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TMI Blog1958 (4) TMI 110X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... The impugned Acts put a total ban on the trade and business of the petitioners who kill only cattle. Total prohibition of a trade which is not immoral or obnoxious can never be reasonable restriction within the meaning of el. (6) of Art. 19. Chintaman Rao v. The State of Madhya Pradesh, ([1950] S.C.R. 759 at 765); R.M. Sheshadri v. The District Magistrate ( [1955] 1 S.C.R. 686 at 689, 690); Cooverjee B. Bharucha v. The Excise Commis- sioner, ( [1954] S.C.R. 873); Rashid Ahmed. The Municipal Board, Kairana, ([1950] S.C.R. 566). Total ban on the slaughter of cattle is not in the interests of the general public. Animal husbandry will suffer by a total ban. There is shortage of fodder and pasture in the country and the useless and uneconomic cattle will deprive the useful cattle of these things. Setting up of Gosadans for the uneconomic cattle will be a tremendous waste of public money. [Counsel referred to various official reports in this connection.] The impugned Acts create an odious discrimination between butchers and persons dealing solely in cows, bulls, etc., and those dealing in sheep and goats, and offend Art. 14. These Acts which single out the petitioners' community whi ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... l. 571). C. K. Daphtary, Solicitor-General of India, with Mahabir- Prasad, Advocate-General of Bihar and S. P. Varma (respondent in Petitions Nos. 58, 83 and 84 of 1956), and with R. H. Dhebar, for the State of Bombay (respondent in Petition No. 117 of 1956). The legislature has thought fit that slaughter of cattle should be stopped in the inter states of animal husbandry and public policy. It is not for the Court to say that such a policy should not have been adopted. Both on the question of policy at-id the extent of the restrictions the Court should interfere only if it is convinced that in no view of the matter could the restrictions be reasonable. There are two conflicting opinions on this controversial matter, i. e., whether there should be total ban or only partial ban. In such a case the opinion of the legislators must prevail and the Court should not interfere where there is controversy as to facts. State of -Madras v. V. G. Rao, ([1952] S. C. R. 597 at 606); The State of Bihar v. Maharajadhiraja Sir Kameshwar Singh, ([1952] S. C. R. 889 at 941); Arumugham v. State of Madras, (I. L. R. [1953] Mad. 937). Unless it can be said that the restrictions have no bearing on the ob ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... not violate Art. 25. Article 25 of our Constitution is similar to Art. 8 of the Irish Constitution. There is no religious compulsion on the Mussalmans to sacrifice a cow on Bakr Id Day. Thakurdas Bhargava, as amicus curiae. The directive principles of State policy in Part IV of the Constitution are superior to fundamental rights and the enactments which are in pursuance of the directions given by Art. 48 are valid and constitutional even though they may infringe the fundamental rights of the petitioners. The total ban on cow slaughter in the impugned Acts is justified and is in the interests of the general public. The facts and figures given in the official reports are inaccurate, and there is no real shortage of fodder or pasture land. There is shortage of milk in the country and it is essential to protect the cow. The bullock takes the largest share in meeting the power requirement for our agricultural production. Cow dung manure contributes about rupees 63 crores per year to our national income. H.J. Umrigar, in reply. Frank Anthony, also replied. 1958. April 23. The Judgment of the Court was delivered by DAS C. J.-These 12 petitions under Art. 32 of our ,Constitution raise ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... t the number of Kasais is considerable. Petitioner No. 3 is the owner of a tanning factory and Petitioner No. 4 is a gut merchant, while Petitioner No. 5 is the General Secretary of Bihar State Jamiatul Quraish. In petition No. 83 there are 180 petitioners residing at different places in the State of Bihar who are all Muslims whose occupation is that of Kasais or cattle dealers or exporters of hides. In Petition No. 84 there are 170 petitioners all residents of Patna District who are also Muslims belonging to the Quraishi community and who carry on business as Kasais or dealers of cattle. All the petitioners in these three petitions are citizens of India. The Bill, which was eventually passed as the Bihar Act, was published in the Bihar Gazette on April 20, 1953. The scheme of the Bill, as originally drafted, was, it is said, to put a total ban only on the slaughter of cows and calves of cows below three years of age. The Bill was sent to a Select Committee and its scope appears to have been considerably enlarged, as will be seen presently. The Bill, as eventually passed by the Bihar Legislature, received the assent of the Governor on December 8, 1.955, and was published in the Of ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... d with the State of Bombay. In consequence of such re-organisation of the States the State of Bombay has had to be substituted for the respondent State of Madhya Pradesh in the first five petitions and to be added in the sixth petition, for a part of the district in which the petitioners resided had been so transferred, while