
The Modi government has decided to allocate each of country's milk-producing cows a unique identity cardor UID just like the 12-digit Aadhaar number for individuals.
The Union Budget 2018 set a target of Rs 50 crore for the completion of the project and cover about 40 million cows.
A dairy department official said the agriculture ministry, has already acquired the UID technology that comes with a cheap, tamper-proof polyurethane tag containing the cow’s biological details such as breed, age, sex, height and special body marks. Each card will cost between Rs 8 and Rs 10.
The UID scheme will be called Pashu Sanjivini which is said to be a part of a larger programme for the dairy and fisheries sectors.
In a budget speech seen as pro-poor, finance minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday announced a Fisheries and Aquaculture Infrastructure Development Fund and an Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development Fund worth Rs10,000 crore. About Rs200 crore has been set aside for an artificial insemination drive to improve cattle breeds, with an aim to “upgrade” the nation’s entire cattle population.
In 2015, a government committee had recommended UID for cows to prevent trafficking following a Supreme Court direction that heard a plea to stop cattle smuggling.
According to the 2015 expert committee’s recommendations, owners of cattle will be responsible for registration. “Registration proof must be maintained by the owner of the cattle which may be transferred to the next owner in case a legitimate sale/transfer takes place,” it had stated.