The lynching of Mohammad Ikhlaq over accusations of consuming beef with his family by his villagers in Uttar Pradesh has become a full fledged political row. UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav called for the ban of beef exports, while Union Minister Nirmala Sitharaman responded by saying that export of beef is already prohibited by the Indian Government.
Targeting PM Narendra Modi for his speech against pink revolution after 2014 elections, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav said, “They want to rake up such issues. These forces talked about pink revolution. We will say today - you are in government now, so ban beef exports. You should build support for banning their export.”
Responding to Akhilesh Yadav’s demand of banning beef exports, Union Nirmala Sitharaman tweeted, “The export of beef (Meat of cow, oxen and calf) is prohibited as per Government of India’s Export Policy and beef is not permitted to be exported. Bone in meat, caracass of buffalo (both male and female) is also prohibited and not permitted to be exported. Only boneless meat of buffalo, male and female (not beef) and meat of goat and sheep is permitted to be exported, subject to provisions specified in Gazette Notifications on raw meat”.
According to Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) report, in 2006, the policy was amended to prohibit export of bone-in buffalo meat to increase product safety. Therefore, India does not export cow meat, it only exports buffalo meat, also called “carabeef”.
According to data released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, India is still considered the largest exporter of beef in the world. India exported 2.4 million tonnes of beef in 2015, compared to 2 million tonnes by Brazil and 1.5 million by Australia. India exports 23.5 per cent of global beef exports.
The Hindu reported that the data also shows that beef consumption has been falling over the years, down -44.5 per cent in 2014 from the level it was in 2000. This fall in consumption has been taking place regardless of the political party in power says this report.
Nirmala Sitharaman also tweeted that, “As per the distribution of legislative powers between Union of India and states, preservation of cattle is the matter on which the state legislatures have the exclusive powers to legislate. As per the Government of India’s Foreign Trade Policy each consignment requires to be accompanied by a certificate from the competent authority certifying that meat has been derived from buffaloes unfit for mulching and breeding. It is also mandatory for exporters to subject meat and meat products to anti-mortem and post-mortem examinations. Exporters would be required to certify that the raw material has been sourced exclusively from Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) registered integrated abattoir or APEDA registered meat processing plant. Preservation of cattle or enacting law on cow slaughter does not fall under the purview of the Central Government”.