A Jain spiritual leader along with two co-petitioners, one of whom is a stock broker, has sought a ban on meat exports from India, terming it to be a loss to national wealth. The trio’s petition which was submitted to the Rajya Sabha Committee on Petitions has been accepted and public comments on it have been invited. An advertisement regarding the same was published in the last week of June asking public to send their suggestions/comments within 15 days of publication of the advertisement.
The decision on reviewing the petition was taken by the petitions committee chairperson, Bhagat Singh Koshyari, following an appeal by Jain acharya Vijay Ratnasundarsuri and two others asking for banning meat exports from India. The petition is also endorsed by former Rajya Sabha member of Parliament S S Ahluwalia.
| Petitioners' five basic demands
- Meat export involves catering to the economic ambitions of a few and in the process creates an irreversible situation of depletion of national animal wealth. Meat export caters to the need of other countries at the cost of our young and healthy animals
- Claim of Fundamental Right by the butchers negates the Fundamental Right of a much larger section of the society which depends on cattle for their livelihood. The acute shortage of useful animals has by and large affected the availability and prices of essential commodities such as foodgrains, milk and ghee.
- The protection of Fundamental Right of meat sector by the government runs contrary to the Fundamental duty in the constitution to have compassion for all living creatures. Can the government which has to be a role model for observing Fundamental Duties, be seen as the violator of the Fundamental Duties?
- The freedom of occupation cannot give freedom of killing any animal or any number of animals. If earning a few crumbs of foreign exchange is the only criteria, then anything and everything which yields profits is liable to be slaughtered and exported.
- The freedom of trade, business and occupation of the meat industry is destructive to environment and animal kingdom
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Rising subsidy burden