The central government has notified new rules with regard to the buying and selling of cattle, and has banned the sale of cattle for slaughter in animal markets. Called the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Regulation of Livestock Markets) Rules, 2016, the new rules have been formulated under the PCA Act of 1960.
While the government hasn’t technically banned cattle slaughter across the country, what they have done is made the slaughter of bulls, bullocks, cows, buffaloes etc extremely difficult. The notification says that the rules were put out way back in January, inviting ‘objections and suggestions’ from those who will be affected, with a one month deadline. (We, for one, definitely missed that!)
So what exactly do the ‘Regulation of Livestock Markets’ rules say, and more importantly, how do these rules affect you?
Here’s the lowdown:
1. Red tape for red meat
All animal markets across the country will now be strictly regulated by the government. For this, there’s going to be a lot of red tape; every animal market will have its own ‘Animal Market Committee’ with a veterinary officer, a Tehlisdar, a forest ranger, a police inspector etc. This market committee will be registered with and appointed by a district committee, that will monitor all the animal market committees in that particular district.
2. No cattle slaughter in the animal market
Cattle, as per the new rules, means “a bovine animal including bulls, bullocks, cows, buffalos, steers, heifers and calves and includes camels.” And within the registered-and-approved animal markets mentioned above, no cattle can be slaughtered.
So your butcher can basically buy the cattle and slaughter it outside, right? Wrong.
3. Cattle can only be bought and sold for ‘agricultural purposes’
As per the new rules, your butcher cannot buy any cattle from the registered-and-approved animal market at all.
In fact, no one can, except for an ‘agriculturalist’ - not a farmer, an agriculturalist - can buy cattle. They have to prove that they’re an agriculturalist with ‘revenue documents’. That’s either the land records, or tax returns, which basically means that even farmers who don’t own land cannot buy a milch cow.
4. “I promise not to re-sell the cattle for slaughter”
That’s the declaration that a cattle buyer has to make, on paper, which the committee - that includes police officers - will keep with them for six long months.
Which means even if your butcher wants to strike a deal with an agriculturalist, and buy some cattle outside the market, they can’t do so, legally.
In short, the Centre has made it near impossible to buy and sell cattle for meat in animal markets. But does that mean you won’t even get buff anymore?
Well, that depends on your state government. If your Chief Minister is like Kerala’s Pinarayi Vijayan, and if they decide to not enforce these rules inside their territory, your red meat is safe.
If not - well, maybe it’s time to move if you can't live without your meat.