Why the draft livestock and livestock products Bill was withdrawn

  • June 22, 2023
  • Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
  • Category: DPN Topics
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Why the draft livestock and livestock products Bill was withdrawn

Subject :Polity

Section: Legislation in news

Context:

  • The Bill is meant to replace the Live-stock Importation Act, 1898, and the Live-stock (Amendment) Act, 2001. It frames guidelines for the import and export of live animals, which has raised concerns among animal lovers.

Details:

  • The Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying (DAHD), which comes under the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, prepared the draft of the Live-stock and Live-stock Products (Importation and Exportation) Bill-2023.
  • The 4-page Bill has 10 sections.
  • It is different from the existing law in three key aspects:
  1. It allows export of live animals,
  2. It widens the scope of animal import-export (including cats and dogs among ‘live-stock’), and
  3. Takes away some powers of state governments to regulate this area.
  • Need for a new law:
  • The present law that regulates import of live-stock is 125 years old.
  • The Live-stock Importation Act, 1898, being the pre-constitutional/pre-independence Central Act, a need has been felt to align it with the contemporary requirements and prevailing circumstances related to sanitary and phyto-sanitary measures, and its extant Allocation of Business Rules, 1961.
  • The 1898 law was amended once in 2001. The changes introduced was the inclusion of the import of livestock products. The earlier law dealt with only the import of live-stock.
  • The 2001 amendment also empowered the Centre to “regulate, restrict or prohibit” the trade of any live-stock product that may be liable to affect human or animal health.

Key provisions of the proposed draft:

1898 lawProposed draft law
  • 5 sections
    • Section 1 (Short title and local extent); Section 2 (Definitions); Section 3 (Power to regulate importation of live-stock), Section 3A (Power to regulate Importation of live-stock products); Section 4 (Power of State Government to make rules); and Section 5 (Protection to persons acting under Act).
  • 10 Sections
  • Regulates only importation of live-stock.
  • Provisions to regulate live-stock exports also.
  • Section 4 of the proposed Bill provides the government the power to make arrangements for promotion and development of exports of live-stock and live-stock products.
  • Definition given in the existing law (The Live-stock Importation Act, 1898), “live-stock” includes horses, kine, camels, sheep and any other animal which may be specified by the Central Government by notification in the Official Gazette
  • Expanded the definition of live-stock to include feline and canines also.
  • The Centre has defined the live-stocks and live-stock products as commodity in the proposed draft Bill. “Commodity” means live-stock, products of live-stock origin, live-stock genetic material, biological products and pathological material of live-stock origin,” says Section 2(a) of the proposed draft.

Criticism include:

  • As per the some animal rights activists and organisations, the bill will lead to exploitation and cruelty to animals.
  • According to 2021 figures released by the United Nations, almost 2 billion of the 80 billion land animals raised for food around the world are exported alive to different countries.
  • Facing the widespread criticism, the Centre has withdrawn the draft Live-stock and Live-stock Products [Importation and Exportation] Bill, 2023.
Polity Why the draft livestock and livestock products Bill was withdrawn