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Animal life Devalued - Promoting export of meat will kill livestock-driven farming
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May 25, 2012, 3:24:58 AM5/25/12
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Animal life Devalued
By Anuradha Dutt
Op-Ed
The Pioneer
Friday, May 25, 2012
Promoting export of meat will kill livestock-driven
farming
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi recently expressed
concern at the Centre's 'pink revolution' -- encouraging
exports of meat -- describing it as an anti-farmer
policy. This is because livestock is diverted from
farming to slaughter houses. The blame must first fall on
the British, who began the practice. In fact, they
changed the traditional farming system for pecuniary
reasons. Under the Permanent Settlement Act, 1793, first
implemented in Bengal and then in other parts, landowners
set fixed revenue targets by the colonial administrators,
shifted to plantation farming of crops such as cotton and
indigo in place of food grains. This led to famines in
the 19th century.
Cultivators were under greater pressure to meet the
zamindars' demands. If the revenue target was not met,
the land was auctioned off, ruining both owners and
peasants. The system created a powerful fiefdom of kulaks
that still exists. It altered India's agrarian economy,
which was self-sustaining, primarily grew food grains,
vegetables and fruits, reared livestock and engaged in
organic farming by using animal dung, urine and manure as
fertilisers, and plant and cattle derivatives as
pesticides. Emphasis shifted to cash crops, and during
the Green Revolution, synthetic fertilisers and
pesticides. This increased the debt burden on the
farmers.
Livestock-driven farming was ruined by the promotion of
the meat, bones and leather industries by the British,
with butchering of cattle, goat, sheep, pigs, fowls and
other creatures acquiring institutional status, and
mechanised slaughter houses being set up. Later, tractors
and machines further made cattle redundant among better-
off farmers. The age-old ethos of compassion was
completely repudiated, with free India's leaders
continuing with the meat policy. Many people, overcoming
food taboos and religious tenets against wanton killing,
took to slaughter and commerce in meat.
The constitutional directive for a countrywide ban on cow
slaughter was never implemented though some States did
impose a ban. A Supreme Court order in 1958, dismissing a
plea by some Patna butchers that cow slaughter was a
religious duty under Islam, had allowed slaughter of
impotent bulls but prohibited killing of cows and calves
on economic grounds. It said, "Cattle in India has three-
fold uses, firstly providing milk for consumption,
secondly for draught purposes; and, finally, as provider
of manure for agriculture. Dung is cheaper than chemical
fertilisers and extremely useful. In short, the cow and
bullock are the back boneof India."
However, livestock continued to be diverted to slaughter
houses to feed the thriving meat export, leather and
derivatives industries. Modern India developed a culture
of non-vegetarian food, sharply at variance with its pre-
Raj past. Under Muslim rulers, most Hindus, barring the
heterodox, shunned flesh and eggs. And cow slaughter was
forbidden by many sultans out of respect for Hindu
sentiments.
Emperor Akbar was said to be so very impressed by Jain
tenets that he forbade killing of animals and fish, and
eating of flesh for six months in a year. Foreign
travellers testified to the general avoidance of flesh.
JT Wheeler quoted John Fires (1678-81) on Hindu food
habits in his British History under Mughal Rule, "Hindus
eat fruits, vegetables, roots and rice. But they do not
eat meat, fish and eggs."
In his Indian History, Part II, Wheeler quoted the late
13th century Venetian Marco Polo's Testimony, "In the
entire country spreading from Cape Camorin to the
Koromandal coast in the east which was earlier known as
Maula Pradesh and which is the area inhabited by the
Tamil speaking people; and from there the entire area up
to the Bay of Bengal, which is inhabited by the Telugu
speaking Telangs; no one except the Parihars (pariahs)
ate beef or meat. All these people worship cows and
bullocks. They do not slaughter any animal. Hence, if any
traveller wishes to eat flesh of goats, he has to carry
with him as servant a Syrian for doing the job of a
butcher."
Much before, the Chinese Buddhist monks Fa Hien in the
fifth century and Hsuang-tsang in the seventh century
recorded the absence of violence against animals and
consumption of flesh, or, as Fa Hien noted, even liquor.
The British made meat-eating and drinking socially
acceptable. They requisitioned the services of some
pliant natives. A book by Pandurang Kane, a Bombay
advocate, postulated that beef was consumed in the Vedic
age. Raja Rajendralal Mitra of Bengal in 1872 brought out
an essay, Beef in Ancient India. He was awarded a
doctorate by his masters for his effort. He later
expanded this into a book, Indo-Aryan, published in 1877.
Bengal, as the seat of the Raj, provided the most fertile
ground for such ideas to take root. Left-hand tantrik
tradition condoned the consumption of flesh and liquor.
'Beef-eating clubs' sprouted, with English-educated
natives readily breaking food taboos. If not beef, they
ate other flesh and eggs and freely drank alcohol. The
ethos spread throughout India as a mark of modernity.
Mohammed Ali Jinnah, Pakistan's founding father, and the
Nehrus, all anglicised, relished both beef and pork.
