Centre firm in clearing all hurdles for jallikattu

Talking to DTNext, when asked for his reaction to the proposed amendment to the 1972 Wildlife Law, he said “I will thoroughly go through the proposed amendments, but there is no denying the fact that TN needs Jallikattu and it will definitely be a feature in next Pongal.” The reaction is based on the fact that the proposed amendment will include a section on “cultural and traditional practices” under which jallikattu banned for two years, will come to life once again. 

The 1972 wildlife protection Act banned hunting and introduced wildlife conservation; but the new amendment will additionally ensure that farmers are not responsible for the death of wild animals and will consider hunting an offence only if criminal intent is made out, sources said. The law has seen seven amendments till date. Hunting of protected animal species is banned under the act. 

“The Centre’s draft proposal to amend the 1972 wildlife law banning hunting and introducing wildlife conservation could radically affect conservation. Endangered species can become extinct as hunters will be emboldened and not be afraid of the law. Also proving criminal intent in a hunter will be a long and laborious process” wild life experts citing anonymity claimed. Animal welfare activist S. Muralidharan of Indian Centre for Animal Rights and Education (In-CARE) begged to differ. 

“If the law can accept animal sacrifice, then jallikattu should also be accepted. It is TN’s traditional sport and complaints of tormenting bulls arise only in locations like Alanganallur and Avaniyapuram in Madurai and Palacode in Coimbatore where the sport has been highly commercialised” he said. “Unlike in Spain (during the  Pamplona bull-running fest), we do not kill our bulls. The original intent of the TN sport was for youth to pluck money tied to bull’s horns” Muralidharan adds. 

The new draft proposal is deemed controversial because the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government added provisions not present in the original draft bill introduced in Parliament by the then UPA government.