Govt takes food, mouth disease vaccination to 16 more states

Government has decided to take up foot and mouth disease vaccination in 16 states and one Union Territory under the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY) with a budget of Rs 100 crore.
To prevent economic losses due to food and mouth disease (FMD), a location specific 'FMD Control Programme' is being implemented since 2002 and been covered in 13 states and six Union territories.
"Looking at the economic importance of the control disease, the Department (of Animal and Husbandry) has conceived 'FMD Mukt Bharat' in next few years," an official release said.
"However, 16 States and one UT are yet to be covered under intensive FMD vaccination at six monthly intervals. Therefore, it has now been decided to take up FMD vaccination in these states under Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY) during 2016-17," it added.

Initially Rs 100 crore has been allotted for FMD control under RKVY for 16 states and one UT.
The states are Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Odisha, Sikkim, Tripura, Uttarakhand and West Bengal and the UT is Chandigarh.

State-wise allocation has already been informed to respective state governments. The states have been asked to undertake FMD vaccination by availing the assistance under RKVY, the statement said.
The government has said that with robust implementation of FMD control programme, the disease occurrence has drastically been reduced. The number of FMD outbreaks have come down to 109 in 2015 from 879 in 2012, it added.

FMD is one of the most economically devastating contagious viral animal diseases affecting all susceptible cloven-footed animals.
As per the estimates by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), direct loss to milk and meat is to the tune of Rs 20,000 crore per annum.
It can be much more if indirect losses due to reduced work capacity, abortions, subsequent infertility and sterility are taken into account, it added.