Functioning of Rashtriya Gokul Mission

(a) and (b) Government has launched “Rashtriya Gokul Mission” with the aim of development and conservation of indigenous bovine breeds in December 2014 and following policy interventions have taken up under the Mission for development and conservation of indigenous bovine breeds:

• i)      Gokul Gram:  21 Integrated indigenous cattle development Centres – “Gokul Grams”- are being established under the Rashtriya Gokul Mission with the aim of conservation and development of indigenous bovine breeds in a scientific and holistic manner.

• ii). National Kamdhenu Breeding Centre: Two National Kamdhenu  Breeding  Centre (NKBC) as repository of indigenous germplasm of all indigenous breeds and supply certified germplasm to the farmers undertaking rearing of indigenous breeds and increasing their stock are under establishment. Establishment of NKBC in Andhra Pradesh at Chintaladevi located in Nellore District has been completed and work is under progress for Northern Region NKBC in Madhya Pradesh.

• iii). Pashu Sanjivni: Animals are being identified under the Pashu Sanjivni using poly urethane tags with 12 digit unique identification number and their data is being uploaded on INAPH database. As on date 21.72 million animals have been tagged and their data have been uploaded on INAPH data base.

• iv). E Pashu Haat Portal:  E Pashu Haat portal has been developed for connecting breeders and farmers regarding availability of quality bovine germplasm of indigenous breeds. Information of 10.28 crores semen doses; 363 embryos and 18.11 lakh live animals is available on the portal.

• v). National Gopal Ratna and Kamdhenu Awards: In order  to create  awareness  and reward for farmers and Institutions who are engaged in scientific management of recognized Indigenous cattle breeds, National Gopal Ratna and National Kamdhenu Award have been instituted under Rashtriya Gokul Mission.

• vi).  Krishi Kalyan Abhiyan:  AI coverage with High Yielding Indigenous Breeds: In the 112 aspirational districts identified by Niti Aayog. Under the programme 9 lakh artificial inseminations have been performed.

• vii). Establishment/strengthening of Embryo Transfer and In-Vitro Fertilization centres: Projects for strengthening/ establishment of 30 ETT/IVF labs have been sanctioned for propagation of elite animals of indigenous breeds and to meet demand to bulls of indigenous breeds. Out of 30 labs approved under the scheme 10 labs have been made functional. Centre of Excellence for Indigenous Breeds (CoEIB) are under establishment for providing training in ETT, IVF, Sex Sorted Semen production, Genomics and retraining of skilled manpower in latest developments in breeding technologies.

• viii). National Bovine Genomic Centre for Indigenous Breeds (NBGC-IB): Funds have been released to National Bureau of Animal Genetics Resources and National Dairy Development Board for development of genomic chip. A custom made genotyping chip (INDUSCHIP) which is suitable to genotype Indian cattle breeds and their crosses has been developed by NDDB and till date 10000 animals have been genotyped in order to create referral population.

• ix). Establishment of Facility for Sex Sorted Semen Production: Projects from 12 semen stations Gujarat, Haryana, Kerala, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra (2) Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Punjab have been sanctioned and Central Share has been released to 10 stations. The use sex sorted semen will not only enhance milk production but also crucial in limiting population of male cattle/ stray cattle.

(c) The details of the funds released to various States and Union Territories including Tamil Nadu is Given at Annexure-I.