the State of Madhya Pradesh continues to be the respondent in the seventh petition.By these petitions the petitioners %II of whom are citizens Of India, challenge the validity of the C. P. and Berar Animal Preservation Act, 1949 (C. P. and Berar Lll of 1949), as subsequently amended. In order to appreciate the arguments advanced for and against the constitutional validity of the three impugned Acts it will be necessary to refer to the relevant provisions of the Constitution under or pursuant to which they have been made. Reference must first be made to Art. 48 which will be found in Chapter IV of the Constitution which enshrines what are called the directive principles of )State policy. Under Art. 37 these directive principles are not enforceable by any court of law but are nevertheless fundamental in the governance of the country and are to be applied by the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... s is indicated by the words " in particular ", two special aspects of the preceding general directive for organising agriculture and animal husbandry on modern and scientific lines. Whether the last two directives are ancillary to the first as contended for by learned counsel for the peti- tioners or are separate and independent items of directives as claimed by counsel on the other side, the directive for taking steps for preventing the slaughter of the animals is quite explicit and positive and contemplates a ban on the slaughter of the several categories of animals specified therein, namely, cows and calves and other cattle which answer the description of milch or draught cattle. The protection recommended by this part of the directive is, in our opinion, confined only to cows and calves and to those animals which are presently or potentially capable of yielding milk or of doing work as draught cattle but does not, from the very nature of the purpose for which it is obviously recommended, extend to cattle which at one time were milch or draught cattle but which have ceased to be such. It is pursuant to these directive principles and in exercise of the powers conferred ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... tained in any law for the time being in force or in any usage or custom to the contrary, no person shall slaughter a cow, the calf of a cow, a bull or a bullock; Provided that the State Government may, by general or special order and subject to such conditions as it may think fit to impose, allow the slaughter of any such animal for any medicinal or research purposes." Section 4 provides for penalties for contravention or attempted contravention or abetment of contravention of any of the provisions of s. 3. The remaining provision; in the following three chapters are not material for our present purpose. It will be noticed that the words " bull ", " bullock ", " calf " and " cow" have been defined in cls. (c), (d), (e) and (g) of s. 2 as belonging to the species of bovine cattle. The expression " species of bovine cattle " is wide enough to in-elude and does in ordinary parlance include buffaloes,(male, or female adults or calves). Therefore, the corresponding categories of buffaloes, namely, buffalo bulls, buffalo bullocks, buffalo calves and she-buffaloes must be taken as included in the four defined categories of the speci ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... lude the flesh of cow contained in sealed containers and imported as such in Uttar Pradesh. Clause (b) is very important, for it defines " cow " as including a bull, bullock, heifer, or calf. Section 3, which is the operative section runs thus: 3. Notwithstanding anything contained in any other law for the time being in force or any usage or custom to the contrary, no person shall slaughter or cause to be slaughtered or offer or cause to be offered for slaughter any cow in any place in Uttar Pradesh." Two exceptions are made by s. 4 in respect of cows suffering from contagious or infectious disease or which is subjected to experimentation in the interest of medical or public health research. Section 5 prohibits the sale or transport of beef or beef products in any form except for medicinal purposes and subject to' the provisions of the exception therein mentioned. Section 6, on which counsel for the State relies, provides for the establishment, by the State Government or by any local authority wherever so directed by the State Government, of institutions as may be necessary for taking care of uneconomic cows. Under s. 7 the State Government may levy such charge ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ale calf of a cow, bull, bullock, buffalo (male or female adult or calf) could be slaughtered on obtaining a certificate. The Act was further amended in 1956 by Act X of 1956 substituting for the amended definition of " cow " introduced by the amending Act of 1951 as cl. (1)(a) of s. 2 of the C. P. and Berar Animal Preservation Act, 1949, a new definition of " cow " as including a male or female calf of a cow, bull, bullock or heifer and a new schedule specifying only (1) cows, (2) male and female buffaloes and (3) buffalo calves was substituted for the original schedule to the Act. Shortly put the position in Madhya Pradesh has been this: while under the C. P. and Berar Animal Preservation Act, 1949, as it originally stood, the slaughter of all categories of animals mentioned in the original schedule were only controlled by the requirement of a certificate from