New Delhi: Union Environment Minister Harsh Vardhan told that the government can amend the cattle sale rules, adding “it is not a prestige issue for us,” he said. The Minister claimed that ‘vested interests’ had been miscommunicating the issue.
However, he did not elaborate to whom did he refer as ‘vested Interest’. “The issue has been blown out of proportion and had been miscommunicated and deliberately misconstrued,” he told NDTV.
Chief Ministers Pinarayi Vijayan, Mamata Banerjee and also Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had condemned the decision to its negative effect on the rights of state government. Whereas, in Meghalaya, some BJP leaders have quit the party over the ban.
“It has nothing to do with the slaughtering business. It has nothing to do with changing or influencing your food habits,” said Dr Harsh Vardhan, the minister in-charge of the environment ministry who had changed the rules last month.
The Minister’s stand came after the Madras HC suspended the rule for four weeks in Tamil Nadu. The new rules imply as to the meat industry would go to the individual farmers to source unproductive cattle for slaughter. Which not only threaten the $4 billion in annual beef exports but cut down domestic beef consumption too.
Centre’s Chief economic adviser Arvind Subramanian said that a ban on cattle slaughter wouldn’t only hurt the meat industry but also the farmers.
If the farmer wasn’t able to sell the unproductive cattle for its meat, it would make livestock farming “less profitable”, Mr Subramanian said citing a study which indicated dairy farmers barely made any profits.