A virtual interaction was held with Members of Parliament of Northern States namely, Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Chandigarh and Ladakh today under the chairmanship of Union Minister for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying. The meeting was attended by Secretary, Joint Secretaries and senior Officers of the Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying, GoI. During the interaction, Union Minister apprised Members of Parliament about the current developments in animal husbandry and dairying sector, scheme benefits and discussed various strategies for better implementation of livestock and dairy schemes in the field, so that large number farmers can reap benefits from the sector.
Union Minister informed that as per the recent Cabinet decision, the National Livestock Mission and Rashtriya Gokul Mission schemes now have a component of breeder farm entrepreneurs and fodder entrepreneurs. Under RGM, for breed multiplication farms for production and supply of high genetic merit heifers to farmers, 50% capital subsidy will be made available to entrepreneurs directly. National Livestock Mission (NLM) will help in creating rural Entrepreneurship and also in creating better livelihood opportunity for unemployed youth and livestock farmers in the Cattle, Dairy, poultry, sheep, goat, piggery, feed and fodder sector paving the way towards Atma Nirbhar Bharat by giving 50% subsidy through hub spoke model.
Union Minister highlighted that the realigned National Programme for Dairy Development (NPDD) is focusing on milk procurement, processing, marketing and quality of milk and milk products and Livestock Health and Disease Control aims to reduce risk to animal health by prophylactic vaccination against diseases of livestock and poultry, capacity building of Veterinary services, disease surveillance and strengthening veterinary infrastructure. Further, operationalisation of Mobile Veterinary Units (MVUs) in States will facilitate delivering animal health services at farmers’ doorstep.
Union Minister envisages that awareness campaigns should to be organized across States with active participation of Union Government, State Governments and District Officials for better outreach of scheme benefits to the livestock and dairy farmers. Union Minister appreciated Members of Parliament for their participation in the interaction and assured that the Ministry will take up their suggestions towards further growth of the sector.