The Hindutva effect: Buffalo slaughter falls and milk prices cool

Buffalo meat exports in both volume and value are down by a third since the Modi govt came to power in 2014

Call it the butterfly effect. Rather, the buffalo effect. Even better, the Hindutva effect. The crackdown on indiscriminate slaughter of bovines has led to a decline in buffalo slaughter and cara beef (or buffalo meat) exports since the Modi government assumed power in 2014. Interestingly, retail prices of milk in the country, which had risen by more than 50 per cent between 2009 and 2014, have increased at a much slower pace since. The fall in exports is a curious phenomenon, since cara beef exports from India are primarily controlled by a few large slaughterhouses that produce this meat in registered abattoirs. This trend seems to suggest that at least