the appropriate authority before the actual slaughter, by the amending Act XXIII of 1951, a total ban was imposed on the slaughter of " cows " which was then defined as including only a female calf of a cow and the slaughter of all other categories of animals coming within the original schedule ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... cable to them on three grounds, namely, that they offend the fundamental rights guaranteed to them by Arts. 14 ' 19(1)(g) and 25. Learned counsel appearing for the respondent States, of course, seek to support their respective enactments by controverting the reasons advanced by learned counsel for the petitioners. Bharat Go-Sevak Samaj, All India AntiCow-Slaughter Movement Committee, Sarvadeshik Arya pratinidhi Sabha and M. P. Gorakshan Sangh put in petitions for leave to intervene in these proceedings. Under Order XLI, rule 2, of' the Supreme Court Rules intervention is permitted only to the Attorney- General of India or the Advocates General for the States. There is no other express provision for permitting a third party to intervene in the proceedings before this Court. In practice, however, this Court, in exercise of its inherent powers, allows a third party to intervene when such third party is a party to some proceedings in this Court or in the High Courts where the same, or similar questions are in issue, for the decision of this Court will conclude the case of that party. In the present case, however, the peti- tioners for intervention are not parties to any proceed ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the Chapter on Fundamental Rights". Coming now to the arguments as to the violation of 4 the petitioners' fundamental rights, it will be convenient to take up first the complaint founded on Art. 25(1). That article runs as follows: " Subject to public order, morality and health and to the other provisions of this Part, all persons are equally entitled to freedom of conscience and the right freely to profess, practise and propagate religion". After referring to the provisions of el. (2) which lays down certain exceptions which are not material for our present purpose this Court has, in Ratilal Panachand Gandhi v. The State of Bombay (1) explained the meaning and scope of this article thus: " Thus, subject to the restrictions which this article imposes, every person has a fundamental right under our Constitution not merely to entertain such religious belief as may be approved of by his judgment or conscience but to exhibit hisbelief and ideas in such overt acts as are enjoinedor sanctioned by his religion and further to propagatehis religious views for the edification of others. Itis immaterial also whether the propagation is made by a person in his indiv ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... sacrifice on the Yd Kirban, or festival of the sacrifice, provided he be then possessed of Nisab and be not a traveller. The sacrifice established for one person is a goat and that for seven a cow or a camel. It is therefore, optional for a Muslim to sacrifice a goat for one person or a cow or a camel for seven persons. It does not appear to be obligatory that a person must sacrifice a cow. The very fact of an option seems to run counter to the notion of an obligatory duty. It is, however, pointed out that a person with six other members of his family may afford to sacrifice a cow but may not be able to afford to sacrifice seven goats. So there may be an economic compulsion although there is no religious compulsion. It is also pointed out that from time immemorial the Indian Mussalmans have been sacrificing cows and this practice, if not enjoined, is certainly sanctioned by, their religion and it amounts to their practice of religion protected by Art. 25. While the petitioners claim that the sacrifice of a cow is essential, the State denies the obligatory nature of the religious practice. The fact, emphasised by the respondents, cannot be disputed, namely, that many Mussalmans do ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... well established that while Art. 14 forbids class legislation it does not forbid reasonable classification for the purposes of legislation and that in order to pass the test of permissible classi- fication two conditions must be fulfilled, namely, (i) the classification must be founded on an intelligible differentia which distinguishes persons or things that are grouped together from others left out of the group and (ii) such differentia must have a rational relation to the object sought to be achieved by the statute in question. The classification, it has been held, may be founded on different bases, namely, geographical, or according to objects or occupations or the like and what is necessary is that there must be a nexus between the basis of' classification and the object of the Act under consideration. The pronouncements of this Court further establish, amongst other things, that there is always a presumption in favour of the constitutionality of an enactment and that the burden is upon him, who attacks it, to show that there has been a clear violation of the constitutional principles. The courts, it is accepted, must presume that the legislature understands and correctly a ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... them from those who kill goats and sheep and this differentia has a close connection with the object sought to be achieved by the impugned