Feb 09 2016 : The Times of India (Mumbai)
Haryana’s ill-advised cow legislation has begun to extract an economic toll
Haryana’s chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar has been tying himself in knots over his government’s ill-advised legislation to ban consumption of beef and treat cow slaughter on almost the same plane as murder. Bans are blunt instruments which spawn unforeseen problems. And when bans are triggered by sentiments, governments end up looking for wiggle room to offset the costs involved. That’s exactly the situation Khattar finds himself in now, as he suggested a special dispensation to allow foreigners to eat beef and was forced to backtrack soon. The Haryana government’s dilemma drives home the point that bans make for bad policy .
Khattar’s economic agenda relies heavily on attracting foreign investment to Haryana and making use of its proximity to Delhi. To actualise his agenda, he has toured East Asia and held investor meets. Investments, however, do not happen in a vacuum. The more forbidding the local environment, the less likely is the chance of attracting durable investments. It is not just industry and services sectors which are adversely affected by the ban. Numerous studies have shown that a ban on cow slaughter affects farmers. Livestock are farmers’ assets.When governments interfere with their disposal, it hurts farmers. It is a double whammy for farmers as the ban has come on the heels of two bad monsoons which has put agriculture in a state of crisis.