Soon after assuming office of the Chief Minister of Uttarakhand, Trivendra Singh Rawat averred that the State Government will work to effectively implement the Cow and its Progeny Protection Act on the ground. This and other factors had given rise to expectation of proactive work by the state government regarding the prohibition of illegal cow slaughter and animal welfare. The fact that Rawat also took some decisions and actions during his tenure handling the Agriculture and Animal Husbandary portfolios during the term of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led State Government in the past has given some hope to animal rights activists and animal lovers that the present state government might actually work towards effective implementation of existing laws when it comes to animal welfare issues.
It should be mentioned here during the term of the earlier BJP-led State Government, the Uttarak Protection of Cow Progeny Act 2007 was formed with clear intentions but failed to have the desired effect for some years. Initially, there were glaring anomalies in the Hindi and English versions of this Act which had been ignored by the authorities, making the Act a convenient aid for those actually violating regulations which ban cow slaughter in Uttarakhand. Seeking clarifications for these major anomalies, the People For Animals Uttarakhand member secretary and the Uttarakhand Gau Seva Aayog member Gauri Maulekhi had submitted an application to the Vidhan Sabha public information officer under the Right to Information Act on February , 2011. It was then revealed that the section 11(2) of the Uttarakhand Gau Sanrakshan Adhiniyam 2007 stated that any person guilty of an offence under sub section (1) of section 6, will be punishable with any type of imprisonment for a term which may extend upto three years and with a minimum fine of Rs 2,000 which may extend upto Rs 2,500. However according to the section 11(2) of the English version of this Act, any person guilty of an offence under sub section (1) of section 6, was liable for punishment with imprisonment for a term which may extend upto three years and with a minimum fine of Rs 200 which may extend upto Rs 2.50. Soon the Uttarakhand Animal Welfare Board secretary sent a letter to the Animal Husbandry secretary requesting necessary action to facilitate corrections in the Act. The necessary corrections were made but activists point out that the desired effect on the theft, smuggling and illegal slaughter of cows and buffaloes has not been achieve yet through effective implementation of the Act.
At present, in his capacity as the chief minister of Uttarakhand, Rawat has elicited some hope among animal lovers that the Act will become an effective tool instead of being relegated to official formality. Talking to The Pioneer, Maulekhi said, “As the Animal Husbandry Minister, Trivendra Singh Rawat, had brought in regulation of cattle markets which was instrumental in curbing cattle smuggling. Rawat also has a profound understanding of the worth and value of cattle and we are extremely hopeful that under his leadership, we will be able to successfully link gaushalas to organic farming as proposed in the path breaking Dry Dairy model invented in Uttarakhand during his regime as the animal husbandary minister. The Dry Dairy Model has now even been endorsed and accepted by the Indian Council for Agricultural Research and we hope that Uttarakhand will be the first state to uniformly and consistently implement it in the state,” she added.
It is pertinent to mention here that according to animal welfare a activists, up to 10,000 cows and buffaloes are smuggled every month from various parts of Uttarakhand for illegal slaughter in parts of the state and in the neighbouring state of Uttar Pradesh.
It now remains to be seen whether chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat is able to do the needful to stop the smuggling and illegal slaughter of bovines and buffaloes.