Union Secretary of the Department of Animal Husbandry & Dairy (DAHD), IAS officer Alka Upadhyay, chaired a meeting with other top bureaucrats and members of the technical committee in New Delhi on ‘Sensitization for 21st Livestock Census’.

The meeting was organised to discuss the survey schedule for the 21st Livestock Census and assess the preparedness of the various states &UTs as well as the DAHD.

During the meeting, the ICAR-National Bureau of Animal Genetic Resources (NBAGR) presented the statewide latest breed list for various species and highlighted the method of identifying the breed of the animals in the field.

Since Animal Husbandry Statistics serves as the backbone of policy formulation and implementation of various programmes, the Livestock Census (LC) plays a pivotal role in the entire mechanism. LC is nothing short of a massive door-to-door field operation where data is collected from every household and is used to assess the actual count of domesticated animals and birds for holistically comprehending the livestock wealth of the country. 

The enumeration process shall be executed in all villages and urban wards across India whereby various species of animals (cattle, buffalo, Mithun, yak, sheep, goat, pig, horse, pony, mule, donkey, camel, dog, rabbit and elephant), poultry birds (fowl, duck and other poultry birds) possessed by the households, household enterprises and non-household enterprises will be counted at their respective sites — breed-wise with their age and sex.