Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (SP)

Mangaluru, Jul 1: The union home ministry has approved the long-pending Kambala bill passed by both houses of Karnataka legislature. In all possibility, notification permitting organization of Kambalas in the state would be out today. With this, the ammendment bill to Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act passed by Karnataka will become law.

The home ministry has since confirmed that the bill, which pertains to the state, has been passed by both the assembly and council. It had been referred to home ministry of the union government for clarifications on certain technical aspects which were found lacking in the ammendment bill. All confusions have since been addressed, and the bill has got approval of the union home ministry. Union minister, D V Sadananda Gowda, said that the home ministry is expected to issue notification about approval given to the bill within a day or two.

After People for Ethical Treatment of Animals approached the court in 2014 against organizing animal races including Kambala because of violence factor, the court had stayed Kambala. Temporarily, it was permitted to be held subject to adherence to certain strict guidelines. After people expressed themselves strongly in favour of continuance of this folk and cultural tradition, the state government, in 2016, took steps to ammend the central government act. It was sent for governor's approval on February 7. The governor in turn, sent it to the union government on February 23 this year, as he felt it needed Presidential assent as the ammendment had been brought to a central law. The bill was then sent to several ministries at the centre, but the law department, taking objection to a word used in the bill, had withheld its approval. The centre then wrote back to the state on April seeking to reconsider the bill. The state, after holding discussions in cabinet meetings, forwarded it back to union home ministry on May 8 with some changes. Recently it got the nod of minister of state in the department of law, P P Choudhary. However, as the bill needed to be signed by minister of cabinet rank, law minister, Ravishankar Prasad, had to sign it.

After delays and hurdles at various stages, the bill is ready to be passed. As the union home ministry has clarified that this bill does not need Presidential assent, Kambala fans from Karnataka coast are eagerly awaiting the fructification of their prolonged struggle to begin organizing Kambalas against in the next season. Union ministers having their roots in Karnataka coast, MPs, Kambala Samiti leaders and Kambala enthusiasts enthusiastically followed the issue by frequently visiting the national capital and bringing pressure on the concerned to realize their dream of holding Kambalas again.