40 million cows to get Aadhaar-like number at cost of Rs 50 crore in 1st phase in India
Just like the 12-digit Aadhaar number for every Indian, the Narendra Modi government is set to assign each of the country’s milk-producing cows a cheap, unique identity card or UID, first proposed in 2015. Deliverable targets in this year’s Union budget show Rs 50 crore for the project to cover 40 million cattle. A dairy department official, requesting anonymity, said the agriculture ministry, which will implement the programme, has already acquired the UID technology that comes with a cheap, tamper-proof polyurethane tag containing the cow’s biological details such as breed, age, sex, height and special body marks. Each card will cost between Rs 8 and Rs 10. Named Pashu Sanjivini, the animal UID scheme is part of a larger programme for the dairy and fisheries sectors. These sectors are crucial if officials are to get serious on doubling farmers’ incomes by 2022, a target set by the government. Economists say this is nearly impossible from cultivation alone because a majority of Indi...