Centre bans sale of cows for slaughter across India, puts restrictions on sale too

New Delhi: The Ministry of Environment and Forests on Thursday notified new rules under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, which ban the sale of cows for slaughter in open markets across the country.

As per the first central regulation for cattle business, which was notified on Tuesday, trade is allowed only among farmland owners. The regulation covers cows, bullocks, bulls, buffaloes, steers, heifers and camels.

Hindustan Times reports that a directive to committees supervising animal markets in the rule notified under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (PCA) Act of 1960 reads: “Take an undertaking that the animals are bought for agriculture purposes and not for slaughter.”

The rules are supposed to be implemented in the next three months. Now, both seller and buyer will have to furnish identity and ownership documents. After purchasing a cow, a trader will have to make five copies of proof of sale and submit them at the local revenue office, the local veterinary doctor in the district of the purchaser, animal market committee, apart from one each for seller and buyer, reported the daily.

Former environment minister Anil Madhav Dave had okayed the rules before his death last week, HT quoted ministry sources as saying.

At present, Gujarat holds the mantle of the state with the strictest laws in the country to protect cows, bullocks, bulls and their progeny.

As of March 2017, cow slaughter had been prohibited in 84 percent of states and Union territories, which account for 99.38 percent of the population.

Cow protection has a long history, dating back to pre-Independence times when it found support from mass organisations such as the Arya Samaj and a personage no less than Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi.