Muslim business chamber demands ban on beef export

Aligarh, July 31 (IANS) The Muslim Chamber of Industries and Commerce here Thursday demanded that beef export should be stopped immediately while buffalo meat export must be contained.

The demand was made in a resolution unanimously passed at its meeting here. In another resolution, the MCCI suggested steps be taken to increase production and export of milk and milk based products.

"Animals have a very special and holy place in our culture and religious ethos but with passage of time and globalization we expanded our meat export including of beef export which has not only affected our culture but has also hurt our religious sentiments," said MCCI director Jasim Mohammad, while chairing a meeting on "Meat Export Analysis".

He said latest research and findings indicated that though the country was earning handsome foreign exchange through meat exports, but it was heavily losing on domestic and cultural fronts. "We therefore need to increase milk and milk based products export and stop exporting beef while containing export of buffalo meat."

India earned Rs.21,000 crore in foreign exchange by exporting 1,089 million tons meat in 2012-13 but that resulted in decreasing milk production which came down at 134.5 million tons last year though is expected to be 140.6 million ton this year. Hence there is dire need to minimize meat export, Jasim said.

SAM Infra Constructions director Farhat Ali Khan said India was a multi-religious country and the majority of Indians not only worshipped animals like cows but were also against meat consumption.

"Sometimes due to unchecked animal butchering, communal tension develops and communal harmony is negatively affected," he observed.

Vision Academia Publications director Razaullah Khan said that unchecked butchering of animals, particularly cows, was also affecting ecology and environment. "It is also affecting fertility of our lands. The government should contain meat export in national interest to balance the environment."

Dental Association Secretary Naseem Ashraf observed that cow dung fertilizer is the best for cultivation "but due to galloping beef exports, our farmers have been deprived of that". "Hence the government should review meat export policies," he said.