NEW DELHI, 10 September 2020: The government today launched e-Gopala app, an online digital medium that will help the farmers to choose better quality livestock and get freedom from middlemen.

This app will give all the information related to cattle care, from productivity to its health and diet, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said.

He added when this work is completed, inserting the animal Aadhaar number in the e-GOPALA app will give all the information related to that animal easily. This will make it easier for cattle owners to buy and sell animals.

The Prime Minister said it is necessary to adopt scientific methods and build modern infrastructure in the village to develop sectors like agriculture, animal husbandry and fisheries rapidly.

Bihar has been an important center for education and research related to agriculture.

He said that very few people know that Pusa Institute in Delhi refers to Pusa town near Samastipur in Bihar. During the time of colonial rule itself, a national level Agricultural Research Center was set up at Pusa in Samastipur.

He praised visionary leaders like Dr. Rajendra Prasad and Jananayak Karpoori Thakur for carrying this tradition forward after independence.

Taking inspiration from these efforts, the Prime Minister said that in 2016 Dr. Rajendra Prasad University of Agriculture was recognized as a Central University. After this, Courses were expanded extensively in the university and in the colleges affiliated to it.

He said taking this further, a new building of the School of Agri-Business and Rural Management has been inaugurated. In addition, new hostels, stadiums and guest houses have also been laid.

Considering the modern needs of the agricultural sector, 3 Central Agricultural Universities are set up in the country compared to only one 5-6 years ago.

In the Bihar Mahatma Gandhi Research Center was inaugurated to save farming from the floods that come in Bihar every year. Similarly, the Regional Research and Training Center for Fish in Motipur, the Animal Husbandry and Dairy Development Center at Motihari and many such institutes were started to connect agriculture with science and technology.

The Prime Minister said that clusters of food processing industries and research centres should be set up near villages and with that we can achieve the motto of Jai Kisan, Jai Vigyan and Jai Anusandhan.

The Prime Minister said that the Central Government has set up a INR 1 Lakh Crore Agriculture Infrastructure Development Fund for creating special infrastructure and providing support to FPOs, Cooperative Groups to develop storage, cold storage and other facilities.

Even Women’s SHGs are getting good support and the support has increased 32 times in the last 6 years.

Narendra Modi said that efforts are being made to rope in all villages in the country as engines of growth and helping them make India Self-Reliant.