3 Years After Ban, Maharashtra Slaughtering More Animals Than Ever
Nearly 10 lakh buffaloes were slaughtered for human consumption in 2017.
Despite putting a complete ban on beef in 2015, Maharashtra has seen a sharp rise in the slaughter of buffaloes in the state. According to the department of animal husbandry, last year, 9,61,516 buffaloes were slaughtered for human consumption as against the 6,13,134 animals culled in 2014-15.
The revelation comes as a blow to Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis who got a Presidential nod to put an end to ban the slaughter of animals belonging to the cow progeny in the state in March 2015.
The slaughter of cows was earlier prohibited in the state under the Maharashtra Animal Preservation Act of 1976. The Maharashtra government, through an Amendment to the Act, had banned the slaughter of bulls, bullocks, ox and oxen for meat.
Anyone found to be selling beef or in possession of it can be jailed for five years and fined Rs 10,000.
According to The Indian Express, data shows that prior to the ban, three to four lakh such animals, along with an equal number of buffaloes, were slaughtered for human consumption.
Data collected by the department of animal husbandry showed a staggering increase in the slaughter of animals. More than nine lakh animals were slaughtered last year, which is the highest recorded in the state in the last five years.
An official of the department while talking to the newspaper expressed fear that if animals continued to be slaughtered at this pace, there might be a significant erosion of the population. In 2017, the state has reported production of 1,93,219.19 metric tonne of meat from sheep, goat, buffalo and pigs.
There has been an increase in the price of buffalo meat. The retail price of buffalo has gone up from Rs 109.67 per kg to Rs 147 per kg in most parts of Maharashtra.
However, the price of animals in major cattle markets continues to be stable. Devdatta Palve, secretary of the cattle market of Ghodegaon, said the price of a two-year-old lactating animal is between Rs 50,000-60,000. “There is enough arrival of both lactating animals and animals for slaughter,” he told The Indian Express.
During the 2014 election campaign, Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a point of tackling the country’s $5bn beef export industry under the “pink revolution.”
Despite cow being considered sacred among Hindus, India is one of the world’s largest beef exporters.
Some of the states where beef is banned: Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, Assam, Bihar, Chandigarh, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, and Uttar Pradesh.