Krishna Hutheesing, Pandit Nehru's youngest sister,
recalled in We Nehrus, published in 1967, "Our lunch was
always of the British style and that is why we always
used to have lunch in a hotel because only the British
lunch included beef and pork. If beef and pork were to be
brought into the home, our mother and Muslim servants
would have felt bad."
The genesis of the pink revolution lies in such
devaluation of animal life, with unfortunate consequences
for farmers.
More at:
http://dailypioneer.com/columnists/item/51677-animal-life-devalued.html
Jai Maharaj, Jyotishi
Om Shanti
o o o
About the terrorist Goon Squad:
"Myself, Mallu. Yourself?" (V. Bhattathiri)
<KalluM...@gmail.com> tries his best to be a bully --
telling others what and when to post, where to post and
where not to post, deliberately publishing lies about
others, stalking and abusing them with hate speech -- but
fails miserably. He is really stressed out, and like his
lap dog Prem Thomas (who currently posts as "P. Rajah"
<us...@this.com>, and issues *death threats* to people),
is priming himself for conditions such as stroke and
heart disease. Others in the Goon Squad include
Dayashankar M. Joshi "DMJoshi" <jos...@gmail.com> who
displays unquestioning obedience to Goon Squad thugs, and
the instigator who posts as "Bholu" <bh...@hotmail.com
The Goon Squad currently posts most of their abuse
through eternal-september.org and by writing someone
else's name or handle in the "From:" header -- their
favorite now is "fana...@gmail.com" (note the extra "b"
and "gmail.com") to make it appear as if the posts are
from "fan...@aol.com", who has been a regular poster for
many years. -Updated on February 2, 2012-
o o o
o Not for commercial use. Solely to be fairly used
for the educational purposes of research and open
discussion. The contents of this post may not have been
authored by, and do not necessarily represent the opinion
of the poster. The contents are protected by copyright
law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
o If you send private e-mail to me, it will likely
not be read, considered or answered if it does not
contain your full legal name, current e-mail and postal
addresses, and live-voice telephone number.
o Posted for information and discussion. Views
expressed by others are not necessarily those of the
poster who may or may not have read the article.
FAIR USE NOTICE: This article may contain copyrighted
material the use of which may or may not have been
specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This
material is being made available in efforts to advance
the understanding of environmental, political, human
rights, economic, democratic, scientific, social, and
cultural, etc., issues. It is believed that this
constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material
as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law.
In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the
material on this site is distributed without profit to
those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving
the included information for research, comment,
discussion and educational purposes by subscribing to
USENET newsgroups or visiting web sites. For more
information go to:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml
If you wish to use copyrighted material from this article
for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you
must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
Since newsgroup posts are being removed by forgery by one
or more net terrorists, this post may be reposted several
times.
By Anuradha Dutt
Op-Ed
The Pioneer
Friday, May 25, 2012
Promoting export of meat will kill livestock-driven
farming
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi recently expressed
concern at the Centre's 'pink revolution' -- encouraging
exports of meat -- describing it as an anti-farmer
policy. This is because livestock is diverted from
farming to slaughter houses. The blame must first fall on
the British, who began the practice. In fact, they
changed the traditional farming system for pecuniary
reasons. Under the Permanent Settlement Act, 1793, first
implemented in Bengal and then in other parts, landowners
set fixed revenue targets by the colonial administrators,
shifted to plantation farming of crops such as cotton and
indigo in place of food grains. This led to famines in
the 19th century.
Cultivators were under greater pressure to meet the
zamindars' demands. If the revenue target was not met,
the land was auctioned off, ruining both owners and
peasants. The system created a powerful fiefdom of kulaks
that still exists. It altered India's agrarian economy,
which was self-sustaining, primarily grew food grains,
vegetables and fruits, reared livestock and engaged in
organic farming by using animal dung, urine and manure as
fertilisers, and plant and cattle derivatives as
pesticides. Emphasis shifted to cash crops, and during
the Green Revolution, synthetic fertilisers and
pesticides. This increased the debt burden on the
farmers.
Livestock-driven farming was ruined by the promotion of
the meat, bones and leather industries by the British,
with butchering of cattle, goat, sheep, pigs, fowls and
other creatures acquiring institutional status, and
mechanised slaughter houses being set up. Later, tractors
and machines further made cattle redundant among better-
off farmers. The age-old ethos of compassion was
completely repudiated, with free India's leaders
continuing with the meat policy. Many people, overcoming
food taboos and religious tenets against wanton killing,
took to slaughter and commerce in meat.
The constitutional directive for a countrywide ban on cow
slaughter was never implemented though some States did
impose a ban. A Supreme Court order in 1958, dismissing a
plea by some Patna butchers that cow slaughter was a
religious duty under Islam, had allowed slaughter of
impotent bulls but prohibited killing of cows and calves
on economic grounds. It said, "Cattle in India has three-
fold uses, firstly providing milk for consumption,
secondly for draught purposes; and, finally, as provider
of manure for agriculture. Dung is cheaper than chemical
fertilisers and extremely useful. In short, the cow and
bullock are the back boneof India."
