Rythu Bandhu, Telangana govt’s DBT scheme for farmers’ assistance
- Recently, the Telangana state government released Rs 544 crore towards the first instalment for the implementation of the Rythu Bandhu scheme for next season.
About CECA between India and Australia
- India is negotiating with Australia CECA covering trade in goods, services, investment and related issues.
- There were nine rounds of negotiations before both countries decided to suspend negotiations in 2015, pending the outcome of other multilateral regional negotiations.
- India and Australia have been in discussion for concluding“full” CECA by the end of 2022, but both sides have fast-tracked the process to secure an interim agreement before that.
The dairy sector in India
- World’s largest dairy herd: India has the world's largest dairy herd with over 300 million bovines, producing over 187 million tons of milk.
- Production: India's milk production is growing by 35.61% during the last six years to 198.4 million tonnes in 2019-20.
- The rural sector has an estimated share of 57 per cent in the total consumption.
- India continues to be the largest producer of milk in the world.
- Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Punjab continued to be the major milk-producing states.
- Self-sufficient: India is first among all countries in both production and consumption of milk. India is largely self-sufficient in milk production.
- Domestic consumption: Most of the milk is domestically consumed, though a small fraction is also exported.
- GDP: As of 2020, approximately 4.2% of India's gross domestic product was due to dairy production.
- Indigenous breeds: The population of indigenous breeds of cattle have steadily been decreasing, while that of the more productive exotic and crossbred breeds has been increasing.
- Contribution of Dr Verghese Kurien: India's success story in milk production was scripted by Dr Verghese Kurien, known as the ""Father of the White Revolution'' in India