PM SVANIDHI

1. Context

2. Why was this scheme rolled out?

• The COVID-19 pandemic and the nationwide lockdown left daily wage workers and street vendors out of work.
• The scheme aims at aiding the vendors in getting back on their feet financially.
• In the long term, it aims at establishing a credit score for the vendors as well as creating a digital record of their socio-economic status, so that they can avail of the central government schemes later.
• The scheme also attempts to formalize the informal sector of the economy and provide them with safety nets and a means of availing loans in the future.

3. Who is a street vendor?

• Any person engaged in vending of articles, goods, wares, food items, or merchandise of daily use or offering services to the public in a street, footpath, pavement, etc., from a temporary built-up structure or by moving from place to place.
• The goods supplied by them include vegetables, fruits, ready-to-eat street food, tea, pakodas, bread, eggs, textile, apparel, artisan products, books/stationary, etc. and the services include barber shops, cobblers, pan shops, laundry services, etc.

4. What is the rationale of the scheme?

• The COVID-19 pandemic and consequent lockdowns have adversely impacted the livelihoods of street vendors.
• They usually work with a small capital base, which they might have consumed during the lockdown.
• Therefore, credit for working capital to street vendors will be helpful to resume their livelihoods.

5. What are the objectives of the scheme?

• To incentivize regular repayment of loans; and 
• to reward digital transactions.

6. What are the salient features of the scheme?

• Initial working capital of up to 10,000/-
• Interest subsidy on timely/early repayment @ 7%.
• Monthly cash-back incentive on digital transactions
• Higher loan eligibility on timely repayment of the first loan

7. Eligibility criteria of the beneficiaries

• The Scheme is available to all street vendors engaged in vending in urban areas *. The eligible vendors will be identified as per the following criteria:
• Street vendors in possession of a Certificate of Vending / Identity Card issued by Urban Local Bodies (ULBs);
• The vendors, who have been identified in the survey but have not been issued a Certificate of Vending / Identity Card; a Provisional Certificate of Vending would be generated for such vendors through an IT-based Platform. ULBs are encouraged to issue such vendors the permanent Certificate of Vending and Identification Card immediately and positively within one month.
• Street vendors left out of the ULB-led identification survey or who have started vending after completion of the survey and have been issued a Letter of Recommendation (LoR) to that effect by the ULB/ Town Vending Committee (TVC); and 
• The vendors of surrounding development/peri-urban/ rural areas vending in the geographical limits of the ULBs have been issued a Letter of Recommendation (LoR) to that effect by the ULB/TVC.

• The list of vendors, prepared by certain States/ UTs, for providing one-time assistance during the period of lockdown; OR
• A system-generated request was sent to ULBs/ TVCs for the issue of LoR based on the recommendation of the Lender after verifying the credentials of the applicant; OR
• The membership details with the vendor's associations including the National Association of Street Vendors of India (NASVI)/ National Hawkers Federation (NHF)/ Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) etc.; OR (iv) The documents in possession of the vendor buttressing his claim of vending; OR (v) Report of local inquiry conducted by ULB/ TVC involving Self-Help Groups (SHGs), Community-Based Organizations (CBOs), etc. ULB shall complete the verification and issuance of LoR within 15 days of the submission of the application. 
• Further, ULBs may adopt any other alternate way for identifying such vendors to ensure that all the eligible vendors are positively covered.
• vendors who have gone back to their native places due to COVID-19 Some of the identified/surveyed or other vendors who have been vending/hawking in urban areas have left for their native places before or during the lockdown period because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Such vendors are likely to come back after the situation normalizes and resume their business. 

7. Why is such a study needed?

• The scheme plans to extend the microcredit to over 50 lakh street vendors across India, which is the estimated number of hawkers as per various urban local bodies.
• But, going beyond the mandate of this scheme, the government wants to use the data for comprehensive poverty alleviation.
• However, there is hardly any comprehensive structured data on the socio-economic profile of street vendors and the street vending economy in India, even in government surveys like the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) and the Economic Survey.
• The NSSO, for instance, has defined street vendors through a category of “enterprises without fixed premises” among “Unincorporated Non-Agricultural Enterprises (excluding construction)”, in its 67-68th round report published in 2011- 12. 
• The NSSO data estimated that around 200,000 women and 21,500 children were engaged in street vending. Around 1.18 million households were dependent on this sector as their primary source of income, according to a paper by the think-tank Observer Research Foundation.
• Non-governmental organizations and research by scholars have attempted to put together this kind of data several times in the past in bits and pieces.