Act, namely, the preservation, protection and improvement of our livestock. The attainment of these objectives may well necessitate that the slaughterers of cattle should be dealt with more stringently than the slaughterers of, say, goats and sheep. The impugned Acts, therefore, have adopted a classification on sound and intelligible basis and can quite clearly stand the test laid down in the decisions of this Court. Whatever objections there may be against the validity of the impugned Acts the -denial of equal protection of the laws does not, prima facie, appear to us to be one of them. In any case, bearing in mind the presumption of constitutionality attaching to all enactments founded on the recognition by the court of the fact that the legislature correctly appreciates the needs of its own people there appears to be no escape from the conclusion that the petitioners have not discharged the onus that was on them and the challenge under Art. 14 cannot, therefore, prevail. Learned counsel for the petitioners then take their final stand on Art. ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... judicial to one or other of the three impor- tant matters specified therein. The effect of the execution of the orders was to deprive those persons of their liberty according to procedure established by law. Preventive detention, like punitive detention, having taken away the personal liberty of those persons they could not claim the rights under Art. 19(1)(a) to (e) and (g) for those were the rights of free men. It was, therefore, considered that the primary and direct object of the Preventive Detention Act, 1950, being, inter alia, to secure the security of the State and maintenance of law and order, its impact on the fundamental rights was indirect and, therefore, the Act could not be challenged for breach of the fundamental rights under Art. 19(1). The position in the cases now before us is quite different. The last part of the directive principles embodied in Art. 48 require the State to take steps for prohibiting the slaughter of the specified animals and this directive can only be carried out by prohibiting the petitioners and other butchers (Kasais) from. slaugh- tering them. There can be no mistake about the directness of these legislations vis-a-vis the petitioners and ot ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ill be useless for such purpose. The same considerations will apply to the guts. There is, therefore, no escape, say learned counsel for the petitioners from the inevitable conclusion that a total ban on the slaughter of all animals belonging to the species of bovine cattle will bring about a total prohibition of the business and occupation of the butchers (Kasais). Clause (6) of Art. 19, no doubt, protects the operation of the existing laws in so far as they impose and do not prevent the State from making any law imposing, in the interest of the general public, reasonable restrictions on the exercise of the right conferred by Art. 19(1)(g). But restrictions, they say, cannot extend to total prohibition and reference is made to the observations to be found in some of the decisions of this Court. The contention is that the State may regulate but cannot annihilate a business which a citizen has a right to carry on. The rival contention is thus formulated: The dictionary meaning of the word " butcher " is " slaughterer of animals for food, dealer in meat". It is one of the three well- known occupations included in the homely phrase, " the butcher, the baker, ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the import of foreign cloth or on the manufacture of cloth of very fine count is only a restriction imposed on the piece-goods business, for the ban affects one or more of the segments of that business but leaves the other segments untouched. There is, therefore, only some restriction imposed on piece- goods merchants in that they cannot deal in certain kinds of piece-goods, but they are not wholly prevented from carrying on piece-goods business. The position, they say, is the same in the case of butchers (Kasais). The butchers' business, they point out, has several segments and a ban on one segment may be complete prohibition of the activities of that segment, for restriction is complete as far as it extends, but in the larger context of the butchers' business such a ban, they submit, operates only as a restriction. Far less, it is said can a dealer in hides, complain that the ban imposed on the slaughter of cattle and buffaloes prevent him from, carrying on his, business as a hide merchant, for he call still carry on his business in ,fallen hides. Indeed the statistics collected in the Report of Marketing of Hides in India, Second Edition, p.9, show that the percentage of ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... of the several Acts under consideration, does not call for an answer in disposing of these petitions. The question that calls for an answer from us is whether these restrictions are reasonable in the interests of the general public. Clause (6) of Art. 19 protects a law which imposes in the interest of the general public reasonable restrictions on the exercise of the right conferred by sub cl. (g) of cl. (1) of Art. 19. Quite obviously it is left to the court, in case of dispute, to determine the reasonableness of the restrictions imposed by the law. In determining that question the court, we conceive, cannot proceed on a general notion