Navratri: Fasting for Some, Hunger for Thousands in the Meat Industry?

New Delhi, 03 April 2022 [Rashae’ K]: Come Naratri, meat industry goes on a sabbatical for not one or two, but nine consecutive days, all in deference to the sentiments of some sections of Hindu community. This happens every year, and this year will be no different.

As the nine-day festivities are going to commence today, it’s time we reflected on the implications of the Navratri on the meat industry. Millions of meat eaters are deprived of the daily dose of their staple non-vegetarian fare during the festivities, so they have no choice over food they eat.

And what about those from the meat industry who are forced to go without food? Who will feed them, and who will compensate for the huge losses the meat industry will incur on account of the nine-day holiday?

The workers associated with the meat industry may have to go without their daily wages for no fault of theirs. How can we as a society leave them to fend for themselves ignoring their sacrifice for those who observe Navratri.

Raising the issue, Twitter user asked the government if it will compensate the workers in the meat industry for the losses incurred due to the nine days of shutdown.

Mind it these workers belong to almost all the communities, including the ones whose festival it is. Have society in general, and the government in particular, no responsibility towards them? Should their children be left without food so that others could fulfill their religious obligations?

It’s high time the Government took note of the injustice done to these meat workers, whose number goes in lakhs, if not crores, every year and did something to compensate them.

Responding to the tweet on the plight of the meat workers, another Twitter user, @iamkunwartariq, has raised a vital point when he asked how come the foreign food brands like KFC are still serving and Dominos is still preparing non vegetarian delicacies.

“KFC is still serving.. Dominos Still preparing… All the star properties are serving evwn in Buffet. Go to food court of any mall restaurants are serving. But Ms should stop selling. Ppl are still gorging Non veg in Malls openly,” he wrote on his Twitter account.

He is right, how can there be two sets of laws in the country, one for the rich, and another for the poor? While the entire star properties can serve even in buffet, the food court of any mall can carry on with their business of serving non-veg food with aplomb, restaurant or up-market food joint are all serving meat without any inhibition, and people out there are savouring non-veg fare at malls openly, how can the poor be deprived of their slice of life.

While an entire industry is facing the prospects of going jobless for nine long days, for some, it is business as usual. Why this double standard? Any answer…