses

CATTLE TRADE BAN - The Indian government's ban on the trade of cattle for slaughter threatens $4 billion in annual beef exports and millions of jobs if the government does not revoke the stoppage decreed last week, according to two industry officials.

In the latest setback to the Muslim-dominated meat industry, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government decreed animal markets will only be able to trade cattle for agricultural purposes such as ploughing and dairy production.

The ban is likely to further alienate Muslims, who make up 14 percent of India's 1.3 billion people, and raise communal and religious tensions. Hindu hardliners and cow vigilante groups have been increasingly asserting themselves since Modi's Hindu nationalist government came to power in 2014.

Most of India's beef comes from water buffalo rather than cows, which are considered holy by Hindus, but local cattle traders and slaughterhouses have repeatedly come under attacks from activist groups that oppose the meat trade.

"In the garb of the order that prohibits the trading of cattle at organised markets, the government has tried to impose a ban on the meat industry," Abdul Faheem Qureshi, head of the Muslim All India Jamiatul Quresh Action Committee, told Reuters.

"Meat supplies will very soon grind to a halt in India and abroad if either the government does not repeal this draconian order or a court does not step in," Qureshi said.

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