Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Shri Sudarshan Bhagat has informed that in order to complement and supplement the efforts made by the States for protection and conservation of indigenous breeds of cattle Government of India has undertaken following measures:
(i) Rashtriya Gokul Mission a new initiative initiated as a part of National Programme for Bovine Breeding and Dairy Development exclusively for development and conservation of indigenous bovine breeds including indigenous breeds of cattle.
(ii) National Dairy Plan-I a World Bank assisted project being implemented in 18 major dairy States covering development and conservation of 12 indigenous breeds of cattle and buffaloes namely (i) Gir; (ii) Kankrej; (iii) Tharparkar; (iv) Sahiwal; (v) Rathi; and (vi) Hariana cattle breeds and (i) Marrah; (ii) Mehsana; (iii) Pandharpuri; (iv) Jaffarabadi; (v) Banni and (vi) Nili Ravi buffalo breeds.
(iii) Government has also established three subordinate organizations namely (i) Central Cattle Breeding Farms (CCBFs) (ii) Central Herd Registration Scheme and (iii) Central Frozen Semen Production & Training Institute. These organization are also undertaking development and conservation of indigenous breeds namely (i) Tharparkar; (ii) Red Sindhi; (iii) Gir; (iv) Kankrej; (v) Ongole; (vi) Hariana and (vii) Rathi breed of cattle and (i) Surti; (ii) Murrah; (iii) Meshsana and (iv) Jaffarabadi breeds of buffaloes.