Closure of slaughterhouses can leave over 2 million people jobless in UP

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IndiaTomorrow.net,
New Delhi, March 29: In first 10 days in office, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has conducted massive ‘surgical strikes’ at slaughterhouses in the state. A research report of IndiaSpend.com suggests that the closure of slaughterhouses in the country’s most populous state could leave over two million people jobless besides collateral losses to various other related industries.

“The drive against slaughterhouses could impact three critical industries in UP: Meat packaging, livestock and leather. With some of India’s worst development indicators, stagnant agriculture and industry… India’s most populous state is also one of its poorest with the second-highest unemployment rate-after Jharkhand-among India’s eighth most socioeconomically backward states,” says the report.

“In 2015-16, more people per 1,000 were unemployed in UP (58), compared to the Indian average (37), and youth unemployment was especially high, with 148 for every 1,000 people between the ages of 18 and 29 years in UP unemployed, compared to the Indian average of 102, according to 2015-16 labour ministry data,” says IndiaSpend.com.

There is no official figure about number of people employed in UP’s slaughterhouses and meat shops, but around 6.7 million people are employed in the country’s food-processing industry, which includes slaughterhouses and meat processing units. As Uttar Pradesh accounts for 43% of India’s buffalo-meat exports, tens of thousands of people could be jobless following closure of slaughterhouses and meat shops.

For the last two days, meat traders are on the strike in the state in protest against the government action without any notice.

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