Over 15L cows in Jharkhand to get health cards soon
18 LAKH BOVINES WILL BE ISSUED NAKUL SWASTHYA PATRA. JHARKHAND HAS ALREADY TAGGED 70,000 COWS WITH AADHAARLIKE UID NUMBERS
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 (CEO), Jharkhand State Implement Agency for Cattle and Buffalo (JSIACB), 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 Rs 1.57 crore for the project, which also includes tagging cattle with Aadhaar-like 12-digit unique identification (UID) number. The Jharkhand government will also provide about Rs 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 health check up is done, Nakul Swasthya Patra (health card) will be issued for the respective cattle,” Tiwary said, adding, “We have received the cen- tral fund and have written to the state government to provide its share so that the programme could be completed in time.”
He said, “The health card will help the dairy farmers to keep a record of their livestock and information on age and dates on which they should get their animals vaccinated and inseminated.”
Tiwary said the card would also include information about the veterinarian who has given medicine, vaccination, artificial insemination and genetic background of the bull or semen used. Cattle suffer with various diseases such as black-quarter, brucellosis, foot and mouth disease. “A record of disease helps in treatment,” he said, adding, the health cards would be linked to the UID numbers so that the animals’ detail could be found easily.
Animal husbandry department officials said the unique ID would also help Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, constituted in each district of Jharkhand, to monitor and check illegal trade of cattle in their respective districts.
In a bid to check illegal trade of cattle and their slaughtering, the Jharkhand government issued an order on March 27 this year for closure of all illegal slaughterhouses across the state. The state administration has closed more than 1,000 illegal slaughterhouses so far.