PM’s pet project Rashtriya Kamdhenu Aayog was formed in 2019 but has been without chairman due to ‘lack of govt interest’ with funds unutilised. Cow welfare bodies lacking in states too.
Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, who also holds the finance portfolio, made the announcement while tabling the state’s budget for FY 2023-24 in the Vidhan Sabha Friday.
Set up in 2019 under the Union animal husbandry ministry, Rashtriya Kamdhenu Aayog was tasked with providing direction for the implementation of schemes related to cattle.
In a report tabled in Parliament, panel also found no veterinary hospitals were strengthened or established in the last 4 years for livestock such as cows, buffaloes, sheep and goats among others.
Animal husbandry department is experimenting with IVF technology to produce better breed of cows and will soon sell embryos to farmers at subsided prices.
Officials say cattle dung worth Rs 1,730 crore will be procured annually from gothans. This will then be used to produce vermicompost worth over Rs 2,300 crore.
Rashtriya Kamdhenu Aayog’s head Vallabhbhai Kathiria tells ThePrint they plan to give away healthy cows to farmers, while sick ones will be kept at gaushalas.
The last time this matter flared up was when Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, in a very similar directive in April, called for the relocation of stray dogs in the capital.
Finance ministry says the proposed revamp will focus on structural reforms, rate rationalisation & ease of living, & will be deliberated upon in the coming weeks.
The project is meant to be a ‘protective shield that will keep expanding’, the PM said. It is on the lines of the ‘Golden Dome’ announced by Trump, it is learnt.
Now that both IAF and PAF have made formal claims of having shot down the other’s aircraft in the 87-hour war in May, we can ask a larger question: do such numbers really matter?
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