Glimpses 2019: An eventful year for Animal Husbandry Sector

Pashu Sandesh, 02 Jan 2020

When everyone is looking forward to a great New Year ahead, we look back at the year 2019 and try to catch a glimpse of the yesteryear. The year 2019 has been an eventful year for the Animal Husbandry sector. Let's take a ride.

The Landmark Year:

The year 2019 will always be remembered as a remarkable year in the history of Animal Husbandry as it witnessed the formation of a separate ministry for Fisheries, Dairying and Animal Husbandry. The Ministry has one Cabinet Minister and two Minister of States for effective management. By forming the separate ministry, Modi Government recognised the importance of Animal Husbandry sector.

Appointments:

• Appointment of new Animal Husbandry Secretary took place in August 2019. Atul Chaturvedi an IAS of 1986 batch was appointed as the Secretary following the superannuation of Tarun Shridhar on 31st July 2019.
• Dr Praveen Malik, presently working as the Director CCS-NIAH has been appointed as the Commissioner Animal Husbandry. The appointment committee of the Cabinet has cleared his name in Dec 2019.
• Dr OP Choudhary, joint secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, appointed as the Chairman Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) following the resignation of the then Chairman Dr S P Gupta. 
• GOI constituted “ Rashtriya Kamdhenu Ayog” under Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare for the conservation and protection of Cows. Dr Vallabh Bhai Kathiria an eminent name in Cow conservation was appointed as the First Chairman of the Ayog in Feb 2019.
• Suresh Chitturi was appointed as the Chairman of International Egg Commission (IEC) in Sep 2019. He is the first Asian to be appointed as the Chairman IEC.
• Dr MR Saseendranath appointed as the VC of Kerala Veterinary and Animal Science University in July 2019

Programs:

• In Sep 2019 PM Narendra Modi launched the National Animal Disease Control Program (NACDP) to control and eradicate the FMD and Brucellosis amongst the Livestock. This program is fully funded by the Central Government and over 12 thousand 500 crore rupees were allocated for the same.  Under this program over 500 million Livestock including cattle, buffalo, sheep, Goat and Pigs would be vaccinated against FMD.  NACDP is for the period of 5 years and would continue till 2024. The program also aims at vaccinating 36 million Female Bovine calves annually in the fight against Brucellosis. Both Brucellosis and FMD have a direct negative impact on the trade of Milk and other Livestock products.
• PM Modi also launched the National Artificial Insemination Program with the aim to cover all the 687 districts of the country.
• Haryana became the first state to introduce a combined vaccine under the FMD-CP implemented by the Government of India. Haryana vaccinated 60 Lakh Cattle at the doorstep of the farmers.
• Production of Sexed semen has started under the Rashtriya Gokul Mission (RGM). 
• Department of AH released the results of the 20th Livestock Census on 16th October 2019. This Livestock Census was a significant one since for the first time the Data collection was collected digitally throughout the country using specifically programmed Tablets. The result showed an increase of over 4.6% of the Livestock since 2012 census. Female cattle population increased by 18% to 145.12 million. However, there is a decline registered in the population of Pigs, Camels, Horses, Donkeys, Ponies, Yak and Mithun.

Miscellaneous: 

• Rejuvenation of Indian Veterinary Association (IVA) under the leadership of Dr Chirantan Kadian took place. The association was in limbo for many years and Dr Kadian and his team of dedicated Vets revived the association and presented itself as a strong voice for Vets of India.
• Process of elections at the VCI has started. On 29th November 2019 GOI issued a gazette notification amending the VCI rules 1985. For the first time, the VCI election would be done through electronic voting. 
• GOI issued an advisory with the common nomenclature for State Animal Husbandry Departments to harmonise the Veterinary services and improve uniformity across the states.
• Two diagnostic kits developed by ICAR-IVRI under the Make In India initiative namely S ELISA and JE IgM ELISA kit were released on 15th October.
• ICAR-NBAGR approved the registration of 15 new breeds of Livestock and Poultry on 5th Sep 2019.
• NDDB successfully developed complete De Novo Genome Assembly named “ NDDB_ABRO_ MURRAH of the Riverine Buffalos. 
• Government ban Colistin in food-producing Animals on 19th July 2019
• Central Government extended the benefits of Kisan Credit Card to farmers engaged in Animal Husbandry and Fishery. 
• Dr Neelam Bala a popular Vet and Secretary AWBI awarded UP icon award 2019 on 27th July 2019.

With many landmark things happening in 2019 the new year 2020 looks promising for the Animal Husbandry Sector. Finally, the Government has realised its potential in doubling the income of the farmers by 2022.