New Delhi, Sep 19
With hundreds of families
across the country preparing Eid-ul-Azha in the last week of September,
the ban on sale of meat, including beef, has come as a huge setback for
the traders who were expecting a good business during the festive
season.
Akbar Qureshi, a meat trader in the Mankhurd area of
Mumbai, is a worried man since the ban on beef came into force in
Maharashtra in March this year under the Maharashtra Animal Preservation
(Amendment) Act, 1995. Since then, he has been able to sell very little
buffalo meat and is in danger of running out of customers.
"People
don't eat buffalo meat that much. I would earlier sell some 100
kilograms of beef daily, but now I hardly sell 40 kilograms of buffalo
meat," he said.
Akbar is just one among hundreds of traders,
dealers and suppliers whose business has been severely affected by the
beef ban in the state.
While Maharashtra and Haryana had banned
beef earlier, many other states including Gujarat and Chhattisgarh and
cities like Mumbai and its suburbs have recently introduced temporary
bans on sale and possession of meat for varying number of days in
respect of 'Paryushan,' a Jain fasting season.
The ban on beef
comes even as India has emerged as the world's top exporter of beef
since last year. As per data released by the U.S. Department of
Agriculture in April this year, India has doubled its beef export from
1.26 million tonnes in 2011-12 to 2.40 million tonnes in 2014-15.
Beef ban means no exports either. Anwar Khan owns Al-Saba exports, a meat exporting company in Mumbai. He is facing huge losses.
"My
monthly turnover was around Rs. 2.5 crore. But now I have lost
everything and had to fire over 100 employees," said Khan. "We are
running short of buffaloes here, due to which it is impossible to do
business," he added.
Jammu and Kashmir became the latest addition
to this list when the state High Court directed the authorities on
September 10 to strictly enforce a 150-year-old erstwhile Dogra-rule-era
provision of ban on sale and distribution of beef in the state.
Shabir
Ahmad, along with his family, has domesticated a bullock to sacrifice
this Eid. He is worried about being able to do that due to the ban.
"I would graze the bullock for hours after my day work and would give fodder to keep him in good health," Shabir said.
Beef
is particularly useful since it is cheap and hence bull or bullocks are
preferred by many rural families over sheep or goat for the animal
sacrifice during the Eid-ul-Azha. Moreover, in religious convention,
while a goat or sheep qualifies a single person for the sacrificial
obligations, a bovine animal qualifies seven people.
"I can't afford a separate sheep or goat individually for every family member," Ahmad added.
Given
the religious implications of the ban, the decision has invited harsh
criticism from not only the ordinary Kashmiris but also religious
bodies. Jamaat-e-Islami, one of the largest such bodies in the Valley,
has termed the decision as totally 'unacceptable'.
G.M. Bhat,
Ameer of the Jamaat, said, "It is absolutely not possible to convince
the Muslim community to go against their own religion; so we oppose it."
To
protest against the ban, the Valley also observed a two-day strike on
the call given by the Hurriyat led by Syed Ali Shah Geelani. He termed
the court's decision as interference in religious affairs.
Geelani
said, "If India boasts of being a secular country, then everyone has a
right to practice one's religion. However, this controversial decision
has taken away the freedom of the Muslims only."
Meanwhile, meat suppliers in the region are now worried about losing their business as the festival season approaches.
Manzoor
Ahmad, Anantnag-based supplier, had sold thousands of animals on Eid
last year. This year he is looking at a gloomy business scenario.
"Last
year, I supplied many animals before the Eid-ul-Azha. If this ban
remains, dealers and suppliers will have to face huge business losses,"
said Ahmad.
Cow is a revered animal for many in the Hindu
community, and therefore its slaughter is considered unacceptable by
them. Prohibition of cow slaughter is mentioned as one of the Directive
Principles of State Policy under Article 48 of the Indian Constitution.
The issue, though, has remained largely dormant till recently.
However,
recent moves by the BJP-ruled states like Maharashtra and Haryana to
cover all bovine animals in the anti-slaughter law and steps by several
others to impose temporary meat bans are seen as powerful indicators of
the growing influence of the right-wing Hindu organisations since the
Narendra Modi government assumed power last year.
(Aijaz Nazir can be contacted at [email protected])
