After 'Gaumaya Ganesha' now 'Kamadhenu Deepavali Abhiyan'

New Delhi, Oct 13 : Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying implemented the nation wide Kamadhenu Deepavali Abhiyan on Oct 12 to promote extensive use of cow dung during the festive season of Diwali. The initiative comes under Rashtriya Kamdhenu Aayog. Similar initiative was carried out during the Ganesh festival and this is a continuation in the programme. 

 

The ministry had implemented Gaumaya Ganesha Campaign during Ganesh Chaturthi to encourage the use of nature friendly material while making Ganesha idol. The recent initiative is inspired by the Ganesha campaign and aims to create business opportunities to small scale entrepreneurs and farmers who largely depend on cows and use of cow dung. The initiative aims at providing Atmanirbharta or self reliance to Gaushalas.

 

Under this scheme, small scale products of diyas, agarbatti, dhoop, swastika, decorative wall - pieces and idols of Mata Lakshmi and Ganesha, all made out of cow dung will be promoted by the Aayog. The initiative has set a goal of reaching around 11 crore families and ignite almost 1 lakh diyas made of cow dung at the Varanasi ghat.

 

The Rashtriya Kamdhenu Aayog was established in 2019 under the Rashtriya Gokul Mission with a budget of Rs 750 crores. The Aayog works to protect and conserve the development of cows. It works in collaboration with the animal sciences, veterinary sciences and agriculture universities engaged in breeding and rearing cow.

 

Rashtriya Gokul Mission was launched to set up Gokul Grams which are basically Integrated Cattle Development Centres. The mission has targeted to set up 21 Gokul Grams across the country. Four of them have been set up in Varanasi, Phora, Patiala and Mathura in June 2019.