WHY TO BAN MEAT EXPORT- ECONOMIC OUTLOOK

What is more precious –  Cattle  wealth  or  Forex?

WHY  MEAT  EXPORT   SHOULD   BE   BANNED?

Read …Understand …Awake…Act

Do you know …

}  That the high inflation is the result of  mass scale destruction of our cattle wealth?

}  That ever increasing prices of foodgrains, vegetables, milk, ghee etc. is the result of cattle slaughter?

}  That shift from Cattle based agriculture to Machine based agriculture has put enormous burden on farmers & economy?

}  That 16 kgs. of foodgrains are required to be fed to an animal for formation of 1 kg of meat in its body ... thus promotion of meat eating itself results in creating shortage of foodgrains?

That cattle slaughter has…

}  Increased cost of producing foodgrains manifold?

}  Reduced nutrition in food and increased chronic diseases?

}  Increased pollution & poison in food?

How much the nation can benefit from protection of cattle wealth?

1. Annual subsidy of Rs.1,30,000 Cr. given for chemical fertilizers & Rs.45,000 Cr. for food can be substantially reduced
2. Annual saving can be generated of Rs.1,81,440 Cr. spent on fuel (Kerosene / Gas) by 16.80 Cr. families staying in rural India by making them available dung cakes as fuel

                [Assuming rural population as 84 Cr. People (70% of total population) i.e. 16.80 Cr. Families (assuming 5 persons in family) spending at least Rs. 10,800/- p.a. on Kerosene / Gas]

3. Huge saving of forex which is  spent on import of chemical fertilizers, diesel, petrol & other fuels
4. Comparing the calorific value of firewood and dung fuel, one buffalo’s dung can save 6 trees in a year, which are fell for firewood in rural areas!
5. Huge savings in petrol & diesel consumption in rural areas by using cattle based transportation
6. Saving the fertile land of the country from becoming barren lands due to replacement of dung manure by chemical fertilizers
7. Saving about six lacs decentralized wealth generating, self-sufficient centres viz. villages, revolving around agriculture and Animal Husbandry related village industries.

Can  cattle based  economy  control Inflation  &  Rising  prices? …Yes

1. By keeping cost of producing food grains to very low level
2. By using freely available dung for organic manure in place of costly chemical fertilizers
3. By using bullocks for ploughing farms in place of diesel driven tractors
4. By using cattle based mode of transportation in place of petrol / diesel driven vehicles
5. By using freely available cattle urine in place of costly & poisonous pesticides
6. By using freely available dung cakes for fuel in rural areas in place of costly fuels like kerosene, Gas etc.
7. By using freely available dung ash for cleaning utensils in place of costly detergent powders
8. By using freely available dung to be used as one of the input for housing in place of costly cement in rural areas
9. By making available nutritious fresh milk & pure ghee at low cost
10. By making available Panchgavya for cheaper & effective ayurvedic medicines in place of costly allopathic medicines  

MEAT EXPORT POLICY - HOW IT ORIGINATED?

• There was a serious problem of Foreign Exchange Reserve in the year 1991-92…
• Country’s gold reserves had to be mortgaged, endangering national pride….
• Government was looking for all possible avenues to earn foreign exchange
• And identified MEAT EXPORT as one of the thrust areas…

WHAT’S WRONG WITH MEAT EXPORT POLICY? …… Everything !

1. It’s a policy framed under influence of western ideas having widely different culture where …

•       Cattle is considered to be a commodity

•       And objective of cattle rearing is to extract milk as long as possible & then meat by slaughtering it.

Whereas in India…

•       Cattle is considered to be a family member

•       And objective of cattle rearing is to get dung, urine, bullocks & Milk (in that order !)

2. Meat export violates many Constitutional provisions.

3. Meat exporters are only in Private Sector and they are swayed by personal profits in view of enormous earnings involved
4. No co-ordination amongst the three Ministries involved with the subject of meat export viz.

•       Ministry of Commerce, which decides the list of items of export

•       Ministry of Food Processing industries, which facilitates setting up private sector slaughter houses and gives financial support for meat export. Export of meat is eligible for 13 types of subsidies running into hundreds of crores of rupees

•       Animal Husbandry Department of Agriculture Ministry, which monitors animal population and frames policies resulting in more and more slaughter

5.       Absence of any monitoring mechanism to examine availability of slaughterable animals vis-à-vis slaughter capacity created in the country as a whole, both for local consumption and for exports.

