Request for outright rejection of the recommendations of the Working Group on Animal Husbandry & Dairying given to the Planning Commission for the 12th Five Year Plan (2012-17) to revise the

Pranam, The GOI Working Group on Animal Husbandry & Dairying 12th Five Year Plan (2012-17) has submitted a report to the Planning Commission, Government of India. The Report at Page 73, Paragraph 12.3.1 under the heading “Strategies and programs for 12th Plan” under Chapter 12 – Meat and Abattoirs, audaciously asks for pan-Bharatiya permission for cow massacre in these words: “…There is an existing ban on beef exports; therefore it is necessary to revise the EXIM policy to allow beef export…” Being a son of Maa Bhaarati Your Excellency would be well appreciative of the central status of cow and the bull-power as the driving forces of our ethos of sustainable agriculture since pristine times, stable economy, national health and mass employment in terms of White Revolution, Green Revolution, pastoral transportation, irrigation, biogas, manure and bio-fertilizers in the agricultural country Bharat. Cow is Complete Ecology and Altruist. It is, therefore, not for nothing that the Rishi-KrishiTradition acknowledges, celebrates and protects Cow as: “Gaavo Vishwasya Maatarah!”(Cow is Mother of the World!). A cow’s person is revered as hosting millions of deities. The Bharatiya indigenous non-hybrid varieties feeding on their natural fodder, grass and herbs top the list in the world in purity and potency. During the times of Bhagwan Mahavir over 2,500 years ago, Jain Shraavaks (mendicants/monks) maintained 53 Gokuls in the periphery of Shravasti city. A Gokul was defined as a place that housed 10,000 cows. Anand – a millionaire – received vows of Shraavakhood from Lord Mahavir, and one of the Shraavakhood oaths was to maintain 8 Gokuls. The cause of “Gow, Garib and Dharma” (Gow=Cow & its progeny, Garib=Meek & Underprivileged, and Dharma=Righteousness) has also been the triple agenda of the entire Sikh history – principally the Khalsa history under the ministry of Guru Gobind Singhji Maharaj. The Marathas under Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and his successors had also this triple agenda. In Parsi tradition, a milky white bull is celebrated as “Varsiyaji’. Parsis greatly revere a Varsiyaji and make a daily offering of fruits to it. Varsiyaji is spotlessly milky white from tip to toe (including even horns, brows, nails, etc.). One can have its glimpse at a Parsi temple [e.g., Udwara (Surat), Lalbagh and Kama Bagh (Mumbai)]. Cow is considered to be the crowning glory of the animal kingdom and in the evolutionary scale precedes mankind only. Thousands of names of places, persons and things and other words in our country Bharat, e,g., Gopuri, Gauhati, Gorakhpur, Goa, Godhra, Gondiya, Gopuram, Gopal, Govind, Godavari, Govardhan, Gautam, Gaumul, Gomukh, Gokarna, Godhaam, Golok, Gokhroo, Godha, Goyal, Gochar, Gorochan, Goraj, Godhuli, Godaan, Gograas, etc., having been prefixed by the term “Go/Gow”, signify the deep reverence and high ground reserved for the cow & progeny in our culture. Your learned-self is also aware of the post-independence history of movements to stop slaughter of cow & its progeny by means of signature campaigns, mass movements and hunger strikes undertaken by the leading lights of society. Under the circumstances the said recommendations made by the Working Group on Animal Husbandry & Dairying Department of Government of Indiais shameless, mindless, audacious and sad. Only one who is not a son of a man can say that cow is doing a thankless job and therefore deserves to be wolved up. In fact, the Government’s plans and programmes to fight poverty in the country ought also to include booster projects for cow rearing by every rural family and reclamation of Gochar Bhoomi (meadow/grazing land) and its maintenance by the Panchayats. Holistic management and use of Jal (water), Jungle (plant kingdom), Zameen (land) and Jaanwar (animal kingdom) would make the Janata (mankind) happy, healthy and blessed. Speaking about animal laws, the Constitution of India clearly underlines the importance of cow and its protection. Its PART-IV – DIRECTIVE PRINCIPLES OF STATE POLICY – ARTICLE 48: ORGANIZATION OF AGRICULTURE AND ANIMAL HUSBANDRY – reads: “The State shall endeavour to organize agriculture and animal husbandry on modern and scientific lines and shall, in particular, take steps for preserving and improving the breeds, and prohibiting the slaughter, of cows and calves and other milch and draught cattle.” And again, ARTICLE 48A – PROTECTION AND IMPROVEMENT OF ENVIRONMENT AND SAFEGUARDING OF FORESTS AND WILD LIFE – reads: “The State shall endeavour to protect and improve the environment and to safeguard the forests and wildlife of the country.” PART – IVA – FUNDAMENTAL DUTIES – Article 51A of the Constitution says. “It shall be the duty of every citizen of India ……………..“(g) to protect and improve the natural environment including forests, lakes, rivers, and wildlife, and to have compassion for living creatures…” Also the Hon’ble Supreme Court on 26.10.2005 in Civil Appeals No. 4937-4940 of 1998 State of Gujrat & other Vs Mirzapur Moti Kureshi Kassab Jamat & others has said in Paragraph 67(8) of its order: “Finally, the Central Govt. is directed to review the meat export policy, in the light of the Directive Principles of State Policy under the Constitution of India, and also in the light of the policy’s potentially harmful effects on livestock population, and therefore on the economy of the country.” The Indic Tradition gives cow the status of Mother. Mahatma Gandhiji looked up to cow as a picture of piety and the representative of the mute creation. The Namdhari community sacrificed its lives to uphold the reverence and life of Mother Cow. Cow protection is advocated in all major schools of the Himalayan tradition. The Omkar Parivarschools, viz., Hinduism, Jainism, Sikhism, and some Buddhists, etc., consider beef a taboo food and hence eschew its consumption. Even some Mughal rulers made cow slaughter a punishable offence. Many Sant-Mahatmas and Gobhaktas(Cow Devotees) have sacrificed their lives for the cause of cow protection. Under the circumstances, the beef export suggestion made by the GOI Department of Animal Husbandry & Dairying is a hostility perpetrated against the Dharmic, spiritual, holistic, altruistic and syncretic worldview of the country. Dr. S.K. Ranjan, Director, Hind Agro Industries Ltd. is nominated on the sub-group of Planning Commission as Convener. Dr. S.K. Ranjan's Company is one of the largest meat exporters from the country. The propriety of nominating people who have vested interests in the issue itself is challengable. In addition, another member of the sub-group is Dr. N. Kondaiah, a known-protagonist of meat export who has been on the sub-group for the last three plans. In earlier Plans there were other non-official members of the sub-group co-opted from various NGOs or other activists. For the 12th Plan this has been done away with. The whole report goes against the campaign to ban meat export from the country and this has to be resisted lest it becomes part of the approach paper of the 12th Five Year Plan and later on the plan itself. Meat export has already dealt a death blow to the economy of the nation to satiate the greed of a handful few with the tacit support, patronage and encouragement of the Government. Now with the move to remove ban on beef export there will be a final fatal blow It is, therefore, requested that in view of the provisions of the Constitution of India, pronouncements by the Hon’ble Courts of Law, the obvious negative impacts on national economy and the deference for popular faith and reverence for cow, Your Excellency ought to shot down forthwith the shameless proposals made by the Animal Husbandry & Dairying Department of GOI that seek to (i) remove the “existing Ban on beef exports” and (ii) “revise” the Export-Import Policy (Foreign Trade Policy) “to allow beef export”! Action on our above requests and acknowledgment of this communication would be highly appreciated! Jai Jinendra For Jain Youth Foundation