of what is reasonable in the abstract or even on a consideration of what is reasonable from the point of view of the person or persons on whom the restrictions are imposed. The right conferred by sub-cl. (g) is expressed in general language and if there had been no qualifying provision like el. (6), the right so conferred would have been an absolute one. To the person who has this right any restriction will be irksome and may well be regarded by him as unreasonable. But the question cannot be decided on that basis. What the court has to do is to co ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... vement of the cow and her progeny. This solicitude (1) (1954] S.C.R. 587, 627. (2) [1954] S.C.R. 933, 949-950, (3) [1952] S.C.R. 889, 041. arises out of the appreciation of the usefulness of cattle in a predominantly agricultural society. Early Aryans recognised its importance as one of the most indispensable adjuncts of agriculture. It would appear that in Vedic times animal flesh formed the staple food of the people. This is attributable to the fact that the climate in that distant past was extremely cold and the Vedic Aryans had been a pastoral people before they settled down as agriculturists. In Rg. Vedic times goats, sheep, cows, buffaloes and even horses were slaughtered for food and for religious sacrifice and their flesh used to be offered to the Gods. Agni is called the " eater of ox or cow " in Rg. Veda (VIII. 43, 11). The staying of a great ox (Mahoksa) or a " great Goat " (Mahaja) for the entertainment of a distinguished guest has been enjoined in the Satapatha Brahmana (111. 4. 1-2). Yagnavalkya also expresses similar view (Vaj 1. 109). An interesting account of those early days will be found in Rg. Vedic Culture by Dr. A. C. Das, Ch. 5, pp. 203-5 ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... r age. The change of climate perhaps also make the use of beef food unnecessary and even injurious to health. Gradually cows became indicative of the wealth of the owner. The Neolithic Aryans not having been acquainted with metals, there were no coins in current use in the earlier stages of their civilisation, but as they were eminently a pastoral people almost every family possessed a sufficient number of cattle and 'some of them exchanged them for the necessaries of their life,. The value of cattle (Pasu)was, therefore, very great with the early Rg. Vedic Aryans. The ancient Romans also used the word pecus or pecu (pasu) in the sense of wealth or money. The English words, " Pecuniary " and " impecunious ", are derived from the Latin root pecus or pecu, originally meaning cattle. The possession of cattle in those days denoted wealth and a man was considered rich or poor according to the large or small number of cattle that he owned. In the Ramayana King Janaka's wealth was described by reference to the large number of herds that he owned. It appears that the cow was gradually raised to the status of divinity. Kautilya's Arthasastra has a special cha ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 2,0003,15,000 Young stock over 1 year. 93,05,00042,02,000 Young stock 1 to 3 years of age. 1,25,44,00052,83,000 Total 7,20,91,000 3,13,42,000 Grand total 15,63,16,000 4,33,44,000 As stated in the Report on the Marketing of Cattle in India issued by the Directorate of Marketing and Inspection, Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Government of India, 1956, the proportion of males in cattle is a little more than half of the total cattle population whilst in the case of buffaloes, females predominate and are about 3/4 of the total. For agricultural purposes male cattle are generally preferred for their comparative lightness and active nature. Of the total 39,57,000 unserviceable heads of cattle in India there were 5,35,000 in Bihar, 1,55,000 in Madhya Pradesh and 1,84,000 in Uttar Pradesh. Of the total 7,81,000 unserviceable buffaloes there were 1,20,000 in Bihar, 15,000 in Madhya Pradesh and 28,000 in Uttar Pradesh. Although, according to the census figures given above, our cattle wealth is, in number, the highest in the world the milk production is perhaps the lowest. According to the figures given in the Second Five Year Plan, at the beginning of the First Five Year Plan the milk outp ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ue, the total adult unit is calculated at 31,30,00,000. At the rate of 10 ounces of milk per adult per day we Would require 3,23,00,000 tons of milk per annum. It is clear, therefore, that in India, where a large section of tile population consists of vegetarians, there is a huge shortage in the supply of milk. Cows and other milch cattle, therefore, are of very great value to this country. If milk yielding capacity were the only consideration the comparatively smaller number of female buffaloes which produce 54% of the total milk supply of our country would obviously have deserved a far greater preference over the cows in our estimation. But, as pointed out by Pandit Thakurdas Bhargava, there is another important consideration which is perhaps more important from the standpoint of human food supply. It is the bullock that takes the largest share in meeting the power requirements for our agricultural production. Based perhaps on age old experience Indian agriculturists habitually prefer a cow bullock to a buffalo bullock. As a result of the evolutionary process of trial and error, we find in this country about 10 cow