On Friday, Prabhu Chauhan, the Animal Husbandry Minister in Karnataka, informed that the BJP government would implement the Prevention of Cow Slaughter and Preservation Bill, 2012 in the State and that a team would be sent to States such as Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh to study similar laws that impose ban on cow slaughter, post the Coronavirus pandemic.
“Safeguarding cows is our priority. We have already started strengthening goshalas,” Chauhan was quoted as saying. He stated that once the law was implemented in the state, the sale, slaughter, or transports of cows from one state to another will be completely stopped. He further assured that the preparations were being done at the ground level to prevent cow slaughter. In order to protect local cow breeds, the government had also launched the Gau Seva Aayog scheme during elections.
Chauhan informed that the BJP had passed the anti-cow slaughter law in 2010 when the party was in power in Karnataka. He added, “The Ministry of Home Affairs had instructed us to make some amendments. However, when the Siddaramaiah government came to power, it did not follow up.’’
Many states have passed the Anti cow slaughter bill, we’re preparing to implement it in Karnataka as well. State govt will soon implement a ban on cow slaughter, sale & consumption of beef on the lines of many other states: Karnataka Animal Husbandry Min Prabhu Chauhan (10.07) pic.twitter.com/2EOUZKcuK2
— ANI (@ANI) July 11, 2020
Cow slaughter ban in India
Prohibition of cow slaughter is a Directive Principles of State Policy contained in Article 48 of the Constitution. It reads, “The State shall endeavour to organise agriculture and animal husbandry on modern and scientific lines and shall, in particular, take steps for preserving and improving the breeds, and prohibiting the slaughter of cows and calves and other milch and draught cattle”.
Currently, cow slaughter is prohibited in most of India, with the exception of Kerala, West Bengal, and the North-Eastern States such as Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Tripura and Sikkim. In Manipur, a royal edict banned cow slaughter, but beef is consumed widely.
