Vats Palan Protsahan Yojana (Calf Rearing Incentive Scheme)

What is the Vats Palan Protsahan Yojana?

Vats Palan Protsahan Yojana, listed on some Madhya Pradesh district portals in English as the Cow Breeding Promotion Scheme or Gau Vatspalan Protsahan Yojana, is a state scheme of the Directorate of Animal Husbandry and Dairying that pays a livestock keeper to rear the calf of a high-yielding indigenous cow. The scheme has been running in Madhya Pradesh districts since 1 July 2012.

"Vats" means calf. The scheme's stated objective, as published on district portals such as Betul and Khargone, is to promote indigenous Indian cattle breeds by encouraging livestock keepers, and to conserve and develop the high-genetic-quality calves available with them.

The problem the scheme addresses is specific and real. When an indigenous cow of genuinely superior yield produces a calf, the calf carries that genetic merit, but a poor household often cannot afford to feed a non-productive animal for two years, and the calf is sold, neglected or, in the case of a male calf, abandoned. That destroys exactly the genetics the state's breeding programme needs. Vats Palan Protsahan Yojana pays for those two years of rearing.

The benefit, in full

• Rs 5,000 paid to the livestock keeper as an upfront incentive for the eligible cow and calf.
• Rs 500 per month for animal feed and medicine, paid for 24 months, totalling Rs 12,000.
• Total: Rs 17,000 per calf, as a 100 per cent grant. There is no beneficiary contribution and no loan component.
• Both male and female calves are covered. This matters: most Indian livestock schemes implicitly favour female calves, and male indigenous calves are the ones most at risk of abandonment.
• Assistance runs for two years from enrolment, with the calf enrolled in the 0 to 4 month age band.

Who is eligible for the Vats Palan Protsahan Yojana?

You can apply if:

• You keep a cow of an indigenous Indian improved breed.
• Your cow's milk production is at least 30 per cent above the average production of that breed. This is measured by the departmental committee, not claimed by you.
• The calf was produced by artificial insemination or natural service using high-genetic-merit semen or a bull of an indigenous breed, and the breeding is on record at the veterinary institution.
• The calf is in the 0 to 4 month age band at the time of application.
• You belong to any category. The scheme carries no caste, income, land or age restriction and is open to all categories.
• You have a bank account in your own name for the direct transfers.

You are not eligible and cannot apply if:

• Your cow is a crossbred or exotic breed: Holstein Friesian, Jersey or their crosses. The scheme exists specifically to conserve indigenous breeds.
• Your indigenous cow's yield is not 30 per cent above the breed average. An ordinary desi cow, however well kept, does not clear the bar.
• The calf's breeding is not on record, or the semen or bull used was not certified high-genetic-merit indigenous stock.
• The calf is older than roughly 4 months when you apply.
• You do not actually own or rear the calf.

Note that eligibility does not guarantee selection. Because the benefit is a 100 per cent grant and the district budget is limited, applications are ranked.

How are beneficiaries selected?

Selection is competitive and technical:

1. Livestock keepers register their cow and calf with the veterinary department.
2. A selection committee visits and measures the mother cow's milk yield three times.
3. The committee takes the average of the three measurements and compares it with the published average yield for that breed.
4. Applicants are ranked by milk production, and beneficiaries are approved from the highest downwards until the available budget is exhausted.

This is the same three-milking measurement method used in the Gopal Puraskar Yojana, and the two schemes complement each other. A farmer whose Gir or Malvi cow performs well in the Gopal Puraskar competition is exactly the farmer whose calf the department wants reared under Vats Palan.

What documents are required?

How to apply for the Vats Palan Protsahan Yojana

1. Go to your nearest government veterinary institution, a veterinary dispensary, veterinary hospital or the office of the Veterinary Extension Officer, as soon as the calf is born, and certainly within the first four months.
2. Register your cow and calf. Give the Assistant Veterinary Field Officer, Veterinary Extension Officer or Veterinary Assistant Surgeon your name, Samagra ID, Aadhaar number, village, bank account details, the cow's breed and ear tag number, and the calf's date of birth.
3. Produce the breeding record. The artificial insemination record held by the veterinary institution establishes that the calf came from certified indigenous high-genetic-merit semen. If service was natural, the bull's details must be on record.
4. Let the selection committee measure the milk. The committee records three milkings of the mother cow and takes the average. Keep the cow on her normal feed regime during this period.
5. Wait for the selection list. The district Deputy Director of Veterinary Services approves beneficiaries in descending order of yield until the budget is used up.
6. Receive Rs 5,000 as the incentive and then Rs 500 every month for 24 months into your bank account, subject to periodic verification that the calf is alive and being reared.

How do I check my status and payments?

Application status is tracked at the veterinary institution where you registered. Ask for the position of your case in the selection list and whether the district budget has been exhausted. For the monthly payments, check your bank passbook or account statement. The Rs 500 arrives by direct transfer, so a missing month is visible immediately. If two or more months are missing, raise it with the veterinary institution first and then with the district Deputy Director (Veterinary Services).

Why do applications get rejected or payments stop?

• Cow's yield below the 30 per cent threshold on committee measurement. This is the commonest rejection.
• Crossbred cow. Not eligible at all, whatever the yield.
• No breeding record. If the veterinary institution has no AI record and no recorded indigenous bull for the service, the calf's parentage cannot be established.
• Calf too old at application; past the 0 to 4 month enrolment window.
• Budget exhausted. The applicant is eligible but ranked below the cut-off; reapply in the next cycle with a subsequent calf.
• Verification failure. If a periodic check finds the calf sold, dead or not being reared, the monthly assistance stops.
• Bank account problems — an account not in the keeper's own name, or not Aadhaar-seeded, will hold up the monthly transfers even after selection.

Where do I complain?

• The veterinary institution where you registered, for selection list and measurement questions.
• District Deputy Director, Veterinary Services, for selection disputes and stopped payments.
• Directorate of Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Bhopal; helpline 0755-2772262, email dirveterinary[at]mp[dot]gov[dot]in, website mpdah.gov.in.
• CM Helpline 181, Madhya Pradesh's grievance line with a tracked complaint number.

No fee is charged at any stage of Vats Palan Protsahan Yojana. The scheme is a 100 per cent grant, so any demand for money in exchange for selection is improper and should be reported.

Is Rs 17,000 enough to rear a calf for two years?

Rs 500 a month does not cover the entire cost of rearing a growing calf, and the scheme does not claim to. What it does is close the gap that makes a poor household give up on a genetically valuable calf. It pays for the concentrate feed, deworming and vaccination that decide whether that calf grows into a productive animal or a stunted one. A female calf reared properly under this scheme becomes a high-yielding desi cow in her own right, and a well-grown male calf of certified indigenous parentage is exactly what the department's own breeding programme, and schemes like the Advanced Animal Breeding Scheme, are short of.