NGT notice to govt to ban cow slaughter nationwide

The National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Wednesday issued a notice to the Government of India on a plea seeking ban of ‘desi’ cow slaughter nationwide. 

Advocate and environment activist Ashwini Kumar filed the petition based on government data that reveals that there has been a steep decline in ‘desi’ cow population in the country. They are being replaced by cross-bred cows being imported from Europe, Australia and the USA. 

Kumar said on one hand farmers are being made to believe that foreign breed are genetically capable of producing more milk than desi cows, while Brazil and Argentina have been importing desi cow breeds such as Gir, Sahiwal and Red Sindhi for years because <g data-gr-id="18">these Indian <g data-gr-id="19">breed</g></g> have been producing more milk than <g data-gr-id="20">other foreign breed</g>. 

He added: “For example a Gir from Brazil named Quimbanda, which made a record of producing 10,230 kiloliters of milk in a year that equates to a daily yield of <g data-gr-id="16">56 kilo</g> liters of milk. Due to the increasing influx of foreign breed in India, indigenous cows are being sold to slaughterhouses for meat and leather and farmers are completely unaware that the very same indigenous breed is flourishing in different parts of the world.” 

He said: “Only if the NGT orders nationwide ban on slaughter can we save the critically declining population of the Indian desi cows.”