However, livestock continued to be diverted to slaughter
houses to feed the thriving meat export, leather and
derivatives industries. Modern India developed a culture
of non-vegetarian food, sharply at variance with its pre-
Raj past. Under Muslim rulers, most Hindus, barring the
heterodox, shunned flesh and eggs. And cow slaughter was
forbidden by many sultans out of respect for Hindu
sentiments.
Emperor Akbar was said to be so very impressed by Jain
tenets that he forbade killing of animals and fish, and
eating of flesh for six months in a year. Foreign
travellers testified to the general avoidance of flesh.
JT Wheeler quoted John Fires (1678-81) on Hindu food
habits in his British History under Mughal Rule, "Hindus
eat fruits, vegetables, roots and rice. But they do not
eat meat, fish and eggs."
In his Indian History, Part II, Wheeler quoted the late
13th century Venetian Marco Polo's Testimony, "In the
entire country spreading from Cape Camorin to the
Koromandal coast in the east which was earlier known as
Maula Pradesh and which is the area inhabited by the
Tamil speaking people; and from there the entire area up
to the Bay of Bengal, which is inhabited by the Telugu
speaking Telangs; no one except the Parihars (pariahs)
ate beef or meat. All these people worship cows and
bullocks. They do not slaughter any animal. Hence, if any
traveller wishes to eat flesh of goats, he has to carry
with him as servant a Syrian for doing the job of a
butcher."
Much before, the Chinese Buddhist monks Fa Hien in the
fifth century and Hsuang-tsang in the seventh century
recorded the absence of violence against animals and
consumption of flesh, or, as Fa Hien noted, even liquor.
The British made meat-eating and drinking socially
acceptable. They requisitioned the services of some
pliant natives. A book by Pandurang Kane, a Bombay
advocate, postulated that beef was consumed in the Vedic
age. Raja Rajendralal Mitra of Bengal in 1872 brought out
an essay, Beef in Ancient India. He was awarded a
doctorate by his masters for his effort. He later
expanded this into a book, Indo-Aryan, published in 1877.
Bengal, as the seat of the Raj, provided the most fertile
ground for such ideas to take root. Left-hand tantrik
tradition condoned the consumption of flesh and liquor.
'Beef-eating clubs' sprouted, with English-educated
natives readily breaking food taboos. If not beef, they
ate other flesh and eggs and freely drank alcohol. The
ethos spread throughout India as a mark of modernity.
Mohammed Ali Jinnah, Pakistan's founding father, and the
Nehrus, all anglicised, relished both beef and pork.
Krishna Hutheesing, Pandit Nehru's youngest sister,
recalled in We Nehrus, published in 1967, "Our lunch was
always of the British style and that is why we always
used to have lunch in a hotel because only the British
lunch included beef and pork. If beef and pork were to be
brought into the home, our mother and Muslim servants
would have felt bad."
The genesis of the pink revolution lies in such
devaluation of animal life, with unfortunate consequences
for farmers.
More at:
http://dailypioneer.com/columnists/item/51677-animal-life-devalued.html
Jai Maharaj, Jyotishi
Om Shanti
o o o
About the terrorist Goon Squad:
"Myself, Mallu. Yourself?" (V. Bhattathiri)
<KalluM...@gmail.com> tries his best to be a bully --
telling others what and when to post, where to post and
where not to post, deliberately publishing lies about
others, stalking and abusing them with hate speech -- but
fails miserably. He is really stressed out, and like his
lap dog Prem Thomas (who currently posts as "P. Rajah"
<us...@this.com>, and issues *death threats* to people),
is priming himself for conditions such as stroke and
heart disease. Others in the Goon Squad include
Dayashankar M. Joshi "DMJoshi" <jos...@gmail.com> who
displays unquestioning obedience to Goon Squad thugs, and
the instigator who posts as "Bholu" <bh...@hotmail.com
The Goon Squad currently posts most of their abuse
through eternal-september.org and by writing someone
else's name or handle in the "From:" header -- their
favorite now is "fana...@gmail.com" (note the extra "b"
and "gmail.com") to make it appear as if the posts are
from "fan...@aol.com", who has been a regular poster for
many years. -Updated on February 2, 2012-
o o o
o Not for commercial use. Solely to be fairly used
for the educational purposes of research and open
discussion. The contents of this post may not have been
authored by, and do not necessarily represent the opinion
of the poster. The contents are protected by copyright
law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
o If you send private e-mail to me, it will likely
not be read, considered or answered if it does not
contain your full legal name, current e-mail and postal
addresses, and live-voice telephone number.
o Posted for information and discussion. Views
expressed by others are not necessarily those of the
poster who may or may not have read the article.
FAIR USE NOTICE: This article may contain copyrighted
material the use of which may or may not have been
specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This
material is being made available in efforts to advance
the understanding of environmental, political, human
rights, economic, democratic, scientific, social, and
cultural, etc., issues. It is believed that this
constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material
as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law.
In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the
material on this site is distributed without profit to
those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving
the included information for research, comment,
discussion and educational purposes by subscribing to
USENET newsgroups or visiting web sites. For more
information go to:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml
If you wish to use copyrighted material from this article
for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you
must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
Since newsgroup posts are being removed by forgery by one
or more net terrorists, this post may be reposted several
times.
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