Author: Correspondent
Publication: The Hindustan Times
Date: August 5, 2002
Muru Manohar Joshi, the HRD and
Science and Technology Minister, has decided to back the recently submitted
report of the National Commission on Cattle. Its not all about "Hindutva",
but pure economics, the minister said.
Armed with recent findings which
justify the ban on cow slaughter, Joshi's rationale is expected to gladden
cow protectionists as the debate over the issue tends to get shrouded in
rhetoric. It would also give the minister a chance to propound a favourite
cause without encroaching on the turf of his colleague in charge of the
Animal Husbandry Ministry.
"The cow has been sacred to Indians
throughout history and it's not just Hindus who rose in revolt against
its slaughter. Apart from the beef tallow incident that caused the 1857
Mutiny, there was the Kooka uprising of the Namdharis of Punjab under Baba
Ram Singh in which thousands of Sikhs rallied against cow slaughter", he
pointed out.
The Minister said he had assured
the members of the panel that he would urge the government to study the
recommendations seriously Among other things, the panel suggested a ban
on cow slaughter and beef export, setting up of a "National Cattle Development
Commission" and prohibition of cross breeding between Indian and foreign
breeds.
Joshi recalled Mahatma Gandhi's
promise that "the first law to be passed by independent India would be
to ban cow slaughter". Fifty years later, despite several legislations,
there are many loopholes still exploited by the beef lobby The movement
of cows for slaughter between states proscribing slaughter and those allowing
it needs to be stopped, the Minister opined.
Joshi said several economic advantages
in preserving the cow have been discovered by science." Until now cattle
slaughter was justified on the grounds that it sustained the tanneries.
But the government's Central Leather Research Institute has developed the
technology to develop soft hides from the skin of cows which have died
natural deaths.".
"Indian scientists have patented
'cow urine' which can potentially open the floodgates to a variety of medicinal
uses. Organic fertiliser from humified cow manure can solve the problems
of Indian agriculture," the Minister said.
