The Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying under the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, is making all out efforts for the effective development of Animal Husbandry and Dairy sector to provide sustainable livelihood to the farmers. Indigenous bovine breeds of India are robust and possess the genetic potential to play a crucial role in the national economy. The ‘Rashtriya Gokul Mission (RGM)’, was launched in December 2014, with a view to conserving and developing indigenous bovine breeds in a scientific manner.
Under RGM, since 2021 this department has been conferring National Gopal Ratna Award every year to encourage to encourage the Milk producing farmers, dairy cooperative societies/MPC/FPOs and Artificial Insemination Technicians (AITs).
This year also National Gopal Ratna Award is for the following categories:
Best Dairy farmer rearing indigenous cattle/buffalo breeds; Best Dairy Cooperative Society (DCS)/ Milk Producer Company (MPC)/ Dairy Farmer Producer Organization (FPO); Best Artificial Insemination Technician (AIT).
This year onward, the Department has incorporated a special award for North Eastern Region states so as to encourage and boost the dairy development activities in the NE region.
NGRA 2024 will consist of a Certificate of Merit, a memento and a monitory prize in first two categories, that is, Best Dairy Farmer and Best DCS/FPO/MPCs as under:
Rs. 5,00,000/-(Rupee five lakh only): 1st rank
Rs. 3,00,000/- (Rupee three lakh only): 2nd rank
Rs. 2,00,000/- (Rupee two lakh only): 3rd rank
Rs. 2,00,000/- (Rupee two lakh only): Special Award for North Eastern Region (NER)
In case of the Best Artificial Insemination Technician (AIT) category, National Gopal Ratna Award-2024 will consist of a Certificate of merit and a memento only. There will be no cash prize.
Nominations for National Gopal Ratna Award during 2024 shall be submitted online through the National Award portal i.e. https://awards.gov.in starting from 15.07.2024 and the closing date for submission of nomination will be 31.08.2024.
The awards are to be conferred on the occasion of National Milk Day (26th November 2024). For more details about guidelines regarding eligibility and applying online, the website https://awards.gov.in or https://dahd.nic.in may be used.
Source: Krishi Jagran