All India Kisan Sabha urges centre to buy useless cattle

NEW DELHI: The All India Kisan Sabha has urged the government to buy infirm cows from poor farmers at market price and shelter them at state facilities if cattle trade were to be completely banned.

As an alternative, the farmers’ group wants the government to pay cultivators compensation so that they could feed and look after the animals until they died. The Left-leaning farmers’ association claimed that a complete ban would effectively mean a 30% fall in farming incomes. The Sabha, which claims to have more than 17 million members across India, had filed a petition at the apex court, and intends to keep its demands before the government whenever a rule change is debated.

The Centre had notified two sets of rules in May, virtually banning any trade in cattle, to check illegal slaughter.

The old rules had mandated both the buyer and the seller to carry certificates stating that the cattle would not be slaughtered before trading them in designated animal markets for agricultural purposes.