http://www.dw.com/en/leather-becomes-election-issue-in-india/av-37881094
India’s leather industry is run mainly by Muslims, since Hindus consider cows to be sacred. In the state of Uttar Pradesh, business owners accuse the government of using an anti-pollution program as a front to destroy their livelihoods.
see video at
http://www.dw.com/en/leather-becomes-election-issue-in-india/av-37881094
http://www.firstpost.com/india/uttar-pradesh-the-slow-death-of-kanpurs-leather-economy-and-states-job-crisis-3277850.html
Industry struggles to comply with green rules
Environmental regulations imposed on tanneries have crimped industry finances. The establishment of National Green Tribunal (NGT) in 2010 and its rigorous monitoring of pollution levels led to 128 of Kanpur’s 400 tanneries shutting. There are also at least 500 cases against other leather units in the principal bench of the NGT, as it records archive indicates.
“The tanning industry is known to be very polluting, especially through effluents high in organic and inorganic dissolved and suspended solids content,” noted this 2007 report. “A significant part of the chemical used in the leather processing is not actually absorbed in the process but is discharged into the environment.”
