NEW DELHI:The National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Wednesday issued a notice to the Centre on a plea seeking nationwide ban on the slaughter of indigenous breeds of cattle. A bench, headed by Justice U D Salvi, issued the notice to the Agriculture Ministry while seeking its reply by October 30, the next date of hearing.
Environment activist and lawyer Ashwini Kumar has moved the tribunal against the looming threat of extinction of indigenous breeds of cattle in the country and sought directions to the Centre to ensure that cattle are not slaughtered. In his plea, Kumar claimed that there was a steep decline in the indigenous cow population across the country and that Indian cattle were being replaced across the country by exotic and cross-bred cows imported from Europe, Australia and the US. “Even developed countries are taking steps to preserve diversity in livestock and taking substantial steps to preserve and conserve their domestic livestock species,” the plea said. Kumar blamed government authorities at the national, state, and local levels for being silent spectators to this extinction. Highlighting the need for indigenous breed of cattle, he said indigenous cattle had better disease-resistance power and could adapt themselves better.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court decided to hear on Monday a plea by the Jammu and Kashmir government against two conflicting orders of the high court pertaining to the slaughter of bovine animals and enforcement of a bar on beef sale in the state. The government argued the high court orders were being “misused” to disturb communal harmony. While the high court’s Jammu bench ordered enforcement of beef ban, the Srinagar bench accepted a plea against it.