8. Will this scheme actually work towards poverty alleviation?

• Becoming formal beneficiaries of various government schemes works as a big step towards entering the policy intervention network.
• Officials say it also helps in financial mainstreaming in the long run.
• For example, several banks, bereft of the prior experience of extending loans as little as Rs. 10,000 to someone like a street vendor, are following processes like checking the CIBIL score for the street vendor and seeking PAN card and IT-return, etc.
• While these cases are dealt with as hurdles on the ground, it is a fact that street vendors hardly have creditworthiness in the eyes of India's formal banking system.
• Therefore, the PMSVANidhi is incentivizing digital transactions by street vendors. They will soon be given QR codes to receive payments through the government’s BHIM UPI app.
• They are given cash back for digital transactions too. The idea is that with a trail of digital transactions against their names, they will create a formal transaction history in banks and will slowly build their creditworthiness for the future. 

For Prelims: PM Street Vendor’s AtmaNirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi) scheme, Urban Local Bodies (ULBs), National Association of Street Vendors of India (NASVI)/ National Hawkers Federation (NHF)/ Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA), Self-Help Groups (SHGs),  Letter of Recommendation (LoR), National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) and BHIM UPI. For Mains:1. What is the PM SVANidhi scheme and explain the rationale of the scheme. Discuss how it will help in the alleviation of poverty(250 words).

Source: The Indian Express

INDO-US COOPERATION IN AGRICULTURE

1. Introduction 

• The United States and the likes of Rockefeller and Ford Foundation played in India's agricultural development during the 1950s and 1960s.
• This involvement through the establishment of agricultural universities and the Green Revolution, the US for strengthening the global strategic partnership between the two countries.

2. The first Agricultural University

• In 1950, Major H.S. Sandhu, who led the reclamation of Uttar Pradesh's Tarai region and the state's Chief Secretary A.N. Jha visited the US and saw the land-grant universities there.
• These institutions, set up on public land, engaged in agricultural education as well as research and extension activity.
• This was unlike the agricultural and veterinary colleges in India that merely taught and produced graduates.
• Research and extension (training farmers in adopting scientific cultivation practices) were largely left to the state agricultural departments.
• As a result, a US land-grant model agricultural university which integrated teaching, research and extension was established in the densely-forested Tarai area near the Himalayan foothills, being reclaimed and converted for farming.
• Such as the university would provide an environment more conducive to learning, purposeful and problem-solving research and knowledge dissemination to farmers.
• The state government made available 14, 255 acres of land and in December 1958 passed the UP Agricultural University Act.
• The UP Agricultural University was inaugurated by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru on November 17, 1960.

 

3. Relationship with US land-grant universities

 

• Hannah's blueprint was published by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and circulated to interested state governments.
• It led to as many as eight agricultural universities coming up within eight years, mostly at the initiative of the chief ministers themselves.
• Tarai was predominantly refugees from West Punjab's canal colonies who knew the benefits the Lyallpur Agricultural College had brought to the lands, now in Pakistan.
• All eight universities received the US Agency for International Development’s assistance for the training of faculty and the provision of equipment and books.
• Each was further linked to a US land-grant institution, whose specialists were involved in curriculum design and putting in place research and extension systems in the new universities.
• The universities were to have their research farms, regional stations and substations, and seed production facilities (G.B. Pant University, from 1969, also began marketing its seeds under the ‘Pantnagar’ brand).

4. The Seeds of the Green Revolution 

• Traditional wheat and rice varieties were tall and slender. They grew vertically on the application of fertilizers and water, while lodging (bending over or even falling) when their ear-heads were heavy with well-filled grains.
• The Green Revolution entailed breeding semi-dwarf varieties with strong stems that did not lodge.
• These could tolerate high fertilizer application. The more the inputs (nutrients and water), the more the output (grain) is produced.

In 1949, an American Biologist S.C. Salmon stationed in Japan under US occupation after World War II identified a wheat variety developed at an experimental station there. Called "Norin-10", its plants grew to only 2-2.5 feet, as against the 4.5 -5 feet height of traditional tall varieties. Salmon took Norin-10's seeds and gave them to Orville Vogel, a wheat breeder at the Washington State University, Pullman.