bullocks for every buffalo bullock as is shown by the 1951 census ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the cultivated area to meet the food requirements of the fast growing population, and in that case the deficit will go up still further. In Bihar, according to the Facts and Figures, 1956, the total number of animal population of the bovine species were:- Cattle Cows and oxen (adults) 1,15,64,310 Cows and oxen (young stock) 37,33,166 Buffaloes (adult) 23,78,293 Buffaloes (young stock) 9,37,582 The number of working cattle andbuffaloes works out to one for every 6 acres of net area under cultivation. It follows, therefore, that our working animals are perhaps just about sufficient to supply the power to keep our agricultural operations up to the necessary standard, but the demand for food is growing and more lands will have to be brought under cultivation and we shall require a far large number of these animals. There are in India, 6,50,000 breeding bulls and 3,10,000 breeding buffaloes. There are 4,63,40,000 breeding cows and 2,09,90,000 breeding buffaloes. According to the First Five Year Plan, 1). 274, approximately 750 farm bred bulls of known pedigree are distributed annually by the Government in different States for developing and improving the draught as well as the milch b ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... is cheaper than the artificial manures and is extremely useful. In short, the backbone of Indian agriculture is in a manner of speaking the cow and her progeny. Indeed Lord Linlithgow has truly said-" The cow and the working bullock have on their patient back the whole structure of Indian agriculture. " (Report on the Marketing of Cattle in India, p. 20). If, therefore, we are to attain sufficiency in the production of food, if we are to maintain the nation's health, the efficiency and breed of our Cattle population must be considerably improved. To attain the above objectives we must devote greater attention to the preservation, protection and improvement of the stock and organise our agriculture and animal husbandry on modern and scientific lines. We have, therefore, to examine the provisions of the impugned Acts and ascertain whether they help in achieving the said objectives, or are calculated to hinder that process. In that context all the considerations above alluded to must enter the judicial verdict and if the impugned Acts further the aforesaid purpose then only can the restrictions imposed by the impugned Acts be said to be reasonable in the interest of the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... o account as one Of the important factors in judging the reasonableness or otherwise of the said Acts. There is also no getting away from the fact that beef or buffalo meat is an item of food for a large section of the people in India and in particular of the State of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. Table 11 at p. 24 of the Report on the Marketing of Cattle in India shows that in the year 1948 the annual demand for cattle and buffaloes for purposes of food was: 1.8,93,000 heads of cattle and 6,09,000 buffaloes. These figures indicate that beef and buffalo flesh are used for food by a large section of the people in India. It is wellknown that poorer sections of Muslims, Christians and members of the Scheduled Castes and Tribes consume beef and buffalo flesh. There is also a limited demand for beef by the foreign population. Buffaloes yield comparatively coarse and tough meat of inferior quality and consequently the demand for beef is greater than that for buffalo flesh. Further the price of the buffalo flesh is 20 to 40% less than that of beef. The prices of beef and buffalo meat are much cheaper than that of mutton or goat's meat and consequently beef and buffalo flesh come within the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ale cattle was 12,02,000. Out of these there were in Bihar 2,93,000 male and2,42,000 female, in Madhya Pradesh 1,24,000 male and31,000 female and in Uttar Pradesh 1,63,000 male and 21,000 female. The unserviceable buffaloes in the whole of India, according to 1951 census, were 7,81,000 out of which 4,66,000 were males and 3,15,000 were females. Out of the total there were in Bihar 61,000 male buffaloes and 59,000 female, buffaloes, in Madhya Pradesh 10,000 male and 5,000 female, in Uttar Pradesh 16,000 male and 12,000 female. According, to the First Five Year Plan, p. 273, the overall estimates made by the Cattle Utilisation Committee show that about 10 % of the cattle population in India or roughly 1,14,00,000 adults were unserviceable or unproductive. The Report of the Cattle Preservation and Development Committee also put the figure of old, decrepit and unproductive cattle at 10% of the total population. Pandit Thakurdas Bhargava does not accept the correctness of these figures. It is difficult to find one's way out of the labyrinth of figures and it will be futile for us to attempt to come to a figure of unserviceable agricultural animals which may even be approximately cor ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 273 the quantity of fodder available is about 75% of requirements while available concentrates of feeds would suffice only for about 28 % of 1 the cattle. The, figures given at p. 24 of the report of the Gosamvardhan Enquiry Committee set up by, the Uttar Pradesh Government are interesting. The total cattle: and buffalo population in, Uttar