Article 48 — Organisation of agriculture and animal husbandry

The State shall endeavour to organise agriculture and animal husbandry on modern and scientific lines and shall, in particular, take steps for preserving and improving the breeds, and prohibiting the slaughter, of cows and calves and other milch and draught cattle.

Source: Constitution of India, as published by the Ministry of Law and Justice.

The cow protection provision was a major demand of Hindu nationalist members of the Constituent Assembly, including Seth Govind Das and Pandit Thakur Das Bhargava, who wanted an outright ban on cow slaughter as a Fundamental Right. Its inclusion as a Directive Principle rather than a Fundamental Right was a compromise: it directed the state to prohibit cow slaughter without making such prohibition constitutionally mandatory or enforceable in court as a citizen's right. Nearly all states have enacted cow slaughter prohibition laws citing this article. The article also reflects the practical importance of draught and milch cattle to agrarian India at independence, when bullocks were the primary source of farm power.

• Article 48A
• Article 25
• Article 19

Last reviewed: 3 July 2026