The prescription put forward by India's Home Minister Rajnath Singh is simple. He would like the Border Security Force (BSF) to beef up vigil on the India-Bangla border in order to stop smuggling of cattle. A home minister of any country has the right to issue an order to stop an illegal act like smuggling -be it of gold, contraband substances or animals. The Indian minister, however, had a definite target in mind. This becomes evident when he adds that tightened border vigil by the BSF has accounted for 30 per cent price rise of beef in Bangladesh and a closer watch will bring an end to smuggling. This, he reckons, will contribute to escalation of prices of beef by 70-80 per cent more. Rajnath hopes this will force people in Bangladesh to give up eating cattle meat.
For long the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been trying to stop cattle slaughter in India. Indian states like Maharashtra and Haryana have already enacted legislature banning slaughter of cattle and sale of beef. But this legal stipulation has not received approval without challenges. The Congress has argued that imposition of legal restrictions on people's culinary choices is unacceptable.
In different cultures, animals are revered. If cows are sacred, so are rams, buffalo and goats. Yet there had been a ritual of sacrificing all these species in what the respective communities considered holy shrine before a deity or no deity. The early ancestors of the Hindus had no reservation for eating beef. Rahul Sankrityayan has given an elaborate description of one such ritual where a bull is roasted in fire and men and women dance surrounding it.
People should have the right to be vegetarian or non-vegetarian. It cannot and should not be imposed. The food chain is usually based on natural selection where predator and prey maintain a sustainable balance in the realm of living organisms. What, however, has to be cautious about is not annihilate species through indiscriminate and mass killing. In this case, the Indian farmers in most cases feel relieved when they can dispose of cows or bulls that are no longer economical to them.
Also, the argument is somewhat faulty when Rajnath claims that Bangladeshis will be forced to give up beef. True, if the supply line from India is snapped, beef will be costly because this small country cannot afford to rear cows in a large number due to shortage of fallow land and feed. Only the common people here will be unable to afford exceedingly costly meat but the moneyed people will have no problem savouring the dish. Bangladesh may not rear the required number of cattle but with effort it will be possible for it to raise supply. Also alternative supply line, maybe, from Myanmar will open up.
Now the governing issue is economy. Will India voluntarily sacrifice an economy worth Rs 310 billion? Well, some knowledgeable quarters from India have estimated that if India has to wait for natural death of cows for five more years after they stop producing milk, the annual cost of rearing 12.5 dry cattle comes to that amount. Add to this the bulls or bullocks past their prime time, the cost may be even higher. India will have to go for massive investment for the purpose because India's farmers will most likely be reluctant to sacrifice the price their cattle would face and also bear the extra burden of rearing those for another five years.
So a sound and peaceful solution lies in stopping smuggling in favour of official export of cattle from India. Both countries will benefit from such a legally valid agreement between their governments.
No more cattle smuggling from India!
Neil Ray | Published: April 06, 2015 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2024 06:01:00
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