New Delhi, Mar 19 (PTI) The government on Wednesday revised two schemes – National Program for Dairy Development and Rashtriya Gokul Mission, raising the outlay by Rs 2,000 crore to Rs 6,190 crore to boost milk production, procurement level, processing capacity, lab testing facilities and other related infrastructure.

Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has approved the Revised National Program for Dairy Development (NPDD) and the Revised Rashtriya Gokul Mission (RGM), Information and Broadcasting Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw told reporters.

"The Revised NPDD, a Central Sector Scheme, has been enhanced with an additional Rs 1,000 crore, bringing the total budget to Rs 2,790 crore for the period of the 15th Finance Commission cycle (2021-22 to 2025-26)," an official statement said.

This initiative focuses on modernising and expanding dairy infrastructure, ensuring the sector's sustained growth and productivity, Vaishnaw said.

The revised NPDD will give an impetus to the dairy sector by creating infrastructure for milk procurement, processing capacity, and ensuring better quality control. It is intended to help farmers gain better access to markets, ensure better pricing through value addition, and improve the efficiency of the supply chain.

In a post on social media platform 'X', Prime Minister Modi said the approval for the revised National Programme for Dairy Development will contribute to the sector's transformation, ensuring better pricing for farmers, job creation and more.

The Cabinet also approved the Revised RGM to boost growth in the livestock sector.

"Implementation of revised RGM, as central sector component of Development Programmes scheme is being done with an additional outlay of Rs 1,000 crore, that is total outlay of Rs 3,400 crore during 15th Finance Commission cycle from 2021-22 to 2025-26," the statement said.

Under the RGM, two new activities have been added, a) one-time assistance of 35 per cent of the capital cost for establishment of Heifer Rearing Centres to Implementing Agencies for creation of 30 housing facilities having a total of 15,000 heifers; (b) encourage farmers to purchase high genetic merit (HGM) IVF heifers to provide 3 per cent interest subvention on loan taken by the farmer from milk unions/financial institutions/ banks.

This will help in systemic induction of high-yielding breeds.

In another post, the Prime Minister said the decision relating to the Rashtriya Gokul Mission (RGM) will boost milk production, improve indigenous breeds and empower several dairy farmers.

"It is a major effort towards self-reliance in the livestock sector," he said.

There will be a continuation of ongoing activities of the Rashtriya Gokul Mission - strengthening of semen stations, artificial insemination network, implementation of bull production programme, accelerated breed improvement programme using sex-sorted semen, skill development, farmer awareness, support for innovative activities including establishment of Centre of Excellence and strengthening of Central Cattle Breeding Farms.

"With the implementation of the Rashtriya Gokul Mission and other efforts of the Government, milk production has increased by 63.55 per cent in the last ten years, along with the availability of milk per person, which was 307 grams per day in 2013-14, has increased to 471 grams per day in 2023-24. Productivity has also increased by 26.34 per cent in the last ten years," the statement said.

The NPDD scheme consists of two key components -- the first one is dedicated to improving essential dairy infrastructure, such as milk chilling plants, advanced milk testing laboratories, and certification systems.

It also supports the formation of new village dairy cooperative societies and strengthens milk procurement and processing in the North Eastern Region, hilly regions, and Union Territories (UTs), especially in remote and backward areas, as well as the formation of 2 Milk Producer Companies (MPCs) with dedicated grant support.

The second component, known as "Dairying through Cooperatives (DTC)", will continue to foster dairy development through cooperation with the Japanese government and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) as per agreements signed.

This component focuses on the sustainable development of dairy cooperatives, improving production, processing, and marketing infrastructure in the nine states (Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan, Telangana, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal).

"The implementation of NPDD has made a huge socio-economic impact already benefiting over 18.74 lakh farmers and has created over 30,000 direct and indirect jobs and increased milk procurement capacity by an additional 100.95 lakh litres per day," the statement said.

The NPDD has also supported promoting cutting-edge technology for better milk testing and quality control.

Over 51,777 village-level milk testing laboratories have been strengthened, while 5,123 bulk milk coolers with a combined capacity of 123.33 lakh litres have been installed. In addition, 169 labs have been upgraded with Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) milk analysers, and 232 dairy plants now have advanced systems for detecting adulteration.

The Revised NPDD is expected to establish 10,000 new Dairy Cooperative Societies, processing in the North Eastern Region, as well as the formation of 2 Milk Producer Companies (MPCs) with dedicated grant support. PTI MJH NKD CS NKD SHW