Uttam Pashu Puraskar Yojana, Himachal Pradesh

What is Uttam Pashu Puraskar Yojana?

Uttam Pashu Puraskar Yojana is an award scheme run by the Department of Animal Husbandry, Government of Himachal Pradesh. According to the department's own subsidy and DBT portal at hpahdbt.hp.gov.in, the scheme exists to recognise animal husbandry and dairying activity by giving incentives and encouragement to livestock owners who rear good quality, high-yielding animals. The name is often written in Devanagari as उत्तम पशु पुरस्कार योजना and transliterated locally as "Uttam Pashu Puraskar", so readers searching either form are looking at the same scheme.

Himachal Pradesh runs its livestock economy on very large numbers of very small holdings. A typical hill household in Kangra, Mandi, Hamirpur or Bilaspur keeps one or two milch animals rather than a herd, and the state's milk output depends on how well those individual animals are fed, bred and looked after. Uttam Pashu Puraskar Yojana is the department's demand-side answer to that structure: rather than subsidise an input, it puts a cash award and public recognition behind the outcome that matters, an animal that actually yields well in a hill environment.

Uttam Pashu Puraskar Yojana is one of only 6 schemes the Department of Animal Husbandry currently hosts for online application on hpahdbt.hp.gov.in. The other five are the two streams of the pregnant indigenous cow and buffalo ration scheme, Him Kukkut Palan Yojana, Krishak Bakri Palan Yojana, and the subsidised rams scheme for sheep breeders. That grouping tells you where the scheme sits administratively, it is handled by the same district staff, on the same portal, with the same document set.

Who is eligible for Uttam Pashu Puraskar Yojana?

You can be considered if:

• You are a bonafide resident of Himachal Pradesh and hold, or can obtain, a Himachali bonafide certificate. Uttam Pashu Puraskar Yojana is a state-sector scheme funded from the Himachal Pradesh budget.
• You own the animal you are entering, a cow or buffalo kept for milk.
• The animal is identifiable, normally by an ear tag and the corresponding entry in the national animal database used by the department's field staff.
• The animal is physically available in Himachal Pradesh for a departmental veterinary officer to inspect and to record its milk yield.
• You have a bank account in your own name, because the award money is released by Direct Benefit Transfer.

You cannot apply, or will not be considered, if:

• You are not a bonafide resident of Himachal Pradesh.
• The animal is untagged or unidentifiable, so its yield cannot be attached to a specific animal on record.
• The animal is kept outside the state, or is not produced for the departmental milk recording on the notified date.
• You submit a self-declared yield figure only. An unverified claim is not a substitute for a recording observed by departmental staff.
• The entry is from an institution or a commercial dairy company rather than an individual livestock owner.

The Department of Animal Husbandry has not published a separate income ceiling, a caste restriction or an age bar for Uttam Pashu Puraskar Yojana on its portal. If a district issues additional local conditions in a given year, those are notified with that year's call for entries, so confirm with the district office rather than assuming last year's terms still hold.

How much does Uttam Pashu Puraskar Yojana pay?

Uttam Pashu Puraskar Yojana pays a cash award to the owners of the best performing animals. The Department of Animal Husbandry fixes the award amount and the number of awards against the budget approved for each financial year, and it does not publish one permanent figure on hpahdbt.hp.gov.in. This guide deliberately does not quote a rupee amount, because carrying forward a figure from an earlier year would be misleading.

Get the current year's amount from one of three places before you apply: the District Deputy Director, Animal Husbandry, in your district headquarters; the notice board of your nearest veterinary hospital or dispensary; or the toll-free number 1800-180-8006, which the department answers between 10:00 AM and 5:00 PM. Whatever the amount, it is released by Direct Benefit Transfer into the winner's own bank account, so an award never passes through an agent's hands.

What documents are required?

How to apply for Uttam Pashu Puraskar Yojana

1. Check that your animal is ear-tagged and that the tag number appears in the record held by your local veterinary institution. Get the tagging done first if it is missing, because everything else hangs off that identity.
2. Open hpahdbt.hp.gov.in, the Department of Animal Husbandry's official subsidy and DBT portal, and register with your mobile number.
3. Select Uttam Pashu Puraskar Yojana from the list of schemes on the portal home page and open the application form.
4. Fill in your personal details, your Himachali bonafide details, the animal's ear tag number and description, and your bank account number with IFSC exactly as printed in the passbook.
5. Upload the scanned documents listed in the table above and submit the form. Save or photograph the application number shown on the acknowledgement screen.
6. Present the animal for milk recording on the date the veterinary officer gives you. This step is not optional, an application without a departmental yield record does not go forward.
7. Track the application by logging back in to hpahdbt.hp.gov.in, or by asking at the veterinary institution that handled your recording.

If you prefer to apply offline, take the same documents to your nearest veterinary hospital or dispensary, fill the paper application there, and get a receipt. The application travels from the veterinary institution to the Block Veterinary Officer and then to the District Deputy Director, Animal Husbandry. The department also notes that its payment gateway integration is still in progress, so parts of the process continue to run offline, which makes the veterinary institution route perfectly normal rather than a fallback.

Assisted online filing is available at any Lok Mitra Kendra. The department has notified fixed Lok Mitra Kendra charges for its online schemes, so a centre may charge only that notified amount and nothing extra.

How do you check your application status?

1. Log in to hpahdbt.hp.gov.in using the mobile number you registered with.
2. Open the application status or track-application section and enter your application number.
3. If the online status has not moved, ask the veterinary institution where you filed. District-level entries are usually compared and shortlisted after the milk recording round closes.
4. Call 1800-180-8006 or +91-177-2830089 between 10:00 AM and 5:00 PM for a departmental answer.

Why applications get rejected

• Animal not tagged, so the yield cannot be attached to an identified animal.
• Animal not produced for the departmental milk recording on the given date.
• Bank details mismatched — a name on the passbook that differs from the Aadhaar name will stop the DBT credit even after an award is decided.
• No Himachali bonafide certificate, which disqualifies the application at the first check for a state-sector scheme.
• Applying after the year's budget is committed. Awards are limited by the annual allocation, so a late entry may be held over to the next year.

Most of these are fixable. A missing tag can be arranged through the veterinary institution, and a bank-name mismatch is corrected at the bank branch before resubmission.

Where do you get help or complain?

• Toll-free helpline: 1800-180-8006
• Directorate: +91-177-2830089, Department of Animal Husbandry, Pashudhan Bhawan, Boileauganj, Shimla 171005, open 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM
• Email: dir-ah-hp@nic.in
• Veterinary emergency: the state's toll-free veterinary ambulance service on 1962, for animal health rather than scheme questions
• CM Helpline 1100, the Himachal Pradesh government's common grievance line, which accepts complaints against any state department

Application to Uttam Pashu Puraskar Yojana is free. No official will ask for money to "get your animal selected", and no OTP received on your registered mobile number should ever be shared with anyone.