Recently, the honorable government has made a move to plug some loop holes in the existing Law to prevent the slaughtering of cows. This attempt was met with a protest by the Bangalore University PG and PhD Students' Association on Thursday, 18th Feb, 2010 by cooking and eating beef, right there on Jnanabharathi campus.
Kranti and other Animal Rights organization support the position of absolute and complete abolition of all unnecessary cruelty towards all sentient beings which resonates with the verdict of Honorable High Court of Allahabad in Mohd. Habib & Ors. V. State of U.P. & Ors. (Writ Petition 38469 of 1994): The Court is of the view that the Constitution of India does not permit any citizen of claim that it is his fundamental right to take life and kill animals. A butcher may have his profession, but he cannot claim it as a fundamental right by the Constitution. Otherwise, it will be a negation of the tenets of our Constitution. The Constitution of India has a Chapter on Fundamental Duties. This is Chapter IV-A. Article 51A(g) ordains "compassion for living creatures".
This display of inhumanity was justified by the Bangalore University PG and PhD Students' Association with unlawful and sophistic arguments that eating is one of their basic 'rights', and the government shouldn't interfere with one's eating habits.
"We don't want the government to implement the ban on cow slaughter. All these years, there has been no problem, now how has this become an issue?" asked Mohan Das.
"We eat beef. We decide whether we want to continue or not. Who are they (government?) to decide?" etc.
In short, some people hold an opinion that eating sentient beings is their fundamental "right" and that no one should interfere with their "right". This line of reasoning is flawed at a level of multiple dimensions as will be highlighted below.
Kranti and other Animal Rights organization support the position of absolute and complete abolition of all unnecessary cruelty towards all sentient beings which resonates with the verdict of Honorable High Court of Allahabad in Mohd. Habib & Ors. V. State of U.P. & Ors. (Writ Petition 38469 of 1994): The Court is of the view that the Constitution of India does not permit any citizen of claim that it is his fundamental right to take life and kill animals. A butcher may have his profession, but he cannot claim it as a fundamental right by the Constitution. Otherwise, it will be a negation of the tenets of our Constitution. The Constitution of India has a Chapter on Fundamental Duties. This is Chapter IV-A. Article 51A(g) ordains "compassion for living creatures".
This display of inhumanity was justified by the Bangalore University PG and PhD Students' Association with unlawful and sophistic arguments that eating is one of their basic 'rights', and the government shouldn't interfere with one's eating habits.
"We don't want the government to implement the ban on cow slaughter. All these years, there has been no problem, now how has this become an issue?" asked Mohan Das.
"We eat beef. We decide whether we want to continue or not. Who are they (government?) to decide?" etc.
In short, some people hold an opinion that eating sentient beings is their fundamental "right" and that no one should interfere with their "right". This line of reasoning is flawed at a level of multiple dimensions as will be highlighted below.
A) LAW:
As mentioned above in a citation to the verdict of the Honorable High Court of Allahabad and also of Chapter IV-A. Article 51A(g)...It shall be the fundamental duty of every citizen of India to ... have compassion for all living creatures.
(This, in spirit, exempts fruits and vegetables because as per our current understanding of Science, no Central Nervous System has ever been isolated in the Plant Kingdom and it is an accepted scientific result that plants are incapable of suffering and emotional and/or physical pain)
(This, in spirit, exempts fruits and vegetables because as per our current understanding of Science, no Central Nervous System has ever been isolated in the Plant Kingdom and it is an accepted scientific result that plants are incapable of suffering and emotional and/or physical pain)
B) ETHICS:
Oxes and Cows are highly sensitive and intelligent creatures who have all the basic needs that humans and other such animals possess. They enjoy their families, nurture, suckle and raise their young. It is a violation of their fundamental rights and an act of crime against nature to have their families broken and their lives prematurely terminated in an inhumane manner for food, clothing or otherwise.
They argue that eating animals (cow) is a matter of personal opinion or choice, but we disagree - this is not about your opinion versus our opinion, this is about animal suffering. You can't discuss your "personal choice" of eating animals and cows while leaving animals completely out of the equation.
