Which of the following States have enacted the Cattle Preservation Act, 2021 in July- August 2021 to regulate slaughter and transport of cattle and proposed an amendment in December 2021 to allow inter-district transportation of cattle for agricultural and animal husbandry except in districts sharing international border?

Correct — A. The statute the stem describes is the Assam Cattle Preservation Act, 2021, passed by the Assam Legislative Assembly in August 2021. It replaced that State's cattle preservation law of 1950, and the December 2021 amendment the stem mentions belongs to the same Act.

Cattle preservation is a State subject, so a law of this kind is made Assembly by Assembly. The question is really asking which legislature passed it — option (a).

Why the others are wrong

• (b)
  Sikkim — Sikkim passed no cattle preservation law in 2021. The Act the stem describes sits on the Assam statute book, where it replaced a 1950 law of the same name.
• (c)
  Arunachal Pradesh — Arunachal Pradesh did not legislate on cattle slaughter in that year. Beef is an ordinary part of the diet across its communities, and the State has not taken the restrictive route the stem describes.
• (d)
  Tripura — Tripura enacted nothing of this kind in 2021. Both markers in the stem, the August 2021 passage and the December 2021 amendment, belong to the Assam Assembly.

'Preservation, protection and improvement of stock and prevention of animal diseases' is Entry 15 of the State List, so cattle slaughter is legislated State by State and the law differs sharply across India.

One constitutional thread sits behind it. Article 48, a Directive Principle, asks the State to organise agriculture and animal husbandry on modern and scientific lines and to prohibit the slaughter of cows, calves and other milch and draught cattle.

Because the detail is left to each legislature, an item like this is answered from the news rather than derived from a principle.

Key facts

• The Assam Cattle Preservation Act, 2021 was passed by the Assam Legislative Assembly in August 2021.
• It replaced the Assam Cattle Preservation Act, 1950.
• Cattle preservation falls under Entry 15 of the State List, so each State makes its own law.
• Article 48, a Directive Principle, asks the State to prohibit the slaughter of cows, calves and other milch and draught cattle.

Common traps

• Treating cattle preservation as a Union subject because the politics around it is national.
• Reading Article 48 as a Fundamental Right, when Directive Principles are not enforceable in a court.
• Guessing a north-eastern State at random when the stem's dates point to one Assembly.

No directly related past PYQ was found.