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Ban on Beef: Should it be or should be not

By Uday Dandavate | PUBLISHED: 05, Mar 2015, 15:04 pm IST | UPDATED: 05, Mar 2015, 15:07 pm IST

Ban on Beef: Should it be or should be not The Indian president has approved a bill which bans the slaughter of cows and the sale and consumption of beef in the western state of Maharashtra. Anyone found breaking the law will face a fine and up to five years in prison. Even possessing beef, which will now be considered as contraband. I am sure various governments around the world will soon issue travel advisory to their citizens traveling to Mumbai, Pune or any other cities in Maharashtra to not expect a steak in the menu or some of the more delicious beef recipes from Goa and from Kerala during their stay in Maharashtra.

In the year 2010 I attended a conference in California organized by the Ahimsa Center. In that conference one of the speakers made a compelling argument for turning vegetarian. Ecological arguments presented for avoiding of meat were very compelling.

At home while my wife is a vegetarian my daughter and I eat meat. With the presence of a vegetarian member of the house, the merits of Satvik food are often discussed in our household. However, I must confess it would be very difficult for me to give up eating meat, even if my rational mind appreciates the logic presented to me.

The initiative taken by the Devendra Fadanavis government will please many who both for religious and for ecological reasons would like to see slaugher of animals curtailed or completely stopped. However, cutting across religious sensitivities or ecological commitment, there are also many like me who would argue against a government ban on meat consumption. Coming from a government headed by the Sangh Parivar, the decision smacks more of religious interference in governance and assertion of orthodox Hindu (especially Brahminical) ways of life on a multi-cultural population. I therefore oppose this law.

I am very sure that opponents of this bill will present economical rationale for supporting the beef industry as well. I consider the decision about what we should eat is a matter of personal choice. Until this point I have kept myself open about the new young Chief Minister of Maharashtra. I believe he can lead Maharashtra in a progressive direction if he chooses to listen to the aspirations of his generation, rather than succumb to the pressures of his mentors from the Sangh Parivar.