Keralites celebrate grand beef fest to protest Maha beef ban

March 10, 2015

Thiruvananthapuram, Mar 10: Beef cooked in the open and Hindus and Muslims sitting together for a meal - this was how a section of people in Kerala protested today against the recent ban on the meat in Maharashtra.

Beef in Kerala means both cows and buffaloes and its consumption has no religious overtones. Not only do some Hindus here eat beef, going by sales figures, it is also the most-favoured meat in the state.

The annual sale of beef is estimated at 2.3 lakh metric tonnes against the corresponding figure for poultry -- 1.51 lakh metric tonnes.

"I am a Hindu. I should be given the freedom to eat whatever I want, even when I am eating this," said Ajith P from Kannur, who was at the protest of DYFI, the state CPM's youth wing, at Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday.

Sharing the dish with him was Ajeeth Muhammad. Though a supporter of Muslim League, he said he didn't mind backing a cause. "None of us here have issues with beef consumption. It is part of Kerala's culture. How can we be stopped from eating something we want to?" he said.

Heading the protest, DYFI's B Biju said, "This is a token protest against the ban of beef in Maharashtra and a warning for anyone who would want to implement the same in Kerala. Any ban our food will not be acceptable."

A state panchayat law lays clear guidelines for slaughterhouses - that an animal can't be slaughtered unless it is over 10 years old, or has been made unfit for work or breeding due to injury or deformity.

Digging into the beef curry before returning to the Assembly, CPM legislator P Sreeramakrishnan said, "I eat my beef. And so do many others in Kerala. Nothing will change."

Last week, President Pranab Mukherjee ratified the Maharashtra Animal Preservation (Amendment) Bill which bans the slaughter of calves and bullocks.

Anyone found selling or eating beef can be jailed for five years and fined Rs. 10,000. Only the consumption of buffaloes, which give inferior quality beef, will be allowed.

Beef traders - thousands of whom will be jobless - and a section of people in social media have protested against the ban, with hashtag #BeefBan trending for a while on Twitter.

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Elusive bamboo shrimp resurfaces in Mangaluru estuary after 70 years

News Network

December 7,2025

Mangaluru, Dec 7: A rare bamboo shrimp has been rediscovered on mainland India more than 70 years after it was last reported, confirming for the first time the presence of Atyopsis spinipes in the country. The find was made by researchers from the Centre for Climate Change Studies at Sathyabama Institute of Science and Technology, Chennai, during surveys in Karnataka and Odisha.

The team — shrimp expert Dr S Prakash, PhD scholar K Kunjulakshmi, and Mangaluru-based researcher Maclean Antony Santos — combined field surveys, ecological assessments and DNA analysis to identify the elusive species. Their findings, published in Zootaxa, resolve decades of taxonomic confusion stemming from a 1951 report that misidentified the species as Atyopsis moluccensis without strong evidence.

The shrimp has now been confirmed at two locations: the Mulki–Pavanje estuary near Mangaluru and the Kuakhai River in Bhubaneswar. Historical specimens from the Andaman Islands, previously labelled as A. moluccensis, were also found to be misidentified and actually belong to A. spinipes.

The rediscovery began after an aquarium hobbyist in Odisha spotted a shrimp in 2022, prompting systematic surveys across Udupi, Karwar and Mangaluru. Four female specimens were collected in Mulki and one in Odisha, all genetically matching.

Researchers warn the species may exist in very small, vulnerable populations as freshwater habitats face increasing pressure from pollution, sand mining and infrastructure development. All verified specimens have been deposited with the Zoological Survey of India for future reference.

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