The Human Impact of a Ban: Why leather has a thing to worry!

The Maharashtra Government’s ban on beef whereby anyone selling beef or found in possession of it can be jailed for up to five years and fined Rs.10,000 will have unprecedented ripple effect! Following the footsteps of the Maharashtra Government, the Haryana Government is set to go one step ahead and equate cow slaughter with murder and bring cow killing under the aegis of Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code.

These bans will directly hit the Indian beef and leather industry, and in a big way !

The leather industry holds a prominent place in the Indian economy. India is the second largest producer of footwear and leather garments in the world. The leather industry is one of the top ten foreign exchange earning conglomerates. It employs a high number of people below 35 years of age and has engaged a significant number of women employees. The major production centres for leather and leather products in India are located in Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab; Karnataka; Andhra Pradesh; Haryana, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Kerala, and Cochin.

As per the Council for Leather Exports in India, exports from leather industry has shown a healthy growth of 15.82% during April – November 2014. Ironically, the leather sector has been identified as “one of the Focus Sectors in the Make in India Programme of the Government of India, with the objective of enhancing production and employment”.

Some quick facts

• 40 per cent of bull hides are produced in Maharashtra.
• 33 operational abattoirs came to a halt in Maharashtra.
• Doomed over 10 lakh people connected with the trade.
• Cost of sourcing are up already by nearly 5 per cent.
• Exports of leather and leather products during the first 8 months of FY15 touched $4.45 billion.
• Supporting ailing cattle and feeding and maintaining it will cost a farmer Rs.5,000 each month.
• Finished and product making abled hide from Chennai already costs manufacturers Rs.800.

Fair Trade organisations with a motto of generating means of livelihood for the poor have always had leather products to offer. Many of its leather goods producers employ people who belong to the socially disadvantaged and poorest sections of society, who have no education to take up other jobs or money to set up alternate businesses. CRC interviewed its leather manufacturers and suppliers to note their reactions.

Tarun Pal of Allied Craft Products- a leather goods manufacturing units speaks:

“The decision is very dictatorial. The Government is not thinking of my colleagues in Maharashtra. If the West Bengal Government treads on the path of the Maharashtra Government, we will be smashed! Either we will have to get leather from states where ban on cow slaughter is yet to clamp down or we will have to import raw materials first to export (sounds paradoxical already!) thus escalating costs  or we will have to go out of business. Small, mostly unregistered manufacturers will certainly perish. Cows will be smuggled to other states where slaughter is permitted. There will be rampant black marketing”.

Kallol Sarker of Shilpa Kutir says:

“As of now I am fine because I source cow hide from Kolkata (that travels to Chennai in semi-processed state and comes back to us after Chennai makes the leather fit for product making). However, if Kolkata decides to impose the ban, we will cease to operate”. Interestingly, Kolkata has one of the largest leather complexes in Bantala spread across a sprawling 1,200 acres. There are 308 tanneries operating at CLC or Calcutta Leather Complex.  It employs 13,000 workers and is always bustling with activities. Raw hide is sourced from all over India and partially processed before being carted off to Chennai and then back to Kolkata.

Patrick Lee, Owner of CLC based medium sized tannery - Sheong Shi Tannery, who processes only cow hide is reflective and takes a holistic view of the situation. He reacts: 

“As of now, we are not affected by the ban because I source 100% of my leather from Kolkata but I have a premonition that this ban will spill over to other BJP administered states and in worst of cases, we may come under its purview too! We will have to shut our shops and migrate to other countries. Moreover, we are Christians. We consume beef. Beef ban will affect our food intake. Why is the Government honouring sentiment of only one religion? As many as seven religions are practised in India. In school I was taught that India’s strength lies in its unity in diversity. So it is disturbing to see this kind of preferential treatment. We are feeling isolated and non-Indian”.

The facts, and the comments above, clearly show that for whatever reason beef has been banned, it is likely to have a direct, negative impact on the economic livelihood of hundreds of Indian workers Those in the small-scale informal sector will be affected severely given their lack of financial resources and options. Many will be jobless and go hungry!

We at CRC cannot help but wonder if those who suggest, enact, and enforce such bans have thought about the human impact. If they have, we sincerely hope the bans will be reversed soon.