Adopt stray cattle: Rajasthan govt "recipe" for compensating those lynched in the name of cow protection

A cow protection police station in Alwar

By A Representative
How are the BJP rulers in Rajasthan seeking to compensate the families of those killed by the so-called gau rakshaks or cow vigilantes? According the recipe provided by a senior state official, who admitted that none of those lynched in the name of cow protection have been offered cash compensation, pointing out, their family members would be persuaded to take up "Adopt a Cow" policy of the Rajasthan government.
Revealing this, a new report, "Divide & Rule: In the Name of Cow", based on a fact-finding team's visit to take an on-the-spot view of things in Rajasthan, qualified as the "epicentre of lynching incidents", quotes the disctict collector, Alwar, to say that the policy seeks to "protect stray and abandoned cows", and in the district, so far, 71 cows have been adopted.
Released at the land rights movement, Bhumi Adhikaar Andolan (BAA), meet in Delhi on March 21, the report says, the policy was floated after it was found that "recent interventions of the government, police and cow vigilantes preventing cattle trade has caused an increase in stray cattle."
It adds, "The restrictions on the sale of cattle and the compulsive closure of slaughter houses have forced the dairy farmers to release these animals to fend for themselves. The released cattle often end up in destroying crops and hence have turned into a situation in which the administration has had to find benefactors to adopt the stray animals. Thus, the so-called cow protectors have caused the peril of the animal and lives of people alike."
Prepared by a team of lawyers and civil society activists led by PV Surendranath, senior advocate, Supreme Court, those who formed part of the fact-finding mission included CPI-M MPs KK Ragesh and Badrudduzza Khan, All-India Kisan Sabha leaders Vijoo Krishan and Dr Sanjay Madhav, and senior activists from across India.

Another cow protection police station in Rajasthan

The report notes, in Rajasthan, in all there are a dozen "cow protection" police stations, all of them in Alwar and Bharatpur districts, "allegedly to control cow smuggling”, and it here that some of the worst incidents of "mob violence under the ‘cow protection’ guise has taken place."
According to the report, the Rajasthan government "solution" has come against the backdrop of sharp impoverishment of the families lynched in the state. Typical is the case of Umar Khan, belonging to Ghatmeeka village in Bharatpur district, was killed by cow vigilantes and his body was found on the railway track at Ramgarh in Alwar District on November, 10, 2017.
"He is survived by nine children, and the youngest among them was born premature two days after his death and out of shock. The family now lives in utter poverty and earns a little by selling milk and through occasional daily wages from rural work. Umar’s mother, wife and children are in an inconsolable state with no support or compensation coming from the BJP led state government", the report states.
The report believes, the cases of lynching, in all 78, involving 293 individuals, resulting in the death of 29, are the direct result of the BJP rulers seeking to undermine the right to life and personal liberty. It underlines, "One’s right to eat food of one’s choice has no meaning, unless that food is reasonably available to purchase. Hence, freedom to trade cattle, slaughter it and to eat that meat /beef" has to be a "natural corollary of the privacy rights".

Calling cow protection laws -- such as those in Gujarat, Haryana, Rajasthan, Jharkhand and Uttarakhand, where punishment for cow slaughtering is from 10 years' rigorous imprisonment to life term -- "barbarous" thr report says, "The skewed government policy and its reckless implementation has led to a situation wherein cattle owners are left with no other option but to abandon their unproductive cattle."
Pointing out that cattle owning is not religion-specific but region-specific, the report says, "In Kerala, 7% Hindu and 5% Muslim households have cattle; in Uttar Pradesh, 52% of Hindu and 21% of Muslim households own cattle; and in Kashmir, the percentage of households having cattle is 37 and 57 respectively. between Hindus and Muslims."
"But", regrets the report, "The curious fact that it is Muslim community that is primarily dependent on meat industry for food and employment reveals the driving force for BJP governments to implement cow protection laws in a communally charged manner."

Comments

Unknown said…

Cow is goddess in Hinduism. So, no cow-slaughter please. Due to cow slaughter, not a single village has become cow-less village in India. Every village has got huge cow and no sign of creation of zero-cow village anywhere. On the contrary, due to female foeticide in INDIA, numbers of villages are created without any girl-child. In Gujarat, Patel community is suffering from the problem of bride shortage. So, respected Hindu gentry should think of banning female foeticide more seriously than banning cow-slaughter. Otherwise, devil is waiting in h e l l for female-less communities.

March 24, 2018

Urgent need to study cause of large number of natural deaths in Gulf countries

By Venkatesh Nayak* According to data tabled in Parliament in April 2018, there are 87.76 lakh (8.77 million) Indians in six Gulf countries, namely Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). While replying to an Unstarred Question (#6091) raised in the Lok Sabha, the Union Minister of State for External Affairs said, during the first half of this financial year alone (between April-September 2018), blue-collared Indian workers in these countries had remitted USD 33.47 Billion back home. Not much is known about the human cost of such earnings which swell up the country’s forex reserves quietly. My recent RTI intervention and research of proceedings in Parliament has revealed that between 2012 and mid-2018 more than 24,570 Indian Workers died in these Gulf countries. This works out to an average of more than 10 deaths per day. For every US$ 1 Billion they remitted to India during the same period there were at least 117 deaths of Indian Workers in Gulf ...

