Also, we find the cattle to buffalo ratio has moved south from 3.58 in 1951 to 1.75 in 2019. This ratio is declining steadily,  not because of cow slaughter but because it makes less economic sense to breed cows than buffaloes. Milk yield is way higher for buffaloes. Secondly, for buffaloes there exists an exit route at the end of economically useful life. For cows, the only exit route is abandonment on the roads.

One would think that with stricter laws and extra-judicial vigilantism the bovine(cattle plus buffalo) numbers would go up substantively. But in the period 2012–2019, the numbers have risen marginally from 300 million to  302 million.

Though the constitution or the state-enacted laws do not proscribe buffalo slaughter for the leather industry, the uncertain and vicious air of lynching has led to the closure of even licensed abattoirs and thus a shrinking supply chain for the leather industry. For the first time, India had to import hides to keep its shoe-uppers and leather factories going. The moot point is that Go-rakshaks and I, both need to protect their feet with shoes necessarily made from bovine hide and they will not know whether it is made from cattle hide or buffalo hide.

So, two of the three labor-intensive industries and their workers, dependent on bovine livestock are facing a bleak future. The government’s aspirations for these export-oriented industries and the policy pronouncements/interventions are contrary and counteractive. While the government wants these industries to grow to ease the balance of payment situation, its political compulsions force it to overlook the extra-judicial vigilantism that has created a distrustful and dysfunctional society.

Article 48 of the Constitution is purposed for the welfare of one named species viz Bos Indicus (Indian cow/cattle). The constituent assembly saw merit in separating the economy from the religion and accordingly, they excluded bovine animals other than the Indian cow (Bos Indicus)  from the non-slaughter list. But the government has effectually left the implementation of this policy/law in the hands of go-rakshaks who choose not to make a distinction between cattle and buffalo products. This ostrich-like head-in-sand attitude of the government has led to a governance paralysis in the bovine economy.

Bluffing about beef/buff is more politically rewarding than implementing Article 48 in right earnest. Sadly, it is devastating for the economy and society at large.