Indian Buffalo Meat Facts V  

While APEDA extends handholding, guidance, direction and approval to the slaughterhouses for producing certified Halal buffalo meat, another arm of the Government of India: the Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI) offers a substantial subsidy for setting up or modernization of abattoirs. The subsidy covers 50 percent of the cost of machinery and civil works in general areas and 75 percent of the cost in difficult areas including the Northeast, Sikkim, Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and some other areas.

During his election speeches in April 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi strongly spoke against such subsidies that are designed to promote “Pink Revolution”. While speaking at rally in Nawada on April 2, 2014, he is reported to have said:

“This country wants a Green Revolution… But those at the Centre want a ‘Pink Revolution’. Do you know what it means? When animals are slaughtered, the colour of their flesh is pink. Animals are being slaughtered and taken out of the country. The government in Delhi is giving subsidies to those who are carrying out this slaughter. …

“The government is not willing to provide subsidy to a person who keeps a cow but if a person wants to set up a slaughterhouse, he gets assistance…”

The subsidy on slaughterhouses, however, has continued. According to a press-note of the MoFPI issued on March 1, 2016, the Ministry had disbursed 26 crores towards subsidy on setting up or modernization of abattoirs in 2015-16 (up to 25.02.2016) compared to 10.3 crores in 2014-15 and 25.8 crores in 2013-14. It seems that in deference to the expressed wishes of the Prime Minister the bureaucracy desisted for a while, thus lowering the amount of subsidy during 2014-15, but began running the scheme with full strength soon afterwards.

There was another scheme to provide transportation subsidy for export of buffalo meat to West Africans countries. But but that was discontinued in January 2104 as stated by Sadhvi Niranajan Jyoti in a written reply in the Lok Sabha on March 1, 2016.

It is indeed ironic that a Sadhvi is associated with a Ministry one of whose major businesses is to promote and subsidize large-scale slaughter of buffaloes and other animals.

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