Indian state bans beef, introduces jail time for possession

[TaiShang]

Indian state bans beef, introduces jail time for possession
on March 03, 2015

India’s western state of Maharashtra has introduced a ban on beef so strict that even possession could land you in jail for five years, media reports and the chief minister said Tuesday. The country’s Hindu majority considers cows sacred, and several states already ban their slaughter. But the latest measures in Maharashtra — home to India’s commercial centre Mumbai — go even further, making sale or possession of beef an offence punishable by a five-year jail term or a 10,000 rupee ($160) fine.

The Indian Express newspaper said the measures became law after President Pranab Mukherjee gave his assent to a legal amendment passed by the state parliament two decades ago. The measures include a ban on the slaughter of bulls and bullocks, hitherto legal with a vet’s certificate, although it will still be legal to slaughter buffalo. Maharashtra’s chief minister Devendra Fadnavis tweeted his thanks to the president, saying “our dream of ban on cow slaughter becomes a reality now”.

Right-wing Hindu groups in India have long demanded a complete ban on the slaughter of all cattle, citing religious scriptures. The main players in the beef industry are Muslims, the country’s largest religious minority, who make up some 13 percent of India’s 1.25-billion population. Maharashtra state is ruled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party in alliance with the far-right Shiv Sena party.

 

[Ajit Kumar]

Indian state bans beef, introduces jail time for possession
on March 03, 2015

India’s western state of Maharashtra has introduced a ban on beef so strict that even possession could land you in jail for five years, media reports and the chief minister said Tuesday. The country’s Hindu majority considers cows sacred, and several states already ban their slaughter. But the latest measures in Maharashtra — home to India’s commercial centre Mumbai — go even further, making sale or possession of beef an offence punishable by a five-year jail term or a 10,000 rupee ($160) fine.

The Indian Express newspaper said the measures became law after President Pranab Mukherjee gave his assent to a legal amendment passed by the state parliament two decades ago. The measures include a ban on the slaughter of bulls and bullocks, hitherto legal with a vet’s certificate, although it will still be legal to slaughter buffalo. Maharashtra’s chief minister Devendra Fadnavis tweeted his thanks to the president, saying “our dream of ban on cow slaughter becomes a reality now”.

Right-wing Hindu groups in India have long demanded a complete ban on the slaughter of all cattle, citing religious scriptures. The main players in the beef industry are Muslims, the country’s largest religious minority, who make up some 13 percent of India’s 1.25-billion population. Maharashtra state is ruled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party in alliance with the far-right Shiv Sena party.

Its a good step. Cow slaughter must be banned in India.

 

[jamahir]

so banks in maharashtra state are not shut down and their officers are not jailed when farmers suicide, but yeah, jail someone for five years for possessing beef.

great going, india... good that you elected bjp at the center... let's become a cow superpower... so what if humans face the highest injustices of any society in the world in history.

 

[Ajit Kumar]

so banks in maharashtra state are not shut down and their officers are not jailed when farmers suicide, but yeah, jail someone for five years for possessing beef.

great going, india... good that you elected bjp at the center... let's become a cow superpower... so what if humans face the highest injustices of any society in the world in history.

I am going to vote for BJP again. Its a good step..

 

[jamahir]

I am going to vote for BJP again. Its a good step..

please read my above post again.

 

[Donatello]

So even non-Hindus are not allowed beef?

WTF

 

[Bang Galore]

So even non-Hindus are not allowed beef?

WTF

What kind of weird logic is that ? It certainly can't be banned only for any one group. If something is banned, it would be applicable for all.

 

[21 Dec 2012]

so banks in maharashtra state are not shut down and their officers are not jailed when farmers suicide, but yeah, jail someone for five years for possessing beef.

great going, india... good that you elected bjp at the center... let's become a cow superpower... so what if humans face the highest injustices of any society in the world in history.

India should follow the libyan model of development.

 

[HariPrasad]

so banks in maharashtra state are not shut down and their officers are not jailed when farmers suicide, but yeah, jail someone for five years for possessing beef.

great going, india... good that you elected bjp at the center... let's become a cow superpower... so what if humans face the highest injustices of any society in the world in history.

He is back.

this time he demands jail for officer for farmer's suicide. (Sharia code of punishment)

 

[21 Dec 2012]

He is back.

this time he demands jail for officer for farmer's suicide. (Sharia code of punishment)

Are there helplines to call some federal investigation agency? We should hurry before he straps a bomb vest and blows himself in anger.

 

[Donatello]

What kind of weird logic is that ? It certainly can't be banned only for any one group. If something is banned, it would be applicable for all.

Alcohol is not banned for Non-Muslims in Pakistan, neither is Pork.

So yea, it can be banned...i mean....paper secular republic of India at it again.

 

[New Resolve]

They are moving backwards in time, let em.

 

[Hindustani78]

India's push to save its cows starves Bangladesh of beef | Zee News
Last Updated: Friday, July 3, 2015 - 09:46


Ghojadanga, India/Dhaka: Some 30,000 Indian soldiers guarding the border with Bangladesh have a new mandate under Prime Minister Narendra Modi`s government this year - stop cattle from crossing illegally into the Muslim-majority neighbour.