They argue that eating animals (cow) is a matter of personal opinion or choice, but we disagree - this is not about your opinion versus our opinion, this is about animal suffering. You can't discuss your "personal choice" of eating animals and cows while leaving animals completely out of the equation.
C) RELIGION:
When people get married, they refer to their in-laws as father and mother, even though they are not their biological father and mother. Same is true for adopted human children. In the same spirit, all of us have consumed the milk of a cow at one stage of our life or another and its our moral, legal and spiritual duty to show an attitude of gratitude towards these humble and noble creatures. If we take something from somebody, we must also give something back. This is an acceptable social norm. Keeping this in mind, the murder of Cows and Oxen is forbidden by all religions:
He who slayeth a cow is the same as he that killeth a man; he who sacrificeth a lamb is the same as he who slayeth a dog. Yea, they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delighteth in their abominations. - Isaiah 66:3, The Holy Bible
A good deed done to an animal is as meritorious as a good deed done to a human being, while an act of cruelty to an animal is as bad as an act of cruelty to a human being. - The Prophet Muhammad sal-Allaahu `alayhe wa sallam
...Beef is disease. - The Prophet Muhammad sal-Allaahu `alayhe wa sallam
The highest religion is to rise to universal brotherhood; and to consider all creatures your equals. - Guru Nanak
For the sake of love of purity, the Bodhisattva should refrain from eating flesh, which is born of semen, blood, etc. For fear of causing terror to living beings let the Bodhisattva, who is disciplining himself to attain compassion, refrain from eating flesh...It is not true that meat is proper food and permissible when the animal was not killed by himself, when he did not order others to kill it, when it was not specially meant for him. Again, there may be some people in the future who...being under the influence of the taste for meat will string together in various ways sophistic arguments to defend meat eating. But...meat eating in any form, in any manner, and in any place is unconditionally and once for all prohibited...Meat eating I have not permitted to anyone, I do not permit, I will not permit. - Lord Buddha, Lankavatara Sutra
All breathing, existing, sentient creatures should not be slain, nor treated with violence, nor abused, nor tormented, nor driven away. This is the pure unchangeable Law. Therefore, cease to injure sentient beings. - Mahavira, Yogashastra
It is forbidden, according to the law of the Torah, to inflict pain upon any living creature. On the contrary, it is our duty to relieve the pain of any creature, even if it is ownerless or belongs to a non-Jew. - The Code of Jewish Law
He who desires to augment his own flesh by eating the flesh of other creatures lives in misery in whatever species he may take his birth. - Mahabharat
He who slayeth a cow is the same as he that killeth a man; he who sacrificeth a lamb is the same as he who slayeth a dog. Yea, they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delighteth in their abominations. - Isaiah 66:3, The Holy Bible
A good deed done to an animal is as meritorious as a good deed done to a human being, while an act of cruelty to an animal is as bad as an act of cruelty to a human being. - The Prophet Muhammad sal-Allaahu `alayhe wa sallam
...Beef is disease. - The Prophet Muhammad sal-Allaahu `alayhe wa sallam
The highest religion is to rise to universal brotherhood; and to consider all creatures your equals. - Guru Nanak
For the sake of love of purity, the Bodhisattva should refrain from eating flesh, which is born of semen, blood, etc. For fear of causing terror to living beings let the Bodhisattva, who is disciplining himself to attain compassion, refrain from eating flesh...It is not true that meat is proper food and permissible when the animal was not killed by himself, when he did not order others to kill it, when it was not specially meant for him. Again, there may be some people in the future who...being under the influence of the taste for meat will string together in various ways sophistic arguments to defend meat eating. But...meat eating in any form, in any manner, and in any place is unconditionally and once for all prohibited...Meat eating I have not permitted to anyone, I do not permit, I will not permit. - Lord Buddha, Lankavatara Sutra
All breathing, existing, sentient creatures should not be slain, nor treated with violence, nor abused, nor tormented, nor driven away. This is the pure unchangeable Law. Therefore, cease to injure sentient beings. - Mahavira, Yogashastra
It is forbidden, according to the law of the Torah, to inflict pain upon any living creature. On the contrary, it is our duty to relieve the pain of any creature, even if it is ownerless or belongs to a non-Jew. - The Code of Jewish Law
He who desires to augment his own flesh by eating the flesh of other creatures lives in misery in whatever species he may take his birth. - Mahabharat
D) NUTRITION AND HEALTH
Eating meat has been linked with various types of heart diseases and cancers. Countries with the largest consumption of meat have heart diseases and cancers as their top two killers. Health care industry in U.S.A is a one trillion dollar industry. Unless we want India to emulate this pattern of sickness, we must encourage people to stick to a plant based diet only.
