Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh’s Animal Husbandry and Dairy Development Minister Dharmpal Singh honored 66 milk producers, the highest milk suppliers of the state in the year 2022-23, with Gokul Award and 48 milk producers, who produced the highest amount of milk, with Nandbaba Award in a program organized at Indira Gandhi Pratishthan here.
All the 114 awarded milk producers were encouraged by giving them a symbol, prize money along with certificate. On this occasion, Singh said that with the inspiration of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, milk production of Indian bovine indigenous cow is being promoted and the protection and promotion of cows is the priority of the state government.
Singh appealed to the milk producers to do business through milk committees. He said that the milk price of milk committees will be paid within a month. In the program, under the Gokul Award, Varun Singh of Lakhimpur-Kheri district resident and Velva Moti Samiti was awarded the state level first prize and Harsh Mittal of Ruhasa Milk Committee resident of Meerut was awarded the second prize.
These two milk producers were awarded prize money of Rs. 02 lakh and Rs. 1.50 lakh respectively and the remaining other selected beneficiaries were awarded an amount of Rs. 51 thousand under the district level award.
Similarly, under the Nandbaba Award, Lovelesh Kumar of Udhauli Milk Committee resident of Ayodhya was awarded the state level award and an amount of Rs. 51 thousand was given as a reward. Apart from these, an amount of Rs. 21 thousand was awarded under the district level award. On this occasion, Singh congratulated all the winners and said that out of the 114 awarded milk producers, 26 are women beneficiaries, which is a strong example of women’s participation in the field of milk production.
Singh said that the department is working to remove the shortcomings of milk processing, train farmers and provide new technology and new information in milk production, which is increasing the milk productivity per animal. He said that through milk cooperatives in the state, animal husbandry and dairy business are being adopted as a supporting business of agriculture.
At present, dairy business has become a strong medium of self-employment at urban and rural level. It is playing a big role in doubling the income of farmers and animal breeders and making them self-reliant.
Singh said that Uttar Pradesh ranks first in the country in the field of milk production. Various programs are being conducted by the state government in the interest of milk producers, in which the benefits of artificial insemination program and technical investment facility are being made available to milk producers at their doorstep and training is also being provided in animal breeding, nutrition and management. Arrangements for immediate medical treatment of animals have been ensured by mobile veterinary unit.
On this occasion, Principal Secretary of Animal Husbandry and Dairy Development Department, K. Ravindra Nayak said that priority will be given to payments of milk committees and continuous efforts are being made to revive inactive committees. The Principal Secretary informed that under the Gokul Puraskar, Gokul Puraskar is distributed every financial year to encourage farmers to increase milk production under milk development. Only those milk producers are eligible for selection of Gokul Puraskar, who have supplied 5000 liters or more milk to the milk committee in the financial year.
The state level award is distributed to the first and second beneficiary who supply the maximum milk in the milk committee of the state and the district level award is distributed to the rest.
The Principal Secretary informed that under the Nandbaba Puraskar, Nandbaba Puraskar is distributed every financial year to encourage farmers to increase the milk of Indian cows under milk development. Only those producers of Indian bovine cows who produce the maximum milk are eligible for the Nandababa Award and who have supplied at least 1500 litres or more of milk to the Milk Committee in a financial year.
On this occasion, Milk Commissioner, Rakesh Kumar Mishra, Managing Director of PCDF, Anand Kumar, Special Secretary, Dairy Development Department, Ram Sahay Yadav, elected presidents of milk unions and officers and employees of milk unions were also present.