A comrade in culture and controversy: Yao Wenyuan’s revolutionary legacy

By Harsh Thakor* This year marks two important anniversaries in Chinese revolutionary history—the 20th death anniversary of Yao Wenyuan, and the 50th anniversary of his seminal essay "On the Social Basis of the Lin Biao Anti-Party Clique". These milestones invite reflection on the man whose pen ignited the first sparks of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution and whose sharp ideological interventions left an indelible imprint on the political and cultural landscape of socialist China.

History, culture and literature of Fatehpur, UP, from where Maulana Hasrat Mohani hailed

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat* Maulana Hasrat Mohani was a member of the Constituent Assembly and an extremely important leader of our freedom movement. Born in Unnao district of Uttar Pradesh, Hasrat Mohani's relationship with nearby district of Fatehpur is interesting and not explored much by biographers and historians. Dr Mohammad Ismail Azad Fatehpuri has written a book on Maulana Hasrat Mohani and Fatehpur. The book is in Urdu. He has just come out with another important book, 'Hindi kee Pratham Rachna: Chandayan' authored by Mulla Daud Dalmai.' During my recent visit to Fatehpur town, I had an opportunity to meet Dr Mohammad Ismail Azad Fatehpuri and recorded a conversation with him on issues of history, culture and literature of Fatehpur. Sharing this conversation here with you. Kindly click this link. --- *Human rights defender. Facebook https://www.facebook.com/vbrawat , X @freetohumanity, Skype @vbrawat

India's health workers have no legal right for their protection, regrets NGO network

Counterview Desk In a letter to Union labour and employment minister Santosh Gangwar, the civil rights group Occupational and Environmental Health Network of India (OEHNI), writing against the backdrop of strike by Bhabha hospital heath care workers, has insisted that they should be given “clear legal right for their protection”.

Uttarakhand tunnel disaster: 'Question mark' on rescue plan, appraisal, construction

By Bhim Singh Rawat* As many as 40 workers were trapped inside Barkot-Silkyara tunnel in Uttarkashi after a portion of the 4.5 km long, supposedly completed portion of the tunnel, collapsed early morning on Sunday, Nov 12, 2023. The incident has once again raised several questions over negligence in planning, appraisal and construction, absence of emergency rescue plan, violations of labour laws and environmental norms resulting in this avoidable accident.

Job opportunities decreasing, wages remain low: Delhi construction workers' plight

By Bharat Dogra* It was about 32 years back that a hut colony in posh Prashant Vihar area of Delhi was demolished. It was after a great struggle that the people evicted from here could get alternative plots that were not too far away from their earlier colony. Nirmana, an organization of construction workers, played an important role in helping the evicted people to get this alternative land. At that time it was a big relief to get this alternative land, even though the plots given to them were very small ones of 10X8 feet size. The people worked hard to construct new houses, often constructing two floors so that the family could be accommodated in the small plots. However a recent visit revealed that people are rather disheartened now by a number of adverse factors. They have not been given the proper allotment papers yet. There is still no sewer system here. They have to use public toilets constructed some distance away which can sometimes be quite messy. There is still no...

Women's rights leaders told to negotiate with Muslimness, as India's donor agencies shun the word Muslim

By A Representative Former vice-president Hamid Ansari has sharply criticized donor agencies engaged in nongovernmental development work, saying that they seek to "help out" marginalizes communities with their funds, but shy away from naming Muslims as the target group, something, he insisted, needs to change. Speaking at a book release function in Delhi, he said, since large sections of Muslims are poor, they need political as also social outreach.

Sardar Patel was on Nathuram Godse's hit list: Noted Marathi writer Sadanand More

Sadanand More (right) By A Representative In a surprise revelation, well-known Gujarati journalist Hari Desai has claimed that Nathuram Godse did not just kill Mahatma Gandhi, but also intended to kill Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. Citing a voluminous book authored by Sadanand More, “Lokmanya to Mahatma”, Volume II, translated from Marathi into English last year, Desai says, nowadays, there is a lot of talk about conspiracy to kill Gandhi, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, and Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, but little is known about how the Sardar was also targeted.

Weaponizing faith? 'I Love Muhammad' and the politics of manufactured riots

By Syed Ali Mujtaba* A disturbing new pattern of communal violence has emerged in several north Indian cities: attacks on Muslims during the “I Love Muhammad” processions held to mark Milad-un-Nabi, the birthday of Prophet Muhammad. This adds to the grim catalogue of Modi-era violence against Muslims, alongside cow vigilantism, so-called “love jihad” campaigns, attacks for not chanting “Jai Shri Ram,” and assaults during religious festivals.

Counterview

Search This Blog