 

• Vogel crossed Norin-10 with locally-grown US winter wheat. From those crosses, one variety giving 25% higher grain yields was selected in 1956 and released as ‘Gaines’. Vogel also shared the seeds of Norin-10 and his original crosses with Norman Borlaug, working with the Rockefeller Foundation in Mexico.
• Borlaug, in turn, crossed these with the spring wheat grown in Mexico.
• By 1960-61, many varieties incorporating the Norin-10 dwarfing genes in a spring wheat background were released.

5.1. Seeds came to India

• Around 1957-58, M.S. Swaminathan, then a barely 33-year-old scientist at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) in New Delhi, saw a paper on the Norin-10 genes by Vogel in the American Agronomy Journal.
• He wrote to Vogel for the seeds of ‘Gaines’. Vogel responded but noted that ‘Gaines’, being winter wheat, wouldn’t flower in Indian conditions.
• He directed him to Borlaug, whose spring wheats containing the dwarfing genes were better suited for the country.
• Swaminathan got in touch with Borlaug, who came to India only in March 1963, following a request placed to the Rockefeller Foundation.
• He sent the seeds of four Mexican wheat varieties bred by him were first sown in the trial fields of IARI and the new agricultural universities at Pantnagar and Ludhiana.
• By 1966-67, farmers were planting these on a large scale and India, from being an importer, turned self-sufficient in wheat.
• Much of its wheat imports earlier, ironically, came from the US under its Public Law 480 food aid programme.

6. Reasons for the US Help India

• Borlaug’s International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) in Mexico was primarily funded by the Rockefeller Foundation.
• The latter, along with the Ford Foundation also supported the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines.
• Both institutions contributed significantly to trebling and quadrupling grain yields, even as India, by the seventies and early eighties, had built a robust indigenous crop breeding programme thanks to investments in the ICAR and state agricultural universities system.
• The Cold War geopolitics and great-power rivalry of those times. It resulted in competition to do good, extending to “fighting world hunger” and sharing of knowledge and plant genetic material that was viewed as “global public goods”.
• India, contrary to popular perception, wasn’t aligned to either bloc at least till the sixties.
• The strategy of “non-alignment” paid off then, just as “multi-alignment” is today.
  
  

For Prelims: Green Revolution, India-USA relations, Soviet Union, ICAR, Cold War, non-alignment, Ford Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, IARI, Agricultural University, Norin-10,  For Mains: 1.  Discuss the seed of the Green Revolution in India. Explain the Indo-us relationship in Agriculture. (250 Words)

 

Previous Year Questions   1. Which one of the following most appropriately describes the nature of Green Revolution of the late sixties of 20th century? (BPSC 64TH CCE 2018) A. Intensive cultivation of green vegetable B. Intensive agriculture district programme C. High-yielding varieties programme D. Seed-Fertilizer-Water technology E. None of the above/More than one of the above   Answer: E   2. Green revolution is related to _________. (SSC MTS 2019)  A. Production of milk B. Production of jute C. Production of coffee D. Production of wheat   Answer: D   3. The Soviet Union broke down in the year _______. (SSC GD 2019) A. 1991 B. 1880 C. 2000 D. 1900   Answer: A   4. The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) was first reorganized in: (MP Patwari 2017)  A. 1956 B. 1965 C. 1969 D. 1972 Answer: B

 

Source: The Indian Express

22ND LAW COMMISSION ON SEDITION LAW

 

1. Context

Nearly a year after the Supreme Court stayed the operation of the sedition law, the Law Commission of India has recommended that the provision be retained with procedural safeguards and enhanced jail terms.

2. What exactly has the Commission said?

• The 88-page report by the present or the 22nd Law Commission of India, headed by former Karnataka High Court Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi stated that the commission had received a reference from the Ministry of Home Affairs in March 2016, for a study of the usage of the sedition law and suggest amendments, if any.
• The Commission, however, took up this reference in November 2022, a few months after the Supreme Court bench, headed by then Chief Justice of India N V Ramana, stayed the penal provision in May 2022.
• By ruling that “it will be appropriate not to continue” with the offense of sedition till the government reviewed the provision, the Supreme Court while testing the constitutionality of Section 124A of the Indian Penal Code had raised the bar for the government to invoke the provision.
• Although the court did not explicitly stay the provision-no criminal law in force has never been stayed by the court and it virtually stalled the operation of the provision.

3. What is Sedition Law?

• Sedition was incorporated into the Indian Penal Code (IPC) in 1870. It is defined as any action that brings or attempts to bring contempt or hatred toward the government of India.
• Sedition cases are punishable with a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. It categorizes four sources of seditious acts-spoken words, written words, signs, and visible representations.
• It is classified as 'cognizable' (No need of a Court warrant to arrest the person ) and a 'non-bailable' and 'non-compoundable' offense.

