Jack Brandt, Penn Fisher, Brandon Benson
New rules are being passed in India under the pretense of “animal cruelty”. But there seems to be an underlying reason, the cow. Many of these new laws curtail the beef industry, especially the slaughter of cows. These laws impede on the speed and freedoms that the industry used to have. Now buyers and sellers of not only cows but also calves, bullocks, and even buffalo have to have written declarations from both parties given to the authorities that these animals will not be slaughtered. However slaughterhouses may still buy from farmers directly, just not on the market, but this is not a feasible option for many people as slaughterhouses are usually few and far between. Cows can live up to 25 years but only give milk for 3-10 years. Since mostly lower caste Hindus are the ones farming having to take care of these animals well after their money making capabilities will drag the lower castes into bankruptcy since these cows and their eventual slaughter are their main income. The All Indian Meat and Livestock Exporters Association have said that up to 2.5 million jobs could be lost because of these new rules. India at this point is the world’s largest beef exporter and that could change, having detrimental effects on India’s GDP.
This Controversy over the use of cows for meat or any other consumer purpose has exploded due to cow vigilantism. The upper castes of hindu people are actively seeking out people who eat or use cow for any purpose that involves killing it. There was an incident where these men of the upper caste found the two young boys who had skinned a dead cow for its leather. Once these boys were caught, they were stripped naked, and flogged for their so called crime. These boys were muslim, so they had no religious restrictions in terms of their use of cow products, so to be punished within a secular state for a religious reason seems completely out of line. Historically India has been a secular country where people are not restricted to following one certain religion, but these new rules being proposed are in direct conflict with the long standing tradition of secularism within India. These upper castes of hindu people, are better equipped to deal with a life without meat, and specifically cow meat. People from the lower castes struggle with poverty and starvation, while the upper castes eat like vegetarian kings. In order to survive, some of these people need to eat meat. The freedom to eat whatever a person wants regardless of religion is under serious threat, and would be a major blow to the secularist ideals India has historically always taken.
Historically, Ashoka (the third Mauryan King) was inflicted by the Kalinga war when he noticed that innocent combatants were suffering emotionally because people were losing loved ones and adopted a new policy named Dharma. According to the Rig Veda, Dharma is a religious and moral law governing individual conduct and is one of the 4 moral ends in life. Next, he brought the principles of the religions of renunciation to bear on policies. Which brought up ashima which shows compassion towards all living beings and animals which led to vegetarianism. Ashoka strictly placed the rules on the people having police patrol the streets for people being cruel to animals. Vegetarianism is still practiced in India today which is why the uproar is happening today over animal cruelty.
“New Rules Against Animal Cruelty Raise the Stake for India’s Beef Wars” NPR, June 30, 2017