New Rules Against Animal Cruelty Raise The Stake For India's Beef Wars
The rules ban cattle sale for slaughter at livestock markets and come at a time of escalating tensions between Hindu extremists and beef-eating minorities. They could also hurt India's beef exports.
Walk through any meat market in India, and you'll see chickens cooped up in tiny cages, squished together in their own waste. Carcasses of goats hang from hooks at butcher shops, as the next goats wait in line for their fate.
So when India's Ministry of Environment issued new rules recently about animal cruelty in livestock markets, much of it was welcome. For example, the ministry said animal markets needed to have water and fodder, veterinarian services and humane modes of transportation.
But one section of the new rules has set off a firestorm about people's right to eat what they want, state rights and religion. It also threatens