4. What has been the history of sedition Law in India?

• Sedition laws were first enacted in 17th-century England. Later it was inserted into IPC in 1870.
• The section was introduced initially to deal with increasing Wahabi activities between 1863 and 1870. These activities posed a challenge to the colonial government.
• Some of the most famous sedition trials of the 19th and early 20th centuries involved Indian nationalist leaders.
• The first among them was the trial of Jogendra Chandra Bose in 1891. He was the editor of the newspaper, Bangabasi.
• He wrote an article criticizing the Age of Consent Bill for posing a threat to the religion and for its coercive relationship with Indians.
• It was also used to prosecute Bal Gangadhar Tilak (for his writings in Kesari) in 1897. The other well-known case was the sedition trial of Mahatma Gandhi in 1922.
• Gandhi had called sedition 'the prince among the political sections of the IPC designed to suppress the liberty of the citizen.

5. Law commissions recommendations on Sedition

• The Commission recommended three changes to the law on sedition. These are
• First, the report asked to include the ratio of the Kedar Nath ruling into the provision by adding the words "with a tendency to incite violence or cause public disorder." The report also defines the tendency to incite violence.
• Second, the report suggests enhancing the imprisonment for sedition to "remove an oddity.'' One of the criticisms against the provision is that it leaves judges with wide discretion on sentencing.
• Section 124A has a jail term of up to three years or life imprisonment. This means that the judges either held imprisonment for life or held imprisonment for up to three years only, but nothing in between.
• The Law Commission has now proposed enhancing the jail term to up to seven years of life imprisonment.
• The 42nd Law Commission report, in 1971, recommended that the minimum punishment be only five.
• Third, to prevent misuse of the law, the report suggested including procedural safeguards.

6. What are the reasons given by the committee to retain the sedition law?

• To safeguard the unity and integrity of India: The report cited threats to India's internal security, including Maoist extremism, militancy and ethnic conflict in the northeast, terrorism in Jammu Kashmir, and other secessional activities. These necessitate retaining the law on sedition.
• Reasonable restriction: The commission justified criminalizing sedition as it is a reasonable restriction under Article 19(2) of the Constitution (which deals with restrictions on the right to freedom of speech, assembly, etc. under Article 19(1).
• Realities differ in every jurisdiction: Britain and many other colonial countries outlawed Sedition but that does not mean India should outlaw it too. This is because a) the courts of competent jurisdictions like the US, the UK, etc. had their own history, geography, population, diversity, laws, etc which are not compatible with Indian circumstances and b) they have merged their sedition law with counter-terror legislation.
• Existence of counter-terror legislation: One of the arguments made in favor of repealing the law on sedition is that there are several counter-terror legislations that could adequately take care of threats against the state. Where anti-terror legislation can be invoked for acts that threaten national security, sedition is frequently invoked to punish political speech or actions. However, the Law Commission simply states that the existence of anti-terror legislation does not by“implication cover all elements of the offense and envisaged under Section 124A of IPC.” 
• Sedition being a colonial legacy: The Commission also refuted the argument that the sedition law must be repealed since it is an arcane law that has an imprint of colonial legacy and is a law that was used by the British against Indian freedom fighters. Last year, the Supreme Court also made the observation that the provision may be outdated for a democratic republic.

 

For Prelims: Sedition Law, Section 124A, 22nd Law Commission of India, Article 19(2) of the Constitution, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Mahatma Gandhi, Indian Penal Code (IPC). For Mains: 1. What are the Law Commissions' recommendations on sedition? Discuss the reasons given by the committee to retain the sedition law.

Previous year Questions

1. With reference to Rowlatt Satyagraha, which of the following statements is/are correct? (UPSC 2015) 1. The Rowlatt Act was based on the recommendations of the 'Sedition Committee'. 2. In Rowlatt Satyagraha Gandhiji tried to utilize the Home Rule League. 3. Demonstrations against the arrival of the Simon Commission coincided with Rowlatt Satyagraha. Select the correct answer using the code given below. A. 1 only B. 1 and 2 only C. 2 and 3 only D. 1, 2 and 3 Answer: B

Source: The Indian Express

RAM PRASAD BISMIL

 

1. Context

On his 126th birth anniversary, we remember Ram Prasad Bismil, whose words and actions have inspired generations of Indians. 

