Cattle Rules: Clarifications from the Environment Ministry

A day after its rules triggered widespread concerns in the meat industry, the union environment ministry clarified that animals for slaughter would have to be purchased from the farmers directly.
 
“Some representations have been received on Saturday regarding certain provisions of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Regulation of Livestock Market) Rules, 2017. The representations will be duly examined,” the ministry said in a statement.
 
The rules, notified by the Ministry on May 23, prohibit sale and purchase of cattle in the animal market for slaughter. According to these rules, written undertakings are required from the buyer and seller to confirm that the animal is not traded for meat.
 
The notification sparked an intense debate on how some of the provisions could be exploited to prevent even direct selling of the animals to the meat processing units.
 
For instance, the definition of the “animal market” includes “any lairage (a place where a cattle or a sheep is rested before slaughter) adjoining a market or a slaughterhouse. Since all meat processing units have lairage next to them”, the same set of rules could be used to curb the standard practice of selling off old age cattle by the farmers to the meat processing companies.
 
The meat sellers also argued that the new rule would take away the option of price negotiations for the farmers in the animal market, as they would have no other option than to buy the cattle to the factories at whatever price the industry offers.
 
In an effort to assuage the frayed nerves, the ministry said that the prime focus of the regulation was to protect the animals from cruelty and not to regulate the existing trade in cattle for slaughter houses.
 
“The specific provisions apply only to animals which are bought and sold in the notified livestock markets and animals that are seized as case properties. These rules do not cover other areas,” it added.