With India Beef Ban, no one could eat a beef steak in the country, sell and even possess as it could land you in jail for five years and may have cost you a fine of $162. India Beef Ban bill has been signed as pursued by the Western state of Maharashtra, India's one of the most populous state.
India Beef Ban known as Maharashtra Animal Preservation bill has been passed as early as 1995 by the Hindu union but was not tackled for a period of 20 years under the governing Indian National Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party.
On Monday, India's president, Pranab Mukherjee approved the bill clearing that cow slaughtering is completely prohibited in the country. "Our dream of ban on cow slaughter becomes a reality now," Devendra Fadnavis, Maharashtra's chief minister, wrote on Twitter.
India Beef Ban does not only ban slaughtering of cows, but also bulls and bullocks. Water buffaloes are exempted under the signed bill. Sale and slaughtering of cows are strictly against the belief of India's Hindu majority making the signed bill the answer for the rising cow export.
India is the second highest importer of cows in the world next to Brazil. Muslims, the minority group (13 percent) in the country control beef trade making India Beef Ban bill a tighter issue between the two large religious groups. Beef trade has become the point of argument especially during the nation's elections.
With the beef ban now in implementation, more traders and businessmen react negatively as they look forward in challenging the bill. They say there will be more jobless in the nation. Another restaurant owner in Delhi says that beef menu will be missed by their foreign customers.
Beef export in India provides the nation's income of $4 billion yearly making it the top agricultural export after basmati rice, BBC says. After India Beef Ban bill has been approved, critics say that cows will be left with the farmers as they feed them until they die.
At the night it India Beef Ban bill has been approved, it became viral on Twitter creating hashtags #BeefBan on its top trending chart. One poked fun by saying that one can get a two-year term in jail by drunk driving or man slaughtering, but eating beef could sentenced you for five years.
