Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting and Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw briefing newsmen on cabinet decisions at National Media Centre in New Delhi on March 19, 2025.
| Photo Credit: Shiv Kumar Pushpakar
The Union Cabinet, on Wednesday (March 19, 2025), allocated an additional ₹1,000 crore for National Programme for Dairy Development (NPDD), bringing the total budget for the scheme to ₹2,790 crore for a period between 2021-22 to 2025-26. Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw told reporters after the Cabinet meeting that the initiative focuses on modernising and expanding dairy infrastructure, ensuring the sector’s sustained growth and productivity.
A statement from the Union Government said the revised NPDD will give an impetus to the dairy sector by creating infrastructure for milk procurement, processing capacity and ensuring better quality control. “It is intended to help farmers gain better access to markets, to ensuring better pricing through value addition, and improve the efficiency of the supply chain, leading to higher incomes and greater rural development,” the statement said.
The scheme has two key components, including the measures for improving essential dairy infrastructure, such as milk chilling plants, advanced milk testing laboratories, and certification systems. Secondly, the component “Dairying through Cooperatives (DTC)“ will foster dairy development through cooperation with the Government of Japan and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) as per agreements signed.
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“This component focuses on the sustainable development of dairy cooperatives, improving production, processing, and marketing infrastructure in the nine States (Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan, Telangana, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal),” the Government added.
The Centre added that the implementation of NPDD has benefitted over 18.74 lakh farmers and has created over 30,000 direct and indirect jobs and increase milk procurement capacity by an additional 100.95 lakh litres per day. “The NPDD has also supported in promoting cutting-edge technology for better milk testing and quality control,” the release added.
Published – March 19, 2025 09:44 pm IST