Farmer can sell cattle to abattoir, says govt

Purchases prohibited only in animal market

A day after its rules triggered widespread concerns in the meat industry, the Union environment ministry clarified that animals for slaughter will 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 the sale and purchase of cattle in the animal market for slaughtering. 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, definition of the animal market includes any lairage (a place where cattle or sheep are 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 the farmers selling old age cattle to the meat processing companies.

The meat sellers also argued that the new rule will prevent the farmers from price negotiations in the animal market. In an effort to assuage the frayed nerves, the ministry said the prime focus of the regulation was to protect the animals from cruelty and not to regulate the existing trade of cattle for slaughterhouses.