Jaipur, Jun 20 (PTI) Union Minister of State for Animal Husbandry and Dairying Sanjeev Kumar Balyan on Tuesday indicated that the ministry may withdraw the draft Live-stock and Live-stock Products (Importation and Exportation) Bill, 2023 in view of the public sentiments.

"There was some perception about this (draft Bill) in the country that the government wants to export livestock... so consideration is going on," he told reporters here.

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Balyan further said that public sentiments were paramount for the central government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"The government's intention was to promote livestock products. Now that everyone's opinion has been received, the ministry is trying to consider public sentiment and the idea is that perhaps it may be withdrawn," the minister said.

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Balyan was replying to a question on an outcry over the draft Bill that was uploaded by the Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying of the Union Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying on its website to seek suggestions and comments from stakeholders, importers, and exporters.

He said that even after so many years of Independence, some laws made by the British are continuing and the Livestock Importation Act, 1898 is one of them.

Balyan said the prime minister had instructed that all pre-Independence laws need to be changed. "Accordingly, we had prepared a draft proposal under which suggestions were sought from the general public," he said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)