To say the ordeal is stressful does not begin to describe it..
“A rope is threaded through their nose to keep the animals together…
Sometimes the frightened cattle tug against one another and the rope rips their nose apart…
The animals are beaten mercilessly with sticks…
The cattle are forced to walk sometimes for days…and are not given food or water
It is no wonder many of them collapse.
But instead of receiving help, the animals who fall actually have chilli peppers and tobacco rubbed into their eyes and have bones in their tails repeatedly broken in an effort to get them on their feet.”
After this, I could not bear to watch anymore.
This was how I got my first glimpse into the horrifying truth behind cow slaughter in India. That was a few months ago. The narration above is from a gut-wrenching video that is deeply disturbing. Although the footage was than a decade old, I was a little hopeful that such practices had stopped by now.
But the little optimism I had vanished after watching another video earlier this week.
This video had live footage of the conditions in which these cattle are transported across state boundaries for slaughter. Such transportation of cattle is illegal. But as the narrator of the first video clip says:
“There is a law. But it is no match for the bribes (and) corruption.”
The law is almost never enforced. The cows and buffaloes are transported in trucks jammed chock-a-block against each other, barely able to move.
They are driven through the harsh sun of the day and the rains at night, without food or water, four to five days at a stretch – on their long, appalling final journey to imminent slaughter. During this “death marchâ€, “The cattle routinely suffer serious injuries such as broken pelvises, legs, ribs and horns.”
Some of them die during their journey. The ones that are alive are often trapped beneath their bodies. By law, no more than six heads of cattle should be allowed in a truck and each animal must have a space of  two meters square. In reality, they are lucky if they have any space to turn their heads around.
“Overcrowding leads them to gouge and blind each other with their huge horns
Babies and the weaker animals often fall…and are smothered or trampled
By the time they are unloaded (at the slaughterhouse)Â half have collapsed from injury or exhaustion or are dead.
(They) are left in the sun without water, food or medical careÂ
As hard it is to watch, slaughter is the only relief these animals get.”
Is there no one to speak up against this monstrosity? This outrageous, inhumane “business†of cattle transportation and slaughter?
We do of course have the usual charade of laws – including those meant to prevent animal cruelty. One such law mandates that “Every State Government shall by notification in the Official Gazette, establish, as soon as may be and in any event within six months from the date of commencement of these rules, a society for every district in the State to be the SPCA in that districtâ€.
The date of the ordinance is 26th March 2001. Presumable the process of forming SPCAs in all the districts has been completed by now.
But in all my travels across India, I have hardly heard of these centres in any district, except perhaps the large metros.
I certainly have not seen them commenting or taking any action of either of the two videos I mentioned above.
Adding insult to injury is the fact that the “Directive Principles†in Constitution actually suggest a total ban on cow slaughter (Article 48, Part IV; Directive Principles of State Policy). Not just the Directive principles, the Supreme Court has ruled on this matter too.
But this “business†flourishes.
And as in the case of most such “businesses†there are mafias – and there is collusion. Collusion between the enforcers and businessmen. Collusion between officials who turn a blind eye and those that have figured out the economics of making a profit in spite of all these “hidden†costs.
None of this is “secretâ€. Even the “routes†of such transport are well known.
What about a complete ban on Cow Slaughter?
We were almost there once – in 1954 – when Nehru threatened to resign if the Bill was passed. Then again during AB Vajpayee’s government.
But nothing came out of it – either then or now.
In the meantime, the Supreme Court has already ruled that total ban on slaughter of cows and all calves is valid. It has also ruled that a total ban on slaughter of she-buffaloes, breeding bulls and working bullocks is valid too. Â Of course, none of this is followed in practice.
So what can you do?
Well one easy thing to do is to call your local SPCA and ask them whether they are aware of these facts.
You could also try calling or writing to your MLA or MP, asking them to raise this matter in Parliament and requesting an investigation into this organised, large-scale smuggling of cattle across state and international borders. That might just help – a little.
But the easiest thing to do is to share this information with others.Make them aware of the scale and magnitude of this atrocity, this inhumane “business†that seems to thrive in a country that considers this humble, meek animal as sacred and reveres it as “Gou-Mataâ€.  Hopefully that might lead to change. Jai Hind, Jai Bharat!
Related Post:Â On Cow Slaughter etc..
References: The first video (courtesy PETA): http://youtu.be/NZOeOtaWyIg and the second video (courtesy Temple Worshippers Society): http://youtu.be/o8-Hi2N8FcE (neither are suitable for children and may not be suitable for work)
* The law is “Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Establishment and Regulation of Societies for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) Rules, 2001 that came into force on 26th March 2001. www.moef.nic.in_legis_awbi_awbi18
Re. cattle smuggling across international borders, pl read: “Cattle smuggling to Bangladesh is a flourishing industry†and Cattle go easily across the border fence, easier for smugglers where there’s none
This post also appeared on my blog over at Times of India.
“But instead of receiving help, the animals who fall actually have chilli peppers and tobacco rubbed into their eyes and have bones in their tails repeatedly broken in an effort to get them on their feet.†— I felt that you are going to describe the conditions of the social and political reformers and the derision that they face from the society that they are trying to improve.
The problem is not ban; it is attitude of the people. We have not learnt to appreciative of farming or husbandry. We have decried it over the years and made the people ashamed of themselves. I still remember in my village when cattle rearing was an art. Today it is totally absent. Farmers have sold of the cattle and their farms and have even taken up to menial jobs in the cities.
The West has made it an art for themselves and made it appear to be a cheap trade here in our country. Unless we start appreciating ourselves and the contribution by the cattle rearers and that farming and agriculture are not degrading jobs and only an office job merits description, any amount of legislation is not going to change the slaughtering of the animals.
To conclude I would like to state that one of my friends is running a Go shala and he pays good money to his employees, but they would like to take a lower paying desk job as their marriage opportunities are limited.
Let us learn to respect every single job and we need no legislation for the same.
vck
Dear Shantanu,
Please watch the documentary Earthlings. Incredible video shot on cruelty meted out to animals. Brave hearts required to watch. But everyone must watch so that awareness is created. Closing our eyes is not going to solve the problem.
Reality is much much larger than what we can imagine!
Watch trailer here: http://earthlings.com/?page_id=30
Ramaswamy
Placing this link here for the record: http://youtu.be/ZIzvFMmXCpw
For the record, a first -hand account of cow smuggling across the border.