Cattle trading is a 'business' & it's not confined to one particular community

Hameed Ashraf | NT

Bengaluru: In the last few years, the state witnessed a rise in incidents of violence under the garb of cow vigilantism. Members from selected communities were mostly targeted and blamed for the transport, sale or possession of cattle and beef or even suspicion of doing so.

However, it is incorrect to view the cattle economy through the prism of religion. The Hindu reverence of cattle, particularly the cow, is well known.

While most Hindus worship the cow and abstain from eating beef, it is a fact that India has become the world's fifth-largest beef exporter as per a 2023 report.

The Indian beef industry didn’t happen overnight. Export began in the 1960s and grew significantly in the last decade. It is alleged by rightwing members that Muslims are involved in cattle smuggling.

However, there have been many incidents where Hindu men, mostly BJP workers, were arrested for stealing and illegally transporting cattle.

Recently, four BJP workers were arrested for the illegal transportation of six cows and two calves in Dharmasthala. Last year, Nanjangud Rural Police arrested two Hindu men on charges of stealing cows and recovered 12 cows and one calf besides seizing their vehicles.

About 56 cases related to cattle thefts and illegal transportation of cattle were reported and 21 people were arrested in 2021. The law against cattle slaughter, a poll promise of the Karnataka BJP before it came to power in 2019, had pleased a section of the population, but others still claim it has caused them severe distress.

The Karnataka Prevention of Slaughter and Preservation of Cattle Act (KPSPCA), 2020, was brought in as a matter of extreme importance in the wake of a disastrous pandemicinduced lockdown.

Milk farmers face ordeal Somme Gowda, 60, a milk farmer from KR Pet in Mandya told News Trail the ordeal he went through to sell his unproductive cows after the law came in.

"Once a bull is of no use to the farmer, he has no option but to sell it. How can a farmer manage to afford Rs 600 to Rs 800 per day to feed the animal?," he asked. H

e said that he was unable to find a customer to buy his cow.

"When a few people approached me, they quoted a very low price," he said.

Another farmer, Boregowda, 64, wanted to sell his unproductive cattle to pay his family debts. But I could not. "How could I? The price being offered is too low for my animals at the fairs. I even approached a Gaushala worker here, who just asked me to look after my animals," he said in despair.

A Muslim trader from Mysuru, who does not wish to be named, said that he has stopped trading at the cattle fairs. Pointing to the attacks by self-claimed Hindutva vigilante groups on Muslim men involved in transporting or selling cattle, he said, "I don't think any Muslim traders are attending cattle fairs anymore. We want to continue trading cows for agricultural purposes. But with the current situation, it is difficult," he added.

Leather workers and those engaged in skincuring and tannery industries are also hit. Most of them lost their business and jobs. The remaining were forced to import animal hides from Kerala and Andhra Pradesh.

Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Sciences Minister, K Venkatesh recently expressed his concern that farmers are facing a tough time in maintaining aged cattle and disposing of the dead.