By Dinesh C Sharma, DNA, March 21, 2015
The orders being issued by different state governments restricting production, sale and consumption of cattle meat — particularly beef — has generated much heat in the past few weeks. The discourse on the so-called beef ban has mostly centred around religious, political, social, legal and, to some degree, economic aspects of the move. Personal choice and liberty have also been talked about. While all these are important issues, they don’t represent the whole picture.
The ecological, scientific and livelihood concerns of the beef ban are equally important. We need to examine these issues critically, given our large livestock population — a bulk of them being cows, bulls, buffaloes and bullock — and the role it plays in sustenance agriculture.
These animals meet much of our milk, meat and draught power requirements and also contribute huge amounts of foreign exchange. The contribution of buffaloes alone to the GDP is almost equal to that made by rice and wheat put together. Animals are an important part of our pastoral and rural economies and are a central player in our ecological systems as well as nutrition and food security.
It would be fallacious to look at cattle solely as source of meat or objects of worship.
Read full story here in DNA
The orders being issued by different state governments restricting production, sale and consumption of cattle meat — particularly beef — has generated much heat in the past few weeks. The discourse on the so-called beef ban has mostly centred around religious, political, social, legal and, to some degree, economic aspects of the move. Personal choice and liberty have also been talked about. While all these are important issues, they don’t represent the whole picture.
The ecological, scientific and livelihood concerns of the beef ban are equally important. We need to examine these issues critically, given our large livestock population — a bulk of them being cows, bulls, buffaloes and bullock — and the role it plays in sustenance agriculture.
These animals meet much of our milk, meat and draught power requirements and also contribute huge amounts of foreign exchange. The contribution of buffaloes alone to the GDP is almost equal to that made by rice and wheat put together. Animals are an important part of our pastoral and rural economies and are a central player in our ecological systems as well as nutrition and food security.
It would be fallacious to look at cattle solely as source of meat or objects of worship.
Read full story here in DNA
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