E) ENVIRONMENT
Having a system in place that gives people the "right" to eat animals at a global level is ridiculously taxing on the environment. To funnel our food supply through the animals means growing more food than we need and this means greater destruction of the rain-forests and pollution of the water bodies and air. Consider the following facts to evaluate the second-hand damage for non-meat eaters.
Environmental violations by the meat industry add up to a rap sheet longer than War and Peace. - Sierra Club in their 2002 report on animal factories
A meat-fed world now appears a chimera. World grain production has grown more slowly than population since 1984, and farmers lack new methods for repeating the gains of the green revolution. Supporting the world's current population of 5.4 billion people on an American-style diet would require two-and-a-half times as much grain as the world's farmers produce for all purposes. A future world of 8 billion to 14 billion people eating the American ration of 220 grams of grain-fed meat a day can be nothing but a flight of fancy. - Durning, Alan B. & Brough, Holly, Worldwatch Institute
Water consumption (University of California Agriculture Extension)
1 pound of lettuce: 23 gallons
1 pound of tomatoes: 23 gallons
1 pound of potatoes: 24 gallons
1 pound of wheat: 25 gallons
1 pound of carrots: 33 gallons
1 pound of apples: 49 gallons
1 pound of chicken: 815 gallons
1 pound of pork: 1630 gallons
1 pound of beef: 5214 gallons
Life forms destroyed in the production of each fast-food hamburger made from rain-forest beef: Members of 20-30 different plant species, 100 different insect species, and dozens of bird, mammal and reptile species.
What a hamburger produced by clearing forest in India would cost if the real costs were included in the price rather than subsidized: $200
Calorie of fossil fuel expended to produce 1 calorie of protein from soybeans: 2
Calorie of fossil fuel expended to produce 1 calorie of protein from corn or wheat: 3
Calorie of fossil fuel expended to produce 1 calorie of protein from beef: 54
Amount of greenhouse-warming carbon gas released by driving a typical American car, in one day: 3 Kg
Amount of greenhouse-warming carbon gas released by clearing and burning enough Costa Rican rainforest to produce beef for one hamburger: 75 Kg
World’s mammalian species currently threatened with extinction: 25%
Leading cause of species in the tropical rain-forest being threatened or eliminated: Livestock Grazing
100,000 cows produce as much waste as a city of 1.7 million humans.
Number of people whose food energy needs can be met by the food produced on a 2.5 acre of land:
If the land is producing cabbage: 23 people
If the land is producing potatoes: 22 people
If the land is producing rice: 19 people
If the land is producing corn: 17 people
If the land is producing wheat: 15 people
If the land is producing chicken: 2 people
If the land is producing milk: 2 people
If the land is producing eggs: 1 people
If the land is producing beef: 1 people
Cattle alive today on Earth: More than 1 billion
Weight of world’s cattle compared to weight of world’s people: Nearly Double
Area of earth's total land mass used as pasture for cattle and other livestock: ½
US Corn eaten by people: 2%
US Corn eaten by livestock: 77%
US farmland producing vegetables : 4 million acres
US farmland producing hay for livestock : 56 million acres
US grain and cereals fed to livestock: 70%
Human beings who could be fed by the grain and soybeans eaten by US livestock : 1,400,000,000
Although most of the above statistics are from U.S, we must understand that its one earth and whatever happens to the rain-forests will have a worldwide impact.