Roughly every other night, troops armed with bamboo sticks and ropes wade through jute and paddy fields and swim across ponds to chase ageing bovines, and smugglers, headed for markets in Bangladesh.

The crackdown is one of the clearest signs yet of how Indian policies, increasingly influenced by Hindu nationalist ideology, are having an economic impact on neighbouring countries as well as the sizeable Muslim minority at home.

About 2 million head of cattle are smuggled into Bangladesh annually from India. The $600 million-a-year trade has flourished over the past four decades and is considered legal by Dhaka.

Modi`s government, which came to power with the help of the Hindu nationalist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), wants to put an end to it.

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh travelled this spring to the frontier with Bangladesh, calling on the Border Security Force (BSF) to halt cattle smuggling completely so that the "people of Bangladesh give up eating beef", media reported at the time.

"Killing or smuggling a cow is equivalent to raping a Hindu girl or destroying a Hindu temple," said Jishnu Basu, an RSS spokesman in West Bengal, which shares a 2,216 km (1,375 miles) border with Bangladesh.

So far this year, BSF soldiers have seized 90,000 cattle and caught 400 Indian and Bangladeshi smugglers.

Bangladeshi traders who operate auctions to facilitate the sale of cattle to slaughter houses, beef processing units, tanneries and bone crushing factories estimate the industry contributed 3 percent to the country`s $190 billion economy.

The hit to GDP from India`s policies is not yet known. But H.T. Imam, a political adviser to Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, said there was "absolutely no doubt" that the beef trade and leather industry were suffering.

Syed Hasan Habib of Bengal Meat, Bangladesh`s top beef exporter, said it had to cut international orders by 75 percent. The company exports 125 tonnes of beef a year to Gulf countries.

He said the price of cows had gone up by 40 percent over the past six months because of India`s move, and they had been forced to close two processing units.

Habib plans to import cows from Nepal, Bhutan and Myanmar to meet domestic demand, but he said Indian cows had better quality meat and raw hide.

Bangladesh Tanners Association president Shaheen Ahmed said 30 of 190 tanneries had suspended work due to lack of hides, and about 4,000 workers were jobless.

A senior official in India`s home ministry said Bangladesh should find new sources of beef because India would stick to its stance.

India is home to 300 million cattle and is the world`s largest beef exporter and fifth-biggest consumer.

But since Modi`s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is closely linked to the RSS, came to power last year, the rhetoric on cow protection and the beef ban has increased.

Critics say tougher anti-beef laws discriminate against Muslims, Christians and lower-caste Hindus who rely on the cheap meat for protein. Butchers and cattle traders, many of them Muslim, say the push threatens thousands of jobs.

The rhetoric has also emboldened vigilante cow protectors.

"I was chained to a tree and beaten by members of the cow protection force. They forced me to recite a Hindu prayer," said Mohammed Tarafdar, who was caught smuggling two calves near the Bangladesh border in April.

"My religion permits me to eat and sell beef, so why should Hindus have a problem?" said Tarafdar, sitting in a crammed prison cell in Basirhat district.Some BSF soldiers said they could not understand why they were chasing cows. Some animals are caught and auctioned by the BSF, only to be bought and smuggled again.

Two soldiers were killed by a gang of Bangladeshi smugglers, while three dozen have been injured by the animals.

"It is a wild chase, but not of a kind a soldier appreciates," said Vivek Tyagi, a BSF commander at the Ghojadanga check post.

Reuters

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[jamahir]

India should follow the libyan model of development.

it should, for below is how any citizen ( and by consequence, farmers ) in libyan jamahiriya lived...

1. any person interested in engaging in farming was given free land by the system, along with seeds, tools needed and housing, for free.

2. electricity and water was free ( that too in a largely desert country ), and libya had history's largest irrigation system, "the great man-made river" project ( gmrr ).

3. housing for any citizen was to be lived rent-free until the resident wished... rent was considered a compromise on the freedom of the citizen and therefore anti-human.

4. medical system was free, and if treatment was available outside, the costs would be borne by the system.

5. education system was free, and if that course was available outside, the costs would be borne by the system.

6. education was of one's choice and could not be forced by parents or circumstance.

7. food was at low cost.

8. any person interested in establishing a business was given a start-up amount of 20,000 dollars, interest-free.

9. all loans were interest-free.

10. no private banks operated in libya.

11. for a person not in employment, he or she was given the average salary ( stipend ) for the person's choice of field of employment... in fact, this was a coming-down in later years from the early days of the al-fatah revolution... in 1979, a unemployed person was given 7000 dollars per month !!

12. libyan jamahiriya being socialist, all wasteful traditions were frowned upon, like 600-guest four-day weddings like what happens in south asia.

13. at weddings, the bride and groom were together given 50,000 dollars to help them set up a new home etc.

14. car purchase was subsidized by the system.

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so tell me, why would any farmer suicide in libyan jamahiriya, when his material needs had been taken care by the system, leaving him spiritually at ease ??

 

[Bang Galore]

Alcohol is not banned for Non-Muslims in Pakistan, neither is Pork.

So yea, it can be banned...i mean....paper secular republic of India at it again.

Pakistan is an Islamic republic, you can have separate rules for dietary preferences for each community. India cannot do that.

Make your argument about secularism more explicitly. How it is affected etc, etc & I will be glad to debate you.