NEWS ROUND-UP-4
Annoyed by the Union Agriculture Ministry’s proposal to Planning Commission seeking to lift the ban on beef export, Vishwa Hindu Parishad sent a letter to Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh seeking immediate rejection of the recommendations made therein on February 17. A copy of the letter, signed by the senior VHP adviser Shri Ashok Singhal, vice president Shri Omprakash Singhal and general secretary Shri Champat Rai, has also been sent to Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia. Terming the recommendation as shameless, mindless, audacious and sad, the VHP termed it as hostility perpetrated against the religious, spiritual, holistic, altruistic worldview of the country. VHP also referred to Article 48A and 51A of the Constitution along with the Supreme Court’s decision of October 26, 2005 in the matter of State of Gujarat and Others vs Mirzapur Moti Kureshi Kassab Jamat and Others in this regard. In its verdict the Court had said, “Finally, the Central government 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.”
(FOC)