6. Higher & higher targets for meat exports are set in view of meat export being considered as thrust area. Even a Meat Board is set up at the Central level.
7. No central law to protect useful animals.
8. Different state laws have different provisions regarding age of slaughterable animals rendering these laws ineffective, when animals cross from one state to the other.
9. Inherent contradiction prevailing in view of International standards for meat requiring slaughter of young & healthy animals, whereas local laws prohibit slaughter of young & healthy animals. Obviously, breach of law prevails.
10. Having exhausted local animals, most of the export-oriented slaughter houses located in South India procure animals from as far flung  areas as HP, Haryana, Punjab, UP, MP etc. Thus, each exporter considers entire country as his hinterland for procuring animals.
11. In short it is a situation like `free for all’. 
12. There is no serious and independent or impartial study of the impact of this policy on various aspects of economy.

WHY MEAT EXPORT POLICY SHOULD BE SCRAPPED?

1.       Government’s own arms have recommended ban on meat export:

I.                    Animal Welfare Board of India in its 67th Executive Committee Meeting, in April 1994.

II.                  Law Commission of India in its 159th Report in July, 1998.

III.                National Commission on Cattle in its report in the year 2001.

2. Should we stick to the policy framed in 1991 even if  the circumstances have changed? Note that ….

a)      Forex reserves position in 1991-92 was precarious!

        Whereas forex reserves position in June 2013 is US$ 288 bn. i.e. Rs.17,28,000 crores!

b)      Meat export earns hardly Rs.14,000 crores p.a. which is just 0.8% of total forex reserve and  1% of our total yearly exports.

c)       When several other sectors given below have emerged as major foreign exchange earners, why to continue meat export?

                        IT Sector          Rs.4,54,800 Crores

                        Gem & Jwellery                Rs.2,35,000 Crores

                        Textiles                                 Rs.1,00,000 Crores

                        Engineering        Rs.1,00,000 Crores

                         etc.

d)      There is growing awareness about organic food all over the world.  India can become a major exporter of organic food if it preserves its animals and uses their dung as organic manure.  Higher revenue from export of organic food can offset earnings from meat export manifold.

e)      Note the following data …

•       India exported roughly 16.80 lakh M.T. of buffalo meat in 2011-12. (it would be more in subsequent years)

•       Considering average meat yield from a buffalo to be 110 kg., 152 lakh buffaloes were slaughtered in 2011-12 for export only.

•       A buffalo yields 5.4 M.T. dung in a year, which when composted gives 10.8 M.T. of organic manure.

•       By slaughter of 152 lakh buffaloes, the country is losing 82.08 crore tons of organic manure available from slaughtered buffaloes during five years they would have lived if not slaughtered at average age of 10 years.

•       Considering cost of organic manure @ Rs.1,000/-  per ton, the value of 82.08 crore tons of organic manure will be Rs.82,080  crores over a 5 year period.  

•       In view of mass scale slaughter of animals, there is drastic fall in animal to human ratio as under:

                                                                                                 

Though beef has been on negative list of export, under the garb of meat, thousands of tons of beef is also exported. The dwindling ratio of cattle despite total ban on female cow slaughter and partial ban on bulls and bullocks almost throughout the country proves this doubt.

4. There is  country wide resentment against this Policy.
5. Meat export violates many Constitutional provisions.
6. Meat export caters to the need of other  countries at the cost of our young and healthy animals.
7. The acute shortage of useful animals has by and large affected the availability & prices of essential commodities such as foodgrains, vegetables, fruits, fresh milk, pure ghee  etc.
8. If earning a few crumbs of foreign exchange is the only criteria, then any and every living creature which can yield profits is liable to be slaughtered and exported.  This is a very dangerous trend.
   

Let us Awake, Arise & Ask…

1. Can western policies be made applicable to Indian conditions & culture where the basic objective of rearing cattle widely differs?
2. Obvious questions that arise are …
• How the government can frame policies which are not in the interest of Indian people, breaking backbone of Indian agriculture?

• Whose interest is being taken care of? Ours or foreigners’?

3.       Can the Nation’s cattle wealth be frittered away to cater to the economic ambitions of a few or to earn small foreign exchange?

4. Whose interest weighs higher – that of a handful of meat exporters? Or that of the entire country?
5. Can the Government formulate a policy which violates  fundamental duties under the Constitution to have compassion for all living creatures?
6. Can the freedom of occupation itself give rise to freedom to kill any animal? Any number of animals?
7. Can the government, which has to  be a role model for observing fundamental duties, be seen as the violator of fundamental duties?

Food for thought

• Can production of meat, fish, etc. & killing of animals be termed as ‘farming’ and included under ‘agriculture’?
• Can meat production enjoy all the benefits provided by Government to agriculture sector?

APPEAL ….

. . .To the Government

Taking holistic view of the whole situation, we appeal to the government to scrap the meat export policy…  

        . . . And to the people of this country

        Oppose the Meat Export Policy tooth and nail and do not rest till Meat Export is banned.

SOURCE - 

Viniyog Parivar Trust

email : info@viniyogparivar.org