Centre to review meat exports worth Rs 33k cr

The Dadri mob lynching incident has given an instrument to the Centre to have a fresh look at the export of animal products which is worth Rs 33,128 crore annually.

The government has convened a meeting of meat industry representatives on Tuesday to ascertain whether there is a mismatch between bovine population, meat available domestically and exported.

Cow meat export and import was banned since Vajpayee’s regime but buffalo meat is out of prohibited list. But for five states – such as Uttarakhand, Kerala, Sikkim and Tripura — others have banned slaughtering of cow.  Haryana and Maharastra had decided to ban cow slaughter after the BJP came to power

Agriculture and Food Processing Minister Sanjeev Kumar Balyan said that there has been sudden spurt in the export of meat and a meeting of Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority has been called to ensure if steps are
required to plug smuggling of beef. 

Rise in export
“The export of meat has gone up in recent months. At the same time, cow slaughter has become rampant in UP and other states,” Balyan said.

According to Central government statistics, buffalo meat dominated the exports to markets in Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand, Saudi Arabia, Egypt Arab Republic and UAE, with a contribution of over 86%. The product registered 27% growth in export during the financial year 2012-13 as compare to the same period of last year.

India's export of animal products was Rs 33128.30 crore in 2014-15, which include the major products like buffalo meat (Rs 29,282.60 crore), sheep/goat meat (Rs 828.11 crore).

Condemning the murder of a Muslim owing to rumours that he had beef at his home, Balyan welcomed Congress leader Digvijay Singh’s statement on cow slaughter ban, but said he should impress upon his Kerala government to bring a legislation to end availability of this variety of non-vegetarian food. 

Not pre-planned
Balyan also defended that his colleague in the government Mahesh Sharma whose statement that mob lynching of Akhlaq was an “accident” and not pre-planned. “Mahesh Sharma has not said anything wrong. He only said that it was not a pre-planned event,” the minister commented.

Balyan, interestingly, did not react on BJP MLA Sangeet Som’s comment that “befitting reply will be given as was done in Muzaffarnagar” if innocents were framed.  Balyan too is an accused in the case.