The Uttar Pradesh government has decided to impose a 2% gau Raksha (cow welfare) cess on excise items.
What are the recent decisions?
Apart from the cow cess, the government will also levy a 0.5% cess on state-operated tolls.
It has also increased the levy on the tax revenue of the UP Agricultural Marketing Board, or Mandi Parishad, from 1% to 2%.
The money will be used to set up and run “gauvanshashrayasthals” (cattle shelters).
These shelters are to be made functional in all villages, panchayats, municipalities and municipal corporations.
These will be run by urban and rural civic bodies and are aimed at tackling the growing menace of stray cattle in the state.
Additionally, money from the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme will be used to fund these cowsheds.
Also, 8 profit-making public sector undertakings have to contribute 0.5% of their corporate social responsibility (CSR) kitty towards the cow shelter scheme.
The aim is to put in place a cowshed with a capacity of accommodating a minimum 1,000 animals in every district.
What is the cattle trade scenario in UP?
With new government in UP in 2017, one of the first decisions was to shut down all illegal slaughterhouses.
The government adopted a zero-tolerance approach to cow smuggling.
Certainly, illegal slaughterhouses should not be allowed to carry on.
But the state government did nothing to find any alternative means of livelihood for these small and marginal businessmen and their employees.
The decision completely upset the dynamics of the meat trade in the state with adverse backward linkages.
Along with small traders associated with the meat industry, farmers also suffered.
Cattle owners, who in the past used to sell unproductive animals to slaughterhouses, now simply abandoned them.
Reportedly, desperate farmers locked up abandoned cattle in schools and government buildings for fear of crop damage.
The plight of the cattle is even worse, many of which are dying of starvation or asphyxiation.
Making matters worse, there was rise of violence unleashed by the "gaurakshaks" (cow-protectors), who often penalised even those who traded in buffaloes.
Why is it not a healthy move?
UP is not the first state in the country to impose such a cess.
Punjab levied a similar cess and Rajasthan imposed a cow surcharge, without any real benefits to show for it.
Passing the burden on people for cow protection, a policy responsibility of the government, seems unfair.
A cultural affection for cows has happily coexisted with trade in cattle for ages.
So restrictions on the cattle trade do not make any commercial sense.
Thus, instead of imposing a cess, the government should reconsider its trade policy.
