When India achieved Independence in 1947, which was a mere transfer of power from the British to the natives there was a great expectation among the people that there would be a complete and unconditional ban on cow-slaughter and the slaughter of other milch and draught cattle. But the leaders who came to power betrayed the people and did not bother to fulfill the vows of great leaders including Lokmanya Tilak who had said that cow-slaughter in India would be stopped with a stroke of pen.
When it came to the knowledge of the Hindus that the framers of the Constitution did not want to put a ban on cow-slaughter they started agitation which had already been brewing. Nehru who was at the helm of affairs did virtually nothing to stop cow-slaughter through a constitutional mandate. Gandhiji paid only lip service to the cause of cow-protection and displayed a divided loyalty towards the Hindus and the Muslims which created greatest hurdle in enacting a law which could have put an unconditional ban on the killing of the cow and her progeny in Independent India.
In 1951 while addressing a conference of the Congress Party in Bangalore (Bengaluru), Nehru had reportedly stated: “Enough has been said about cow-slaughter and in this connection the name of Gandhiji has been mentioned, but Gandhiji was against stoppage of cow-slaughter through law.”
Undoubtedly like his mentor Gandhiji, Nehru was not in favour of putting a ban on the killing of cows, calves and oxen whom the Hindus have been loving from the core of their heart since time immemorial. Nehru obviously could not foresee the disastrous effects of cow-slaughter on India’s rural economy particularly on agriculture and farmers’ life. A very large number of farmers have committed suicide which could have been easily averted if each one of them had atleast a few cows with them so that they could have served them with true religious spirit. This malady is the result of Government’s wrong agrarian policy particularly its gross neglect of the cow and other milch and draught cattle.
Article 48 says, “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.”
A perusal of Article 48 will be that it is more in the nature of a moral lesson than law. More importantly the provisions made in Article 48 cannot be enforced through a court of law because it is only a Directive Principle. Article 37 of the Constitution is the best proof of the uselessness of Article 48. It lays down:
“The provisions contained in this part shall not be enforceable by any court.”
In 1905 a noted economic botanist Sir Albert Howard had come to India to know the secrets of successful farming without resorting to the use of so called scientific means of raising production namely tractors, chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Pusa at that time was regarded as the most productive region in the country. Sir Howard, therefore, came to Pusa and stayed there for about five years. He was so amazed to see the disease-free bumper crops there that he wrote a book, An Agricultural Testament. He was convinced that after continuous use of tractors for several years even the most fertile land becomes barren and non-productive. He was also convinced that cow-dung is the best food of the soil and makes it healthy and highly productive. On the contrary chemical fertilizers being toxic causes several diseases to crops and in turn to those who eat the food thus produced. After staying at Pusa for many years Sir Howard warned the farmers of the whole world against the use of tractors, chemical fertilizers and pesticides. He spread the message that crops come in contact with diseases only when the soil gets sick due to the lack of natural fertilizers, cow-dung or green manure. He also said that the production of crops is continuously decreasing in the USA, Canada, Africa, Australia and New Zealand.
According to a newspaper report an experiment was made in New Zealand on two plots of agricultural land comprising 100 acres each. Wheat was grown on both the plots separately. On one plot the farmers used cow-dung, cow-urine and other natural fertilizers whereas on the other plot they made use of chemical fertilizers. It was found that the wheat grown with, the help of chemical fertilizers caused several diseases to humans and animals particularly diseases of throat and skin. On the contrary the food grown on the land with the help of cow-dung and the urine of cows caused absolutely no disorder and enabled men, women and all domestic animals to stay healthy.
Several lakhs of acres of land in the USA have turned barren due to the long and continuous use of tractors, chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Indian farmers who have been resorting to these evils since long have realized now that the slogan given for modern and so-called scientific farming given through Article 48 of the Constitution has proved to be an illusory.
Very few people know that the long, sharp-edged blades of tractors kill organisms which are friendly to the soil and keep it damp and healthy. Due to the absence of these organisms which lie under the deeper layers of the earth, the land lose moisture and turn unproductive. Thus tractors should be banned and replaced by oxen-driven ploughs which are far more superior to the former in several respects.
Besides destroying friendly organisms lying in the soil tractors give off pungent toxic vapours which makes the soil sick and also cause diseases. It is due to these reasons that enlightened farmers are gradually giving up the use of tractors in their fields. It is heartening to learn that Japan has stopped the use of tractors for agricultural purposes.
The policy of the Government of India to export meat of milch and draught cattle for earning dollars has not only tarnished the image of India as a great nation wedded to dharma but has also ruined our national economy. It is a dangerously wrong policy to kill cows, claves, oxen and other milch and draught cattle for money.
The export of beef from India to foreign countries started as early as 1974 and it continues unabated even today. It has been brought to our knowledge that during 1973-74. 2,000 tons of beef had been exported from India. Within a few years this figure rose to 1,90,000 tons. Government of India has broken the records of other countries in the slaughtering of milch and draught cattle. If this shameless and pernicious practice is not stopped immediately poor farmers will have no pair of oxen to plough their fields and children and others will be starved of milk. Rural economy in India has already been shattered.
Historically speaking there was no cow-slaughter in our country during Mughal period barring a few exception. In fact cow-slaughter in our country started for the first time under British Raj. It has be revealed that in a letter addressed to Viceroy Lansdowne on December 8, 1893 Queen Victoria had written-“Though the Muham-madan’s cow-killing is made the pretext for the agitation, it is in fact directed against us, who kill far more cows than the Mohammadans.”
Under the existing so-called Swaraj, far more cows, calves and oxen are daily butchered mercilessly in our Motherland than during British period or even earlier. No political party which came to power has ever done anything worthwhile till date to stop this unholy practice.
India needs a central law putting complete and unconditional ban on the killing of cows, calves, oxen and other milch and draught cattle. There is also an imperative need for a ban on the export of meat from our country. All these measures constitute a sine qua non for the growth and development of rural economy and all-round prosperity of our country.
(The writer can be contacted at A-207, Kalyani Apartments, Sector-6, Vasundhara, Ghaziabad, (Uttar Pradesh))
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