Govt bans sale of cattle for slaughter

Rule was approved by late minister Dave

The Union government on Friday banned the sale of cattle for slaughter, a move that could have a huge impact on the country’s meat industry.

The new rules, approved by the then environment minister Anil Dave before his untimely death, permits cattle purchase only for agricultural purposes.

The Ministry of Environment issued a gazette notification finalising the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Regulation of Livestock Markets) Rules, 2017, which explicitly bans the sale of cattle for slaughtering.

“The member secretary of the animal market committee will have to ensure that cattle has not been brought into the market for slaughter,” read the notification dated May 23.  According to the rules, “cattle” means a bovine animal such as a bull, bullock, cow, buffalo, steer, heifer, calf and camel.

The Indian meat industry earned more than Rs 30,000 crore from exports in 2015-16, out of which Rs 26,681 crore came from the export of buffalo meat, said the Agriculture and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority. Sheep, goat and poultry contributed less than Rs 1,000 crore.

Since the meat industry sources part of its raw materials from the animal markets, the new rule has the potential to adversely affect the business.

Environment Minister Harsh Vardhan said, “The aim of the rule is to regulate the animal market for the welfare of cattle and prevention of cruelty. The seller and buyer will have to give an undertaking that the cattle is not bought or sold for slaughter”.

However, sources in the meat business said since the definition of animal market includes any lairage (a place where cattle or sheep are rested before slaughter) adjoining a market or a slaughterhouse, these rules could be exploited to curb the standard practice of cattle selling by farmers to meat export companies.