Gaudham Yojana (Surabhi Gaudham) - Chhattisgarh

What is Gaudham Yojana?

Gaudham Yojana is a scheme of the Animal Husbandry Development Department, Government of Chhattisgarh, to set up and operate 1,460 cow shelters across the state for destitute, abandoned and nomadic bovine animals. Every shelter under the scheme carries the common brand name Surabhi Gaudham.

Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai launched the scheme on 14 March 2026 at Lakhasar village in Takhatpur block, Bilaspur district, and digitally inaugurated 29 shelters across 11 districts the same day. The Finance Department and the Animal Husbandry Development Department cleared the financial pattern before launch.

Gaudham Yojana answers two problems at once. The first is stray cattle on highways and in standing crops, a persistent rural complaint in Chhattisgarh. The second is rural employment: each Gaudham employs staff, grows green fodder, and produces cow-dung-based goods such as vermicompost, phenyl and diyas that generate a small income stream for the operating institution.

Main features

• 1,460 Gaudhams planned statewide, each with a capacity of up to 200 bovines.
• Operated by registered institutions, not by the government directly.
• Per-animal daily feed grant on a rising four-year scale.
• Paid staff, shepherds and gausevaks; on fixed monthly honorarium.
• Training in animal husbandry, green fodder cultivation and cow-dung products is run at the Gaudham premises.
• Support equipment including cow catchers and mobile animal ambulances is provided for capturing and treating stray animals.

Who can run a Gaudham and who cannot?

Eligible operators

• Registered gaushala committees, especially those affiliated to the Chhattisgarh Gau Seva Aayog (State Gau Seva Commission), which are given first priority.
• Registered NGOs and trusts with a track record in animal welfare.
• Farmer producer companies (FPOs) registered under the Companies Act.
• Cooperative societies registered in Chhattisgarh.

An eligible institution must have access to land for the shelter: owned, leased, or allotted by the gram panchayat, and must be able to maintain an animal register, keep audited accounts and file utilisation certificates.

Who cannot apply

• Individual farmers, cattle owners or cowherds are not eligible to be sanctioned a Gaudham. This is not a personal-benefit scheme and there is no citizen application form. Individuals participate only as employees of a sanctioned Gaudham or as users of its fodder, manure and veterinary services.
• Unregistered village groups without a society, trust, cooperative or company registration cannot be sanctioned.
• Commercial dairies seeking a production subsidy are outside the scope — the scheme is for destitute and unproductive bovines, not for milch herds.

This distinction is the single thing readers most often get wrong. If your interest is a personal subsidy for buying or keeping cattle, look instead at the department's dairy and backyard livestock schemes, not at Gaudham Yojana.

How much financial support does a Gaudham receive?

The core grant is a daily feed allowance paid per animal, escalating year on year:

At the design capacity of 200 animals, the fourth-year rate works out to Rs 7,000 a day for a full shelter. The escalating scale is deliberate: the state expects a Gaudham to earn part of its running cost from cow dung, vermicompost and cow-based products in the early years, and increases the public grant only as the herd and its maintenance cost mature.

Staff honorarium

• Shepherd (charwaha): Rs 10,916 per month
• Gausevak: Rs 13,126 per month

Individual shelters also receive capital and equipment support. At the flagship Lakhasar Gaudham, which spans 25 acres with 19 acres under fodder cultivation, Rs 25 lakh was allocated for a training building. Per-shelter capital figures vary with site and district and are not published as a single statewide norm, so do not assume the Lakhasar allocation applies everywhere.

How to apply to operate a Gaudham

1. Register the institution first, if it is not already registered; as a society, public trust, cooperative society or farmer producer company. An unregistered committee cannot be considered.
2. Seek affiliation with the Chhattisgarh Gau Seva Aayog. Affiliated gaushalas are given priority in Gaudham sanctions, so this step materially improves the proposal.
3. Secure the land. Obtain ownership papers, a registered lease, or a gram panchayat resolution allotting gochar or panchayat land for the shelter. Fodder cultivation area should be shown separately from the shed area.
4. Prepare the proposal with the site plan, proposed capacity up to 200 animals, staffing plan, water and fodder arrangement, and a budget.
5. Submit the proposal to the district veterinary office of the Animal Husbandry Development Department, which routes it through the district administration and the Gau Seva Aayog for sanction against the district's allotted number of Gaudhams.
6. Open a dedicated institutional bank account and share the details, since feed grants and honorarium are released to the institution by transfer.
7. Start and maintain the animal register from day one. Feed support is released against the recorded number of animals, so an incomplete register directly reduces the grant.

What happens at a Surabhi Gaudham day to day?

A working Gaudham does more than house cattle. According to the department's launch announcements, each shelter is expected to run:

• Green fodder cultivation on land attached to the shelter, reducing bought feed cost.
• Cow-dung enterprises, vermicompost, organic manure, and household goods such as diyas and phenyl, sold locally to part-fund operations.
• Training programmes for nearby farmers in animal husbandry, fodder cultivation and dung-based products.
• Stray cattle capture using the cow catcher vehicle provided, and treatment through the mobile animal ambulance.
• Organic farming linkage, supplying manure to farmers in the surrounding villages.

Common reasons a Gaudham proposal fails

• No registration. A village committee without legal registration is rejected at scrutiny.
• Unclear land title. A verbal understanding over panchayat land is not enough; a written panchayat resolution or lease is needed.
• No water source. A shelter for 200 animals needs an assured water supply; proposals without one are returned.
• District quota already filled. Gaudhams are sanctioned against district targets within the 1,460 statewide number. A sound proposal may simply have to wait for the next round.
• No fodder land. Proposals that show only a shed and no fodder area struggle, because the grant scale assumes falling dependence on purchased feed.

Where to get help

• District veterinary office / Deputy Director, Veterinary Services of your district, the working point of contact for proposals and grant releases.
• Chhattisgarh Gau Seva Aayog, for gaushala affiliation.
• Animal helpline 1962, for veterinary emergencies and the mobile veterinary ambulance service operating in Chhattisgarh.
• Animal Husbandry Development Department portal, agriportal.cg.nic.in/AHD, for departmental circulars and scheme orders.

Per-shelter capital cost norms, the district-wise allotment of the 1,460 Gaudhams and the detailed sanction guidelines had not been published as a single consolidated document at the time of checking. Confirm current figures with the district veterinary office before committing land or funds.