With just days left for Pongal festival to start, the Ministry of Environment and Forests has invoked “culture and tradition” to bring jallikattu back.
But in doing so, the Centre has circumvented a May 7, 2014 judgment in which the Supreme Court hails the very same reason to ban jallikattu as plain act of cruelty shown to a dumb animal. It had held that this “sport” was grossly against the Tamil culture and tradition to “embrace bulls and not over-powering the bull, to show human bravery”.
By issuing the notification, the NDA government has only successfully accomplished the U-turn its predecessor, UPA II, tried to take but only to be stopped just in time by the Supreme Court through its 2014 judgment banning jallikattu.
What New notification says:
The new notification says that “bulls may be continued to be exhibited or trained as a performing animal â at events such as Jallikattu in Tamil Nadu and bullock cart races in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Punjab, Haryana, Kerala and Gujarat â in the manner by the customs of any community or practiced traditionally under the customs or as a part of culture, in any part of the country”.
The notification mentions that this exemption is subject to the condition that bulls are treated properly and not subjected to cruelty.
The notification violates the very essence of the PCA Act as interpreted in the May 2014 verdict of the Supreme Court. Under Section 3, no right is conferred to inflict necessary or unnecessary pain or suffering on the animals.
About Jallikattu
Jallikattu is popular in the districts of Madurai, Tiruchirappalli, Theni, Pudukkottai and Dindigul â a region also known as the Jallikattu belt, which has a sizeable population of OBCs. The event begins with bulls being released into an arena.
Participants then tackle the animal by its hump and try to hang on till they cross the finishing line.
Current Affairs: 7th January, 2016 Current Affairs Round up December, 2015.
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