.jpg?w=480&auto=format%2Ccompress&fit=max)
The Karnataka government on Thursday approved Rs 2 crore for increasing the population of female calves in the state through artificial impregnation.
The impregnation will be done from gender determined spermatic cord to obtain more than 90% female calves from the milching (milk yielding) cows of the state.
The announcement was made by Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa while revealing the state budget for the fiscal year 2020-21. It follows the central government's launch of the Nationwide Artificial Insemination Programme (N.A.I.P) in September 2019.
Within the first two months of the programme's launch, 3.8 lakh artificial inseminations were performed, a press statement issued by Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying claimed.
The programme was launched in 28 states and the high performing states released by the central government did not include Karnataka. It included Telangana, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Uttarakhand and Jharkhand.
The central government's programme aims to inseminate over 1 crore calves and tag them with 'PashuAadhaar', an identification provided to the animals to allow the government to track them with details like breed, age, gender and owner. Each bovine can be tracked through the Information Network on Animal Productivity and Health (INAPH) database.