What is Livestock Bill 2023?

What’s in today’s article?

• Why in news?
• What is Live-stock Importation Act 1898?
• What is Livestock Bill 2023?
• What is new in the proposed draft?
• Criticism faced by the proposed draft Bill

Why in news?

• Facing criticism, the Centre has withdrawn the draft Live-stock and Live-stock Products [Importation and Exportation] Bill, 2023.

What is Live-stock Importation Act 1898?

• The Live-stock Importation Act, 1898 is in force till date.
• It has only 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).
• This act regulated only importation of live-stock.

What is Livestock Bill 2023?

• About
  • 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.
  • It is different from the existing law in three key aspects:
    • It allows export of live animals, 
    • It widens the scope of animal import-export (including cats and dogs among ‘live-stock’), and 
    • It takes away state governments’ powers to regulate this area.
• Draft prepared by
  • The Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying (DAHD), under the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying.
• Need for a new bill
• 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.
• Hence, a need has been felt to align it with the contemporary requirements and prevailing circumstances related to sanitary and phyto-sanitary measures.

What is new in the proposed draft?

• Development of exports of live-stock and live-stock products
  • The earlier law regulates only importation of live-stock, while the proposed draft Bill has provisions to regulate live-stock exports also. 
  • The 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.
• Expanded the definition of live-stock
  • The proposed draft bill has 10 Sections, and has expanded the definition of live-stock to include feline and canines also.
    • As per the 1898 act, 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.
• Live-stocks and live-stock products as commodity
  • 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.
• Takes away some power of state government
  • The proposed draft bill takes away some powers of state governments to regulate this area.

Criticism faced by the proposed draft Bill

• Animal rights organisations have said that allowing the live export of animals from India is a blanket free pass for the abuse of millions of animals farmed for food and other uses.
• 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.

Q1) What are sanitary and phyto-sanitary measures?

Sanitary and phytosanitary measures (SPS) are a set of regulations, standards, and procedures implemented by countries to protect human, animal, and plant health from potential risks associated with the import and export of goods. These measures are primarily used in the context of international trade to ensure the safety of food, animal products, and plants being traded between countries.

Q2) What are live-stocks?

Livestock, also known as farm animals or livestock animals, refers to animals that are raised on farms or in agricultural settings for various purposes, including food production, fiber production, labor, and companionship. Livestock includes a diverse range of animals, each species having different characteristics and purposes.

Source: Why the draft livestock and livestock products Bill was withdrawn | Indian Express | Economic Times