Plea seeks ban on slaughter of indigenous cows

The National Green Tribunal on Wednesday issued a notice to the Union agriculture ministry on a plea seeking a nationwide ban on the slaughter of indigenous breeds of cows. A bench headed by Justice UD Salvi sought the ministry's reply by October 30 on a petition by lawyer Ashwini Kumar over loss of biodiversity and imminent extinction of indigenous cattle.

Kumar has pleaded the department of animal husbandry regulate the influx of foreign breeds of cows and ensure that Indian breeds are not slaughtered.

He argued the 2012 livestock census pointed to a 15 per cent drop in some indigenous cattle populations with an almost 8 per cent drop in the last five years. Among these, breeds like Punganoor and Vechur have only a few hundred animals.

He said pure Indian breeds like Gir, Sahiwal and Red Sindhi were in high demand in Brazil and Argentina because they produced more milk on average than foreign cattle. However, farmers in India were being convinced that foreign breeds had higher milk yield, he added. This had resulted in Indian breeds being overworked as draught animals, he said.

Kumar also said a watch list for domestic animal diversity published in 2000 by the Food and Agricultural Organisation listed several species of Indian livestock as endangered.

"Cows need to be protected under the Wildlife Act," Kumar told Business Standard, adding the Biodiversity Act provided little protection. A debate around the ban on slaughter of cattle has been raging for the last few months. However, Kumar maintained his motive was purely environmental. "The petition is not religious or political in any way, it is about protecting animals," he said.