Cow Soldiers Ride Buff Bazaar

As he made his way from Garh Mukteshwar in Uttar Pradesh to Salahpur near Meerut, Jit­ender, a thirty something far­mer, felt his courage slowly crumble. He had brought Rs 70,000 to buy a buffalo at Salahpur바카라�s weekly farm-animal fair. But by the time he got there, he lost his nerve. 바카라�I might be attacked by gau rakshaks,바카라� says Jit­ender, anxious about riding home with a buffalo, should he buy one. 바카라�The ­rakshaks won바카라�t care if my buffalo is for milking. They will accuse me of ­wanting to slaughter her,바카라� he says.

The fair at Salahpur has got, every Tuesday for twenty years, up to a thousand buffaloes. It caters to buyers from western UP, Rajasthan and Haryana. But this week, business fizzled out before it could even begin. By noontime, about 200 buffaloes and a dozen cows arrived.

바카라�The market has dwindled since problems over slaughterhouses began some months ago. People became scared of transporting animals. Cow protection groups have terrified traders and the new rules make things worse,바카라� says Jabbar Ali, the market바카라�s contractor.

With rules for animal trade in perpetual flux, even sellers such as Riazul, a local resident, are ruffled. Riazul fattened his buffalo with feed worth Rs 250-300 daily and brought her to this fair. 바카라�She gives 14 litres of milk,바카라� he says. 바카라�We have little to eat at home. I have two children and a wife. I want to sell my buffalo but where are the buyers? Are they dead?바카라�

They바카라�re not quite dead, just stunned by circumstances. First, in April, UP bra­nded most abattoirs illegal and closed them. Of the remaining, 42 are exp­ort-approved abattoirs and only four cater to local meat demand. Thus, retail trade in buffaloes all but stopped in UP. Now the central government has issued new rules for the entire country that prohibit trade in farm animals at markets바카라�like at Salahpur바카라�if the purpose is slaughter.

Under the new rules, along with the Rs 26,800-crore ($4.3 billion) meat export industry, the Rs 80,000-crore ($10 billion) dairy trade also feels threatened. Agents who trawl rural markets seeking healthy buffaloes in larger quantities for exporters, in particular, have stopped work.

Sirajuddin Qureshi, MD of Hind Group, a meat exporter, says importers have been persistently calling from overseas ever since the rules changed. 바카라�They ask why India is fussing over buffaloes, which are not considered holy. They want to know if supplies will continue,바카라� he says. Meat exporters, he says, shunned trade in cows out of respect for Hindu sentiment. 바카라�But now, after these new rules, exporters are in complete panic.바카라�

As the latest rules seem to equate slaughter with cruelty, middlemen ­expect more, not less, vigilantism. This is what ultimately halts the business. In addition, for the first time, the rules address those buying farm animals for 바카라�non-farm바카라� purposes. What this means is, meat exporters can no longer access animal markets for buffaloes. They would be forced to buy directly from farmers, putting them at more of a risk of being thrashed by vigilante groups바카라�and making the task logistically impossible.

바카라�Isn바카라�t it cruel when seventy humans are packed in a bus meant for forty,바카라� asks Sami Qureshi, a buffalo trader from Barnawa, Baghpat. He feels the government is targeting Muslims, particularly Qureshis, by repeatedly drawing attention to slaughterhouses and meat exporters. 바카라�If farm animals won바카라�t be allowed to die, how will new supplies of animals come, who will care for them once they don바카라�t give milk?바카라�

The new rules, however, strictly say that buyers and sellers must certify that the animal is not for slaughter. Only those who can prove they are farmers can buy or sell them. There is a six-month cooling period when farmers are barred from reselling animals.

바카라�How can sellers know what buyers will do with buffaloes afterwards? These rules are only to terrify us,바카라� says Haji Aslam, who heads the Meerut Dairy Association. Big, overfed buffaloes, which are washed and polished to oily blackness at markets like Salahpur are failing to tempt buyers as a result. The buffalo market has all but collapsed. The other impact is being felt in villages where trade in buffalo is the only source of inc­ome, like Mandhiyai near Sar­dhana, which hosts one of the biggest regional farm fairs.

Shabbir, only 15, was taking buffaloes to the slaughterhouse in Delhi바카라�s Ghazipur last week. 바카라�We were caught and thrashed by gau rakshaks near Delhi바카라�s border. They took our animals,바카라� he says. Kamruddin, another resident whose sons buy buffaloes from farmers in Haryana, says they are running out of money for food. His wife, Nanhi, says, 바카라�What do we eat but potatoes and rice? It바카라�s become unsafe to do the work we did for generations.바카라� The families in Mandhiyai are 75 per cent Muslim, most landless and all linked with the farm animal trade.

바카라�Mandhiyai바카라�s market did badly this week because Haryana did not send enough buffaloes here. We hardly got fifty percent of the usual supply,바카라� says Haji Babu, who owns the market. Haji Jameel, pradhan, Mandhiyai, says, 바카라�Five thousand people here depend on this work. If their only source of income goes, what will they do but rob and loot? It바카라�s a very anxious time with the rules constantly turning against us.바카라�

The meat export trade is also closely aligned with the Rs 40,000-crore leather trade, dominated by Dalit workers. In all, it is the Qureshis who have taken the lead among leather traders and meat exporters, followed by Hindus and Jains. As head of the Jamaitul Quresh, the community바카라�s apex body, Sirajuddin Qureshi also has to deal with anxious members of the 15 million Qureshis in the buffalo trade.

바카라�I really don바카라�t believe the new rules match the Prime Minister바카라�s statements. He talks of creating employment but these rules will render jobless five crore people engaged in meat export, buffalo transport, skinning and the leather trade,바카라� he says. The most shocking aspect of the new rules, he feels, is that the meat exp­orters, transporters and traders were never once consulted. 바카라�How is it possible to change rules outright without notice?바카라�

India exports roughly 11-13 lakh tonnes of meat annually out of which 95 per cent is buffalo meat. The export had generally been surging. That said, according to government statistics, the female buffalo population has also been surging. And, only ten per cent of the buffalo population ever heads for slaughterhouses.

Often, meat exporters work on ­advance agreements with farmers, who agree to sell their dry she-buffaloes or unwanted males at pre-arranged dates. Those deals, according to traders, will keep supplies going for another fortnight or a month. After that, unless the government excludes buffaloes from the latest rules, there won바카라�t be any left to slaughter바카라�and fewer for dairying.

바카라�I think the government will ret­hink. These rules can바카라�t be here to stay. They are a mistake,바카라� says Ali, mustering optimism. But the problem shows up in the shape of fear. 바카라�Buyers are too scared. They want to select animals in Salahpur and then want us to deliver them home. But even we don바카라�t want to go afar,바카라� says Ikram, a transporter-trader from Rohta village.

Om Prakash Pal, a landless farmer from Pabali Khas, wants a buffalo to ­replace one gone dry, which he has sold. He says, 바카라�The government should think about a landless farmer. How will he live if he can바카라�t even buy a buffalo without risking his life?바카라�

By Pragya Singh and Jitender Gupta in western UP