Finally, centre gets its cow policy right

In the old American West, there used to be what they called stock cars—or cattle wagons—on which longhorns and other breeds were transported across vast distances. Mortality was high. This was before humane treatment of animals became a category of thought, although many would see only the blackest of ironies in the idea of exhibiting kindness towards animals being reared on an industrial scale, only to be delivered to death on an equally industrial scale. Still, this fundamental difference in culture and ideology—between those who see meat as a natural part of human diet, and those for whom it is taboo—had a role to play in some fluctuations in India’s policy environment in recent times. 

The role of policy in a democracy should be to harmonise differences. But the debate loomed large; it was almost as if cow vigilantism had become official. Going by reports from across India, the effects of curbs on transport were not happy. Farm incomes, already depressed, came under even more stress as farmers were unable to set in motion what had always been a key part of their micro economy: the resale of old cattle. This had terrible effects even in zones that were themselves not part of the beef map. And as prowling vigilantes drew blood again and again, even the transport of what was legal dried up. The ‘cow belt’ lived up to its name: huge numbers of abandoned cows started roaming the countryside, becoming a menace to farmers. 

It’s a welcome if belated move by the Centre, therefore, to have diluted its own ill-conceived rules. The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Regulation of Livestock Markets) Rules, 2017, notified on 23 May 2017, now stands replaced with draft rules that do away with the clause on “restrictions on sale of cattle”. Cattle, including cows, can now be sold in animal markets, even for slaughter wherever it is legal. Even a government overprotective of ‘Hindutva’ sentiments must have realised that this is not against the Indian ethos. It is how India has always been.