Nearly one lakh technicians have been armed with 50,000 tablets, with a single mission – to affix a tag with a 12-digit unique identification number inside an ear of each of the 88 million cows and buffaloes within this year.
The technicians have been trained to affix a polyurethane tag inside the ears of the cattle with a tag applicator. And the govt has fixed behemoth targets for individual states to be completed within 2017. Uttar Pradesh has to affix tags on 14 lakh cattle every month, while Madhya Pradesh has to tag 7.5 lakh cattle a month.
State governments will be provided funds for undertaking the programme, and for this, the govt has also set aside Rs 148 crore.
But why?
According to one report, Indian milk economy is worth Rs 5 lakh crore, growing at a CAGR of 15-16 per cent, out of which the organised milk economy is worth Rs 80,000 crore. Hence, by tagging the cattle, the government aims to ensure that scientific intervention is made available for better breeding and assist in augmenting milk yields. The government wants to double the country’s milk production by 2020.
