NEW DELHI, APRIL 4: Alarm bells have begun ringing in the Ministry of External Affairs after a heap of old shoes greeted visitors to the Indian Consulate in San Francisco early this week in protest against cruel cattle slaughtering practices in India.In London, the Indian High Commission is battling an avalanche of letters, from vegetarians to animal rights activists, after a media blitz in the U.K. on the barbaric way in which cows are treated before they are killed in India.Spearheaded by the international animal rights group, People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), the protests show all signs of snowballing into a major controversy. A documentary film beamed on BBC World, showing the more gruesome details, of how cows are jampacked into railway wagons, how chillis are rubbed into the eyes and anus of the hapless animals on their way to slaughterhouses in Kerala, has not just animal rights activists, but even ordinary viewers up in arms.Not just that, some 15 independent teams of film makers are reportedly in the country making films on the treatment meted out to cows and other milch animals in India.The MEA is now seeking answers on why such practices continue, and the reasons are not hard to find. In a letter to External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh, the Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment Maneka Gandhi has expressed her helplessness in getting the different arms of government to take any action to put a stop to both the illegal traffic of cattle, their transportation by the railways or the strict implementation of the laws governing prevention of cruelty to animals.For over two years the Ministry of Social Justice has been demanding that the Indian Railways put a stop to the transportation of cattle by rail wagons, since it cannot ensure that the animals are transported in a humane manner.Gandhi has taken up the matter both with Mamata Banerjee, the Railways Minister, and earlier with Banerjee's predecessor, Nitish Kumar, pointing out that if railway officials could not find time to certify the status of cattle in railway wagons, then NGOs were willing to pitch in.But the Railways has merely brushed off the issue, claiming that they are only carriers of consignments, and that the Railways cannot restrict the transportation of cattle by rail.Most of the movement of cows are from Rajasthan and Punjab to West Bengal, from where the cows are smuggled into Bangladesh, where the cattle are slaughtered.Cow slaughter is banned all over India, except in Kerala, and transportation of cows is illegal. But every day, some 30,000 cows from neighbouring Tamil Nadu and Karnataka are driven into Kerala to be killed.Attempts by Gandhi to rope in the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, also drew a nought.A move to tighten the provisions of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960, was recently discussed in the Cabinet, but the amendments are awaiting final approval by the Prime Minister's Office.With major retail chains like GAP, Banana Republic and Old Navy cancelling their orders of Indian leather, shoes, garments and finished goods, a concerted campaign as is being planned by the animal rights activists will deal a blow to India's standing as the world's second largest exporters of leather goods.
