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houses will corroborate these facts. Similar considerations operate for killing of Camels by smuggling to Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. Given this situation, the sanctioning of more and more Slaughter Houses: Corporations and modernising the old ones with increased capacity of killings per hour, is only adding fuel to the fire.
114. It is thus amply clear that what is being permitted by allowing killings of Cattle of all ages in some parts of India; and Calves of Cows and buffaloes for export purposes, is being permitted by Ignoring the Supreme Court decision of 1958. The decision of Supreme Court is magnum-opus on the subject in many ways, in so far as livestock wealth is concerned. When Supreme Court stated and spelt out the loss to the nation by premature slaughter despite regulations, and stressed the necessity of protecting cow and its progeny, buffaloes and its calves male and female, keeping in view, the needs of agriculture economy and needs of our population for Milk, Manure and Good stock while upholding the total ban, the same could not have been wished away by 'State'. In case, if at that time, itself State should have brought a uniform countrywide legislation to ban slaughter of cow, its calves, buffaloes its calves male and female, except of totally useless ones, the present day scenario of greed based killings of animals for export, by clandistine or otherwise, as reported by India Today in case of cows, referred to earlier (July 31) and otherwise know to all, could have been avoided. In my view, after the Supreme Court pronouncement on need to protect livestock, State is/was clearly under an obligation to frame Laws for the purpose; and no Court can allow the Supreme Court Judgment to be ignored.
115. The Hon'ble Supreme Court expressed that buffaloes probably did not need as much protection of total ban, as Cows, as at that time the Court observed:
"The causes of slaughter of useful cattle namely, lack of space in the cities and sub-urban areas, long dry period, want of arrangerment for breeding bulls at the proper time. the anxiety to get as much milk out of the cow as possible, the high cost of maintenance of cow in the cities, and the difficulties in the matter of obtaining adequate fodder.
For these reasons many animals are sent to the slaughter houses through sheer economic pressure and are replaced by fresh animal imported from breeding areas. The danger of such premature slaughter is greater for cow. For, being an animal with a scanty yield of milk it does not pay the owner to maintain her through the long day period and hence there is an inducement for adopting even cruel practices to get her passed by the inspectors. But a dry-she-buffalo is well worth preserving and maintaining in expectation of rich return at the next lactation. Besides, buffaloes for slaughter will not fetch as good a price as a cow would do."
116.
But, today it appears that, situation has changed for buffaloes. In the absence of any law, today buffalo is being projected as the future food animal of the world by Meat Industry. What a senior government official has to say on this is appalling. To quote Dr. A.K. Chaaterjee :
Buffalo is the future meat animal of the world
"The importance of buffalo to the Meat Industry is being recognised worldwide. For example, Brazil has been able to build up a stock of 10 million in 1985 after introducing this animal from India and Italy. Brazil considers buffalo as 'BLACK GOLD' Currents Trends in the country suggest that the buffalo would soon emerge as the animal of choice of the Indian Meat Industry. One untapped avenue in this direction is the economic utilisation of the male buffalo calves, which are presently neglected and allowed to die soon after birth. If reared for meat, not only they could become a valuable meat resource, but, would also generate
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