Explanation:

?? The Karnal-based National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI) has cloned, for the first ever in India, a
female calf of the desi breed Gir that was capable of producing over 15 litres of milk per day and it is
named "Ganga". Hence option (a) is the correct answer.
?? This development is part of the government's push to increase milk production.
o NDRI, the country's premier dairy research institute, has been working on a project to clone indigenous
high-yield cow breeds such as Gir and Sahiwal since 2021.
o Gir, Sahiwal, Tharparkar, and Red Sindhi are among the Indian cattle breeds that are crucial for the
Indian dairy industry's growth as well as milk production.
o Gir cattle are believed to be strong and immune to stress and diseases commonly found
in tropical regions.
o They are said to have been exported previously to Brazil, the United States, Mexico, and Venezuela for
the development of zebu cows.
o NDRI and the Dehradun-based Uttarakhand Livestock Development Board launched the cloning
programme together.
?? The method of cloning is also indigenous, behind which lie a large team of scientists. It's taken over
two years for them to arrive at this method to produce cloned cattle.
o It is India's first cloned Gir female calf named Ganga.
o To clone the Gir, oocytes are isolated from live animals using ultrasound-guided needles, and then,
matured for 24 hours under control conditions.
o The somatic cells of elite cows are used as donor genomes, which are fused with OPU-derived
enucleated oocytes. Following chemical activation and in-vitro culture, the developed blastocysts are
transferred into recipient mothers to deliver the Gir calf.