SC notice to Centre on plea against using artificial reproduction technique in livestock

The Supreme Court on Friday issued notice to the Union government on a plea to declare Artificial Reproduction Technique (ART) performed on livestock and animals without any proven biomedical need, as cruel, illegal, mala fide, and contrary to the established principles of law.

A bench presided over by Chief Justice S A Bobde expressed reservation over the plea, saying they were not science experts, but agreed to examine the PIL filed by Dr S Venkatesh.

The court sought a response from the Animal Husbandry and Dairy development department, the Animal Welfare Board of India, among others, to the plea which claimed artificial insemination has an adverse impact on fertility, biodiversity, value of bulls and the psychological trauma on the individual animals that are deprived of the natural need and function.

The petitioner claimed that the ART performed on livestock and animals are mainly violative of provisions of of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animal Act, 1960, the Biological Diversity Act, 2002, the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, and Articles 48, 48A and 51A of the Constitution, dealing with the protection of environment and nature along with animals.

"Reproduction is a basic natural and biological need as well as the urge for all living beings, save and except monosexual organisms. No authority can arbitrarily trample or destroy the rights or needs of any living being including animals by means of policy or practice, which in itself against nature and natural principles," he said.

The petitioner pointed out that in the last five years alone, the Union government has incurred a huge expenditure of more than Rs 1200 Crore through the Rashtriya Gokul Mission towards ART as per written reply in Lok Sabha.

According to the Department of Commerce Export-Import Data, 2019, we have imported bovine semen to the tune of Rs 2094 Lakhs in the last five years, he said.

"It is, however, striking to note that no significant expenditure what so ever is made by the government for the natural mating process employed by the majority of the farmers, who had been the reasons for the great strides and success achieved in dairy leading to India being the number one country in the world continuously for more than two decades," the plea said.

It also claimed indiscriminate and rampant use of ART is one of the significant contributing factor for the loss of animal biodiversity in general and cattle biodiversity in particular. It also leads to the huge decrease in the population of male cattle and other livestock and animals.