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Modi govt carves out separate

NEW DELHI: Amid the razzmatazz around who got the top four and other key ministries in the ‘Team Modi 2.0’, a nuanced shift in the Agriculture Ministry went relatively unnoticed.

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Vibha Sharma

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, June 1

Amid the razzmatazz around who got the top four and other key ministries in the ‘Team Modi 2.0’, a nuanced shift in the Agriculture Ministry went relatively unnoticed. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had separated the Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries (DADF) from the Agriculture Ministry and turned it into a separate ministry — the Ministry of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries, providing ‘gau rakhsaks’ new opportunities.

The PM on Friday allocated this new ministry to Giriraj Singh, who believes a ban on cow meat consumption will bring down “crimes of the Satan”. By his side will be Muzaffarