SHIMLA 19th February 2012 : Animal Husbandry plays an important role in the agrarian economy of the State. Various schemes have been initiated to strengthen this sector by the Government in last four years. Rs. 300 crore Doodh Ganga Yojana’ is one such ambitious scheme, under which 50 thousand families would be benefited. The scheme envisages to provide loans upto Rs 5 lakh to individuals and Self Help Groups (SHGs) for setting up diary units with 10 animals. A loan of Rs 30 lakh is being provided for transportation of dairy products. Under the scheme, subsidy worth 25 percent is being provided to general categories and 33.33 per cent to scheduled caste/scheduled tribes for milk production and allied activities. Loans worth Rs. 45 crore had been provided to 4131 farmers under this scheme so far.
‘Mukhya Mantri Arogya Pashudhan Yojana’ has been started to ensure at least one Veterinary Institution in each left out Panchayat in the State. Under this scheme 1272 Veterinary Institutions will be opened in a in a period of three years in a phased manner. 200 Veterinary Institutions have been been opened in the State during this period.
‘Bhed Palak Samridhi Yojana’ has been started for Shepards of Mandi, Kangra, Chamba, Kullu and Shimla districts. This ambitious scheme is benefiting Sheep breeders with liberal financial assistance ranging between Rs 1 lakh to Rs 25 lakh. A loan of Rs. 1.00 lakh is available to the shepherds to establish unit of 40 sheep/goats and two rams for which subsidy of Rs. 33,300 is provided to the beneficiary. Till date, Rs. 82.20 lakh loans have been provided to 94 beneficiaries.
The main objective of ‘Bhed Palak Samridhi Yojana’ is to encourage sheep, goat, and rabbit rearing farmers to go in for commercial rearing rather than subsistence farming by providing incentives for performance. This scheme will also help in improving production performance of native breeds.
Two new Veterinary Hospitals, 15 Veterinary Dispensaries have been opened during last four years. Besides, 21 Veterinary Dispensaries have been upgraded to hospitals and 4 were upgraded to Central Veterinary Dispensaries.
In order to provide shelter to stray cattle, intake capacity of Gosadan at Khajjian has been increased to 500. A sum of Rs 1.12 has been crore provided to HIMUDA for construction of shed at Gosadan Lehari Barota in Bilaspur district to accommodate more cattle. 100 bigha land has been identified for establishing a Gosadan in Jhagana village in Arki tehsil of Solan district. Rs 30 lakh has been provided for a NGO for construction of shed after transferring land.
To make Gosadans self-sufficient, a sum of Rs 30 lakh has benn provided to 56 Gosadans for constructing vermi-compost units.
Besides, provisions of ‘Govansh Raksha’ Act have been made more stringent and transportation of cattle from the State banned by making necessary amendments in Himachal Pradesh Go-Vadh Nishedh Act 1978.
