Crackdown on cattle smuggling: Boon for Bangladesh, burden for West Bengal

While Bangladesh has become self-sufficient by focusing on local breeds, West Bengal has now been saddled with more livestock than it can handle

In August this year, a few days ahead of the annual Eid-ul-Adha celebrations, a prominent Bangladeshi newspaper ran a story on how the sudden spurt in the country’s domestic cattle population had reduced livestock shortage over the past few years.

Cattle is mainly used for slaughtering in the country, a practice that rises significantly during Eid, as in several other parts of the world.

The reason for the increase in the count, according to the report, is that after India started cracking down on cross-border cattle trade that had been happening since 2014, farmers in Bangladesh concentrated on their own