Over 15 lakh cows in Jharkhand to get health cards soon
RANCHI: Aimed at keeping record of their health under the Centre’s ‘Pashudhan Sanjeevani Scheme’, over 15 lakh cows in Jharkhand will soon get health cards, officials said.
Jharkhand would be the first state in the country to launch the scheme to promote per animal productivity of cattle and buffaloes, said Govind Prasad, chief executive officer, Jharkhand State Implement Agency for Cattle and Buffalo, a wing of the government of India.
In Jharkhand, female bovine population is around 48 lakh, of which 41.94 lakh are cows.
However, only 18 lakh milch bovines, including 15 lakh cows, will be provided the health cards in the first phase, which is expected to begin next month.
The central government has already granted ₹1.57 crore for the project, which also includes tagging cattle with Aadhaar-like 12-digit unique identification (UID) number. The state government will also provide about ₹1.04 crore for the scheme.
Earlier, Jharkhand pioneered UID tagging of cattle under Centre’s INAPH (information network for animal productivity and health) programme. The state had already tagged over 70,000 cows with UID numbers to prevent illegal transportation of cattle, improve their milk yield and monitor their health, officials claimed.
INAPH’s Jharkhand nodal in-charge KK Tiwary said the health check-up programme along with UID tagging would be started next month. Over 500 veterinary doctors would be engaged for the drive, he said. “Once the check up is done, Nakul Swasthya Patra (health card) will be issued for the respective cattle,” Tiwary said, adding, “We have received the central fund and have written to the state government to provide its share so that the programme could be completed in time.”