2. About Ram Prasad Bismil

• Ram Prasad Bismil was born on June 11, 1897, in Shahjahanpur district, UP.
• Revolutionary activities: He actively fought against British Raj and participated in notable events like the Manupuri Conspiracy of 1918 and the Kakori Train Action of 1925.
• Founding of the Hindustan Republican Association: Bismil established the Hindustan Republican Association (HRA, later known as the Hindustan Socialist RA) and played a pivotal role in the organization.
• Sacrifice and execution: Bismil was hanged for his revolutionary activities on December 19, 1927, at the age of 30.

3. Early Life and Arya Samaj Connections

• Born into a Rajput Tomar family, Ram Prasad Bismil learned Hindi from his father and Urdu from a maulvi who lived nearby.
• He also went to an English medium school in Shahjahanpur. His exposure to multiple languages would develop his instincts as a writer and poet at a very early stage in his life. 
• Furthermore, during his childhood, Arya Samaj was becoming an influential organization in north India.
• He joined the Arya Samaj and became a prolific writer and poet, penning patriotic verses in Hindi and Urdu under pen names like ‘Agyat’, ‘Ram’, and the one that is most known-‘Bismil’ (meaning ‘wounded’, ‘restless’).
• At the age of only 18, he penned the poem Mera Janm (My Birth), venting out his anger over the death sentence handed out to Arya Samaj missionary Bhai Parmanand. 
• After graduating from school, Bismil got involved in politics. However, he would soon be disillusioned by the so-called moderate wing of the Congress Party.
• Bismil was not willing to “negotiate” or “beg” for his country’s freedom – if the British did not accede, he was willing to take it by force, as one of his most famous poems, Ghulami Mita Do illustrates. 
• To achieve his ends, he started a revolutionary organization called Matrivedi (The Altar of the Motherland) and joined forces with fellow revolutionary Genda Lal Dixit.
• Dixit was well-connected with the dacoits of the state and wanted to utilize them in the armed struggle against the British. 
• In 1918, Bismil wrote arguably his most famous poem, Mainpuri ki Pratigya, which was distributed across the United Provinces in pamphlets, bringing him the adulation of nationalist locals and notoriety with the British.
• That year, in order to collect funds for his fledgling organization, her carried out at least three instances of looting at government offices in the Mainpuri district.
• A massive manhunt was launched and Bismil was located. What followed was a dramatic shootout at the end of which Bismil jumped into the Yamuna River and swam underwater to escape. 

4. Founding the Hindustan Republican Association

• After being underground for several years, Bismil returned to Shahjahanpur in February 1920.
• Bismil, along with Ashfaqullah Khan, Sachindra Nath Bakshi, and Jogesh Chandra Chatterjee, founded the Hindustan Republican Association. Later, Chandra Shekhar Azad and Bhagat Singh joined the organization.
•  Bismil played a significant role in penning the manifesto titled “Krantikari,” which was officially released on January 1, 1925. The manifesto called for an organized and armed revolution to establish a federal Republic of the United States of India.

5. Manipur Conspiracy

• Bismil became disillusioned with the moderate wing of the Congress Party and rejected negotiation or appeasement with the British.
• Bismil established the revolutionary organization Matrivedi and collaborated with Genda Lal Dixit, who had connections with dacoits and sought to utilize them in the armed struggle.
• Bismil’s famous poem, “ Manipuri Ki Pratigya” was widely distributed in pamphlets across the United Provinces. He carried out acts of looting to gather funds for his organization.

6. Kakori Train Conspiracy

• The Kakori Train Action aimed to rob a train carrying treasury bags between Shahjahanpur and Lucknow.
• On August 9, 1925, around ten revolutionaries, including Bismil and Ashfaqullah Khan, stopped the train at Kakori station, overpowered the guard, and looted the treasury bags containing approximately Rs 4,600.
• The action drew both British outrage and mixed responses from the Indian public. The misfiring of a gun resulted in the accidental killing of a passenger, Ahmad Ali, dampening public support. Subsequently, a violent crackdown led to the arrest of most involved, excluding Chandrashekhar Azad.

7. Death and Legacy

• After an eighteen-month-long trial, Bismil, Ashfaqullah, and Rajendranath Lahiri were sentenced to death. The sentence was carried out on December 19, 1927. Ram Prasad Bismil was just 30 years old when he died.
• Bismil’s poetry continues to inspire and his call for Hindu-Muslim unity serves as a symbol of communal harmony. He is remembered for his revolutionary spirit and deep concern for society, justice, and equality.
• Today, Ram Prasad Bismil has also become a symbol of communal harmony due to
  his close friendship with fellow revolutionary poet Ashfaqullah Khan. In his last
  letter, written just before his hanging, Bismil made an enduring call for Hindu-Muslim unity in the service of the nation.