Environmental violations by the meat industry add up to a rap sheet longer than War and Peace. - Sierra Club in their 2002 report on animal factories
A meat-fed world now appears a chimera. World grain production has grown more slowly than population since 1984, and farmers lack new methods for repeating the gains of the green revolution. Supporting the world's current population of 5.4 billion people on an American-style diet would require two-and-a-half times as much grain as the world's farmers produce for all purposes. A future world of 8 billion to 14 billion people eating the American ration of 220 grams of grain-fed meat a day can be nothing but a flight of fancy. - Durning, Alan B. & Brough, Holly, Worldwatch Institute
Water consumption (University of California Agriculture Extension)
1 pound of lettuce: 23 gallons
1 pound of tomatoes: 23 gallons
1 pound of potatoes: 24 gallons
1 pound of wheat: 25 gallons
1 pound of carrots: 33 gallons
1 pound of apples: 49 gallons
1 pound of chicken: 815 gallons
1 pound of pork: 1630 gallons
1 pound of beef: 5214 gallons
Life forms destroyed in the production of each fast-food hamburger made from rain-forest beef: Members of 20-30 different plant species, 100 different insect species, and dozens of bird, mammal and reptile species.
What a hamburger produced by clearing forest in India would cost if the real costs were included in the price rather than subsidized: $200
Calorie of fossil fuel expended to produce 1 calorie of protein from soybeans: 2
Calorie of fossil fuel expended to produce 1 calorie of protein from corn or wheat: 3
Calorie of fossil fuel expended to produce 1 calorie of protein from beef: 54
Amount of greenhouse-warming carbon gas released by driving a typical American car, in one day: 3 Kg
Amount of greenhouse-warming carbon gas released by clearing and burning enough Costa Rican rainforest to produce beef for one hamburger: 75 Kg
World’s mammalian species currently threatened with extinction: 25%
Leading cause of species in the tropical rain-forest being threatened or eliminated: Livestock Grazing
100,000 cows produce as much waste as a city of 1.7 million humans.
Number of people whose food energy needs can be met by the food produced on a 2.5 acre of land:
If the land is producing cabbage: 23 people
If the land is producing potatoes: 22 people
If the land is producing rice: 19 people
If the land is producing corn: 17 people
If the land is producing wheat: 15 people
If the land is producing chicken: 2 people
If the land is producing milk: 2 people
If the land is producing eggs: 1 people
If the land is producing beef: 1 people
Cattle alive today on Earth: More than 1 billion
Weight of world’s cattle compared to weight of world’s people: Nearly Double
Area of earth's total land mass used as pasture for cattle and other livestock: ½
US Corn eaten by people: 2%
US Corn eaten by livestock: 77%
US farmland producing vegetables : 4 million acres
US farmland producing hay for livestock : 56 million acres
US grain and cereals fed to livestock: 70%
Human beings who could be fed by the grain and soybeans eaten by US livestock : 1,400,000,000
Although most of the above statistics are from U.S, we must understand that its one earth and whatever happens to the rain-forests will have a worldwide impact.
CONCLUSION
Its our constitutional, moral, ethical and religious duty to prevent India from emulating these grave statistics in our country.
Kranti requests that such naive and inhumane display of ignorance on part of the Bangalore University PG and PhD Students' Association at Jnanabharathi campus should be severely dealt with by the suspension of involved students and the vice-chancellor for allowing this shameful event to happen under his watch.
We do not have the right or need to use animal products. Anything capable of feeling pain should not be put to pain.
Kranti requests that such naive and inhumane display of ignorance on part of the Bangalore University PG and PhD Students' Association at Jnanabharathi campus should be severely dealt with by the suspension of involved students and the vice-chancellor for allowing this shameful event to happen under his watch.
We do not have the right or need to use animal products. Anything capable of feeling pain should not be put to pain.
CONTACT
About Kranti: Kranti is a virtual organization working on animal rights issues in India. Kranti's main focus is to dispel "speciesism" by providing equal rights to all life forms that posses a central nervous system no matter how primitive.
REFERENCES
Health:
http://webarchive.human.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/
http://www.pcrm.org/magazine/
http://www.reuters.com/
Environment:
http://www.planetdiet.org/pdf/
http://www.fao.org/docrep/010/
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/
http://www.amazon.com/Food-
http://www.worldwatch.org/
