Cow vigilantism disrupts India's economy: Report

By Riyaz ul Khaliq

ANKARA (AA) - Cow vigilantism has hurt India’s economy under the current ruling party, according to a new Human Rights Watch (HRW) report.

"Vigilante attacks by cow protection groups and stricter laws on cow slaughter and transportation of cattle have disrupted India’s cattle trade and the rural agricultural economy, as well as leather and meat export industries that are linked to farming and dairy sectors," says the report.

Since coming to power at the national level in 2014, right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) members have "increasingly used communal rhetoric" spurring a violent vigilante campaign against beef consumption and those deemed linked to it, the report argued.

Cows are considered sacred under Hinduism.

According to a report by IndiaSpend, a Mumbai-based data-journalism initiative, cow slaughter has been prohibited in 84 percent of India’s states and union territories as of March 2017, accounting for 99.38 percent of the country’s population.

The HRW report details 11 vigilante attacks that killed 14 people.

Families of cow vigilante victims have been able to make some progress towards justice with the support of lawyers and activists, the HRW report said, though adding that many do not pursue their complaints for fear of "retribution."

"India is the largest beef exporter in the world, exporting buffalo meat worth about US$4 billion a year. However, after the BJP government came to power in 2014, exports have mostly declined,” it said.

The report underlined that while the country registered $4.78 billion worth of buffalo beef exports during the 2014-15 fiscal year -- the highest since 2010 -- growth had declined by more than 26 percent.

"Thereafter, the quantum of exports has hovered around $4 billion, declining 3.93% in 2016-17 and growing by a smaller 3.06% in 2017-18," it said.

The report identifies that the leather industry is a major foreign exchange earner for India which produces nearly 13 percent of the world’s total leather. India has an annual revenue of over $12 billion -- nearly half of which are exports -- and provides employment to about three million people, 30 percent of whom are women.

Citing a 2017 economic survey by the Indian government, it said New Delhi admitted that "despite having a large cattle population, India’s share of cattle leather exports is low and declining due to limited availability of cattle for slaughter in India."

It stressed that Muslims and Dalits -- individuals formerly belonging the lowest rung of society according to the country’s now-banned caste system -- were "disproportionately affected" by the laws, policies, and unlawful attacks harming cattle-related industries.

"The resulting policies are harming entire communities, particularly farmers and laborers," said the report.