For Prelims: Ram Prasad Bismil, Arya Samaj, Hindustan Republican Association (HRA), Manipur Conspiracy, Kakori Train Conspiracy, Matrivedi (The Altar of the Motherland), Chandrashekhar Azad, Ashfaqullah, and Rajendranath Lahiri.

 Source: The Indian Express

KARNATAKA'S COW SLAUGHTER BAN

1. Context 

The Karnataka Prevention of Slaughter and Preservation of Cattle Act, 2020, which was brought into force by the previous government, to impose a near-total ban on cow slaughter in the state, is at the centre of controversy again, now that the newly formed government is making a move to withdraw the law.

 

2. About Karnataka Prevention of Slaughter and Preservation of Cattle Act, 2020

• The law came into force in 2021 after being passed in the state legislative assembly and council amid objections by the opposition parties.
• It is a stringent law to restrict the slaughter of all forms of cattle in the state.
• The 2020 law repealed and replaced the less stringent Karnataka Prevention of Cow Slaughter and Cattle Preservation Act, of 1964 which has been in the state since then.
• While the 1964 law banned the killing of “any cow or calf of she-buffalo” it allowed the slaughter of bullocks, and male or female buffalos if certified by a competent authority to be above the age of 12 years, incapacitated for breeding, or if deemed sick.
• Under the Karnataka Prevention of Slaughter and Preservation of Cattle Act, 2020, cattle have been designated as “cow, calf of a cow and bull, bullock and he or she buffalo” and their slaughter is banned.
• The only exemptions are buffaloes above the age of 13 years and certified by a competent authority, cattle used in medical research, cattle certified for slaughter by a veterinarian to prevent the spread of disease and very sick cattle.
• The new law has also increased punishment for breaking the law, to the range of three to seven years of jail, or fines ranging from Rs 50,000 to Rs 5 lakh or both.
• As per the 1964 law, the maximum punishment was for a period of up to six months of imprisonment and a fine of up to Rs 1000.
• The new law also prescribes punishments for the illegal transport of cattle, sale of meat and purchase or disposal of cattle for slaughter namely, a prison term of three to five years, and a fine of Rs 50,000 to Rs 5 lakh.

3. Reasons for the introduction of the law

• The ban on cattle slaughter has been a prominent demand of the RSS, the VHP and others.
• These groups have viewed cattle especially the cow in a religious rather than an agrarian context.
• Between 2008 and 2013 the Karnataka Prevention of Slaughter and Preservation of Cattle Bill, 2010.
• The 2010 law however did not receive the assent of the Governor, and the Congress party, which came to power in 2013 reverted to the less stringent 1964 law, which allowed cattle slaughter on a limited basis especially those classified as being old, sick or unproductive on farms.
• In December 2020, the government tabled and passed the Karnataka Prevention of Slaughter and Preservation of Cattle Bill, 2020 in the state assembly while the opposition walkout. 

It is considered necessary to repeal the Karnataka Prevention of Cow Slaughter and Cattle Preservation Act, 1964 to prohibit the slaughter of cattle and for the preservation and improvement of the breeds of cattle and to endeavour to organize agriculture and animal husbandry in terms of Article 48 of the constitution of India by enacting comprehensive legislation.

 

• In February 2021, the bill was passed by the legislative council.

4. Repercussions of the 2020 Law

• The agrarian economy has been majorly impacted by the 2020 law, especially in southern Karnataka, where cattle is an integral part of livelihood in terms of dairy farming and agriculture.
• Farmers have been up in arms over the ban on cattle slaughter, and there have been widespread complaints in the farming communities that the ban on cattle slaughter has deprived farmers of alternatives when cattle fall sick or turn unmaintainable.
• Traditional cattle markets have been slowly shutting down and there were few merchants to buy cattle.
• Moreover, there have also been incidents of rightwing cow vigilantes who are granted immunity under the new law taking the law into their own hands to prevent the transportation of cattle for slaughter to states such as Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

For Prelims: Cow Slaughter Ban, RSS, Karnataka Prevention of Cow Slaughter and Cattle Preservation Act, of 1964

Source: The Indian Express