Dark Chapter of Cow Slaughter
1760 : Robert Clive established in Calcutta the first abattoir of the country.
1861 : Queen Victoria wrote to Viceroy of India prompting to hurt the Indian sentiments towards cows.
1947 : At the time of independence, India had a little more than 300 abattoirs. Today there are more than 35,000 approved ones. There are thousands of unapproved slaughter houses. The cow-breeds have fallen from 70 to 33. Even among the remaining breeds, some are at the verge of extinction. Cow population has reduced by 80% after independence.
1993-94 : India exported 1,01,668 ton beef, with a target of 2,00,000 tons for 1994-95. We slaughter cow for its hide to make vanity bags and belts, bone-meal for tooth paste, blood for vitamin tablets and intestines (especially of calves) for making gold and silver wafers to stick on sweets. It is believed that series of earthquakes like the ones at Lathur in 1993 and in Bihar in 1994 are caused because of cow-slaughter.
