By Our Correspondent
BHUBANESWAR: Secretary of Animal Husbandry and Dairying (AHD), Government of India, Smt. Alka Upadhyaya chaired a Regional Review Meeting at Bhubaneswar, Odisha. The meeting brought together Additional Chief Secretaries, Principal Secretaries, Secretaries, Directors, and scheme implementation officers from the Animal Husbandry and Dairying Departments of the Eastern states, mainly Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha, West Bengal and Meghalaya to discuss the progress of various departmental programs and schemes.
Additional Secretary Ms. Varsha Joshi, Joint Secretary Ms. Sarita Chauhan, Advisor (Statistics) Shri Jagat Hazarika and other senior officials from the Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Government of India also attended the meeting.
Smt. Alka Upadhyaya reviewed the physical and financial progress of several key schemes, including the Rashtriya Gokul Mission (RGM), Entrepreneurship Development under the National Livestock Mission (NLM), the National Animal Disease Control Programme (NADCP) and the National Programme for Dairy Development (NPDD).
Smt. Alka Upadhyaya urged officials to identify local strategies to enhance the number of productive bovines and address fodder constraints, taking into account the fodder scarcity and climate variations in the States. She emphasized the need for optimal use of infrastructure created under the NPDD scheme for milk collection, chilling, processing, and testing. Increasing the coverage of the organized dairy sector, promoting indigenous milk products, enhancing value addition and developing marketing action plans were highlighted as strategic approaches to strengthen the dairy supply chain in the region.
The meeting also recognized the efforts of the states in establishing breeding farms under the Entrepreneurship Development programs of the National Livestock Mission. Smt. Upadhyaya encouraged states to maximize the utilization of opportunities and financial assistance available under these schemes.
She further urged states to actively promote the Realigned Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development Fund (AHIDF) scheme among beneficiaries to maximize its benefits and foster entrepreneurship. States presented their new initiatives and best practices during the meeting.
Concluding the meeting, Smt. Alka Upadhyaya emphasized the collective responsibility of all stakeholders to ensure the success of the 21st Livestock Census. She highlighted the critical role the upcoming 21st Livestock census will play in shaping future policies and programs for the Animal Husbandry sector and called for leveraging the latest technologies to achieve its successful implementation.
The Government of India’s flagship NADCP scheme, which focuses on vaccination against major diseases such as Foot-and-Mouth Disease (FMD) and Brucellosis, was reviewed, with discussions on the status of six-monthly vaccinations for cattle, buffaloes, sheep, and goats. Other topics included the components under Assistance to States for Control of Animal Diseases (ASCAD), the operationalization of Mobile Veterinary Units (MVUs) and the formation of “Pashukalyan Samities.”
