New anti-slaughter rules choke cattle markets, make farmers desperate
As he made his way from Garh Mukteshwar in Uttar Pradesh to Salahpur near Meerut, Jitender, a thirty something farmer, felt his courage slowly crumble. He had brought Rs 70,000 to buy a buffalo at Salahpur’s weekly farm-animal fair. But by the time he got there, he lost his nerve. “I might be attacked by gaurakshaks,” says Jit ender, anxious about riding home with a buffalo, should he buy one. “The rakshaks won’t care if my buffalo is for milking. They will accuse me of wanting to slaughter her,” he says.
The fair at Salahpur has got, every Tuesday for twenty years, up to a thousand buffaloes. It caters to buyers from western UP, Rajasthan and Haryana. But this week, business fizzled out before it could even begin. By noontime, about 200 buffaloes and a dozen cows arrived. “The market has dwindled since problems over slaughterhouses began some months ago. People became scared of transporting animals. Cow protection groups have terrified traders and the new rules make things worse,” says Jabbar Ali, the market’s contractor.
With rules for animal trade in perpetual flux, even sellers such as Riazul, a local resident, are ruffled. Riazul fattened his buffalo with feed worth Rs 250-300 daily and brought her to this fair. “She gives 14 litres of milk,” he says. “We have little to eat at home. I have two children and a wife. I want to sell my buffalo but where are the buyers? Are they dead?”
They’re not quite dead, just stunned by circumstances. First, in April, UP branded most abattoirs illegal and closed them. Of the remaining, 42 are exportapproved abattoirs and only four cater to local meat demand. Thus, retail trade in buffaloes all but stopped in UP. Now the central government has issued new rules for the entire country that prohibit trade in farm animals at markets—like at Salahpur—if the purpose is slaughter.
Esta historia es de la edición June 12, 2017 de Outlook.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 8500 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor ? Conectar
Esta historia es de la edición June 12, 2017 de Outlook.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 8500 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor? Conectar
Shine Off Sonar Bangla
Since the ant displacement movements against the Left Front government in 2006-08, Bengal has seen increased corruption, communalisation of politics and the rise of welfarism
Dera, Drugs and Despair
Punjab poll pitch is seeing interesting twists and turns this election season
Carnatic Cauldron
For the BJP-led NDA, 400 paar will remain a dream if the South Indian states choose to look the other way
The Young & the Restless
A new crop of young Dalit leaders shine in Uttar Pradesh's political Armament
In The Name Of Ram
For the people of Hazaribagh, famous for its Ram Navamii, life is a tussle between peace, processions and politics
Shell Company?
The power play between the BJP and the BJD in Odisha appears to be an electoral gimmick. Post elections, they may have each other's back
Peak Season in the Pir Panjal
Politicians excel at stirring up emotions at election time, and Kashmiris are torn between responding with cries or slogans
Seeds of Betrayal
Forget about doubling their income, Haryana's farmers are living a life in penury
Capital Contest
Could an alliance of former foes prevent a hat-trick for the BJP in Delhi?
A Tale of Two Citadels
The shifting political equations in the Congress bastions of Raebareli and Amethi are not easy to decode