National Family Health Survey – 4 data suggest that 70 per cent of women and 78 per cent of men in the country consume some form of meat.
Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Odisha and Jharkhand are states where the proportion of non-vegetarians is more than 97 per cent. (PTI photo/Representational)
Sample these: Roadside stalls in Ahmedabad cannot sell non-vegetarian food from now on; two other major cities of Gujarat Vadodara and Rajkot have instructed vendors to cover non-vegetarian items; meat shops in Gurugram are not allowed to open on certain days; and a municipal corporation in Delhi does not want non-vegetarian items to be prominently displayed.
These are but a few instances of the many attempts to regulate food patterns of Indians. And this is continuing despite multiple reports pointing out that over 70 per cent Indians consume items such as fish, meat or eggs.
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Also, despite known nutritional values, nearly a dozen states do not allow eggs to be part of mid-day meals in schools. An India Today Data Intelligence Unit (DIU) analysis indicates that states with less non-vegetarian population are the ones most reluctant in adding eggs to the menu.
Read | Ban on meat display: A brief history of push against non-vegetarian food in Gujarat
The decision of including eggs in children’s meals has lately been a matter of debate in the country. While the Madhya Pradesh government removed eggs from the meals, Karnataka has added the same.
Indians’ love for meat
The debate over vegetarianism in India is never old. National Family Health Survey 4 data (http://rchiips.org/nfhs/NFHS-4Reports/India.pdf) suggest that 70 per cent of women and 78 per cent of men in the country consume some form of meat.
Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Odisha and Jharkhand are states where the proportion of non-vegetarians is more than 97 per cent. In contrast, Punjab, Haryana, Gujarat and Rajasthan have the least non-vegetarian population (below 40 per cent), government data show.
Meat consumption in India has grown with a rise in income, as has been the case elsewhere. India consumed six million tonnes of meat in 2020, according to OECD. Nearly half the population consumes non-vegetarian meals once a week in India.
Incidentally, there are only nine states, including West Bengal and Kerala, where there are no restrictions on meat consumption. Most other states have some form of restriction depending on the kind of meat.
India the meat house
India accounts for 2.18 per cent of the global meat production and ranks sixth after China, the United States, Brazil, Russia and Germany, according to the Ministry of Food Processing Industries.
Meat production in India grew at 5.15 per cent from 2014-15 to 2019-20, according to the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying.
Buffaloes comprise about 30 per cent of India’s total meat production. Among states, Uttar Pradesh (15 per cent), Maharashtra (13 per cent) and West Bengal (10 per cent) contribute most to meat production in India, according to the RBI.
Meat trade immune from pandemic
While the Covid pandemic left the economy in tatters, the meat industry was reportedly left unscathed.
“There is no bad effect of Covid-19 on the export business of buffalo meat from India. It is on the track and going on smoothly with no hurdles in the supply chain. Despite the pandemic implications, India has been able to achieve exports value at USD 3.17 billion in the year April 2020-March 2021, which is equal to the previous year’s level of exports,” the Ministry of Commerce and Industry said in July.
India is one of the largest exporters of buffalo meat in the world with over 70 countries as export destinations. Of the top 10 buffalo meat exporters from India in 2018-19, seven were from Uttar Pradesh, two from Maharashtra and one from Delhi, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal had said in reply to a question in Lok Sabha in December 2019.
According to OECD data, meat consumption in India had started to decline from 2010 but picked up pace once again after 2014. While consumption of chicken and other poultry products has been on a continuous rise, buffalo meat consumption regained the lost momentum only after 2014. India consumed six million tonnes of meat in 2020.
Also Read | Gujarat CM says ‘no problem’ with non-veg food even as street vendors cry out for help
Published By:
Rishabh Sharma
Published On:
Nov 18, 2021
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