The Union Cabinet approved the Revised Rashtriya Gokul Mission (RGM) to boost growth in the livestock sector.
The revised mission will be implemented as a Central Sector component of the Development Programmes scheme, with an additional outlay of Rs.1,000 crore, bringing the total allocation to Rs.3,400 crore for the 15th Finance Commission cycle from 2021-22 to 2025-26.
Two new activities have been introduced under the revised RGM.
- The first is a one-time assistance of 35 percent of the capital cost for the establishment of Heifer Rearing Centres, which will help in creating 30 housing facilities with a total of 15,000 heifers.
- The second initiative aims to encourage farmers to purchase High Genetic Merit (HGM) IVF heifers by providing a 3 percent interest subvention on loans taken from milk unions, financial institutions, or banks for such purchases. This will facilitate the systematic induction of high-yielding breeds.