Pradesh is estimated at 3,27,63,327. The scientific food requirements of this total population, according to, the Western standard, are: first set out. Then begins a: process of scaling down, for the above- scale is, considered to be somewhat lavish for our low sized village cattle. The Indian standard, according to this report, will, require much less and the figures, according to Indian standards, are next set out. Evidently these, figures also, show a, very big gap between, requirements and the available, quantities. So the report says that event, this may, be reduced and -what is significantly described as the " critical limit " is then set out. It is not quite intelligible why an Indian cow should not require even an Indian standard of ration. Be that as it may, even for the " critical limit " the quantity available is ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e Preservation and Development Committee set up by the Government of India in 1948 at p. 47 of its Report recommended, as a panacea for the evil menace of useless cattle, a scheme for the establishment of cattle concentration camp for the old and useless cattle. It is this scheme which subsequently came to be known by the name of Gosadans. At pp. 48 and 49 are set out the estimates of cost of establishing and running a camp to house 2,000 cattle. The non-recurring cost on land, cattle sheds, staff and servants' quarters is shown at ₹ 32,000 and the recurring cost, namely, salary of manager, stock-man, chaukidars. and others on the establishment together with allowances is shown at ₹ 13,000 per year and it is hoped that a sum of ₹ 5,000 will be derived from the sale of hides, manure, etc. According to the Report of the Expert Committee each Gosadhan housing 2,000 heads of cattle would have to have 4,000 acres of land which would permit of a rotational and controlled grazing practice and provision has to be made for the surplus grass during the rainy season to be preserved for the scarcity months. There should be thatched sheds for protection of the cattle again ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Kingdom and ₹ 223.7 per capita in the United States of America and our target for 1957-1958 works out at ₹ 5 per capita per annum. It will be noticed that in none of the schemes is even a pice provided for fodder. The idea evidently is that the cattle will be left there to fend for themselves on whatever grass or other green feed they can get by grazing. If one remembers that though green fodder may be available in the monsoon months, there will be a dearth, of them in the dry months, one will at once see that the segregating of the cattle in the concentration camp will only be to leave them to a fate of slow death. The very idea that these animals should eke out their livelihood by grazing and that Gosadans should be located in out of the way places, appeared to the authors of the Memorandum on Human Nutrition vis-a-vis Animal Nutrition at p. 47, to belie the humanitarian considerations on the basis of which the scheme was conceived. Theory apart, the Gosadan scheme has 'been tried and the result is not at all encouraging. The First Five Year Plan, obviously as an experimental measure, provided for the establishment of 160 Gosadans each housing 2,000 heads of cat ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... lic support or 75% subsidy from the Central Government. What has been the result of the experiment? According to the Report of the Expert Committee since the First Five Year Plan only 17 Gosadans had been started in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Pepsu, Coorg, Bhopal, Kutch, Vindhya Pradesh, Tripura and Saurashtra put together. Not even one of these 17 establishments is fully stocked. There are only about 5,293 animals in these 17 Gosadans instead of 34,000. According to the Gosamvardhan Enquiry Committee's Report, only two Gosadans had been established up to the date of that Report in Uttar Pradesh. The Second Five Year Plan (p. 283) shows that out of the 160 Gosadans for which provision had been made in the First Five Year Plan, only 22 Gosadans had been established. According to the Facts and Figures about Bihar, 1955, p. 88, three Gosadans had been established at Berwadih, Nirmali and Monghyr where there were about 700 uneconomic animals at that time instead of 6,000 which should have been there as per the estimated capacity for each Gosadan. What, in the view of the several committees, is the conclusion ? According to the Memorandum on Human Nutrition Vis-a-vis Animal Nutrition ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... constructive approach to the problem will be, to see that no useful animal is slaughtered and that the country's. resources are fully harnessed to produce better and more efficient cattle. Neither the First Five Year Plan nor -the Second Five Year Plan accepted the idea of a total ban on the slaughter of cattle. Indeed, according to the Second Five Year Plan, a total ban will help the tendency for the number of surplus cattle to increase and, in their view, a total ban on the slaughter of all cows, calves and other milch and draught cattle will defeat the very object of the directive principles embodied in Art. 48 of the Constitution. We find from para. 6 on p. 283 of the Second Five Year Plan that the Gosadan scheme did not make any, real or satisfactory progress and that altogether 22 Gosadans housing only 8,000 cattle had been established by the States up to the date of that document and even then many of the States had encountered difficulty in, securing the areas of land needed for their; operations. The Planning Commission considered that it would be impossible to establish enough of these Gosadans and they reached the conclusion that in defining the scope. of the ban on ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ear large and valuable herds and organise a system of balanced economy as far as agricultural development was concerned. Thus, while the country was producing enough grain for the requirement of the human population there was an adequate area available for plentiful grazing of animals, which, supplemented by fodder available from agricultural production, assisted in developing the types of quality animals required for the needs of the times and the area in question (Report of the Gosamvardhan Enquiry Committee). The position has considerably changed since then. There has been a large increase in human population and famines and epidemics having been largely brought under control, there has been an increase in the animal population also. Already there is a competition between man and the animal for the available land. The growing human population needs more food for which more land is required. The refugee problem has yet to be solved and sufficient land has to be found for settling the refugees therein. With organised facilities for artificial fertilisers and the introduction of scientific methods of cultivation agricultural production is expected to increase and the problem of foo ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... n the market and, therefore, the tendency of the butchers naturally is to slaughter young calves. This circumstance clearly warns us that calves, heifers and young castrated stock (cattle and buffalo) which will in future supply us milk and power for purposes of agriculture require protection. We also do not fail to bear in mind that for very good and cogent reasons cows also require protection. Cows give us milk and her progeny for future service. Unfortunately, however, the average milk yield of a cow, as already stated, is very much less than that of a she-buffalo. As the Gosamvardhan Enquiry Committee's Report points out, despite all the veneration professed for the cow, when it comes to the question of feeding, the she-buffalo always receives favoured treatment and the cow has to be satisfied with whatever remains after feeding the she-buffaloes, bullocks, and calves in order of priority. The growth of cities and heavy demand for milk in the urban areas have contributed to the slaughter of good stock. For want of space no freshly calved animal can be brought in without getting rid of one that had gone dry. Salvage facilities not being available or, if available, being unec ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... lturist or other owner to part with the breeding bulls or working bullocks (cattle and. buffalo) as long as they are serviceable. For their sheer usefulness and their high market value as breeding or working animals the breeding bulls and working bullocks, as long as they are fit, are, to the agriculturists, worth more than the price of their flesh in gold. There can hardly be any inducement for maiming valuable animals which, as breeding bulls or working animals, can at any time fetch from the agriculturists a price higher than what the maimed ones will fetch from the butchers. The breeding bulls and working bullocks (cattle and buffaloes) do not, therefore, require as much protection as cows and calves do. The next question is as to what should be the scope of the ban on the slaughter of animals. One view is that the slaughter of all animals (cattle and buffaloes) of all categories should be regulated by the State and that animals below a specified age or not suffering from some natural deformity should not be allowed to be slaughtered. Drastic and stringent regulations have been imposed by municipal laws and have been tried but experience shows that they are not sufficient at l ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... o) after they cease to be capable of yielding milk or of breeding or working as draught animals cannot be supported as reasonable in the interest of the general public. We now proceed to test each of the impugned Acts in the light of the aforesaid conclusions we have arrived at The Bihar Act, in so far as it prohibits the slaughter of cows of all ages and calves of cows and calves of buffaloes, male and female, is valid. The Bihar Act makes no distinction between she-buffaloes, bulls and bullocks (cattle and buffaloes) which are useful as milch or breeding or draught animals and those which are not and indiscriminately prohibits slaughter of she-buffaloes, bulls and bullocks (cattle and buffalo) irrespective of their age or usefulness. In our view the ban on slaughter of she-buffaloes, breeding bulls and working bullocks (cattle. and buffalo) which are useful is reasonable but of those which are not useful is not valid. The question as to when a she-buffalo, breeding bull or working bullock (cattle and buffalo) ceases to be useful and becomes useless and unserviceable is a matter for legislative determination. There is no provision in the Bihar Act in that behalf. Nor has our atte ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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