The increasing trend of legal penalty for abandonment will backfire
Bruised by anti-cow slaughter laws and widespread vigilantism, farmers simply don’t want cows around. This means tactical abandoning, with decreasing options to trade unproductive cattle. But several states, including Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana and Rajasthan, have formed laws to penalise such abandonment too.
Stray cattle has become a menace in villages as well as towns in several areas, to the extent that some states have taken to levying cess to put them in shelters. The prevalence of such instances is proportional to restrictions and violence related to the cow. Many attribute the current phase of cattle abandonment to trade restrictions.
* In MP, abandoning cows is a punishable offence; districts collectors are authorised to book cow owners. Its legislature has debated over the menace and widespread crop damages in drought-prone areas like Bundelkhand
* In Haryana, abandoning a cow can draw a penalty of Rs 5,100. Its effort to be the first stray cattle-free state included a plan to send the bovines to MP.
* Recently UP Chief Minister Adityanath ordered district collectors to act against those abandoning cattle after citizens locked up stray cattle inside government premises. His government has allocated Rs 11 crore to every municipal corporation to manage stray cattle and formed a committee under the chief secretary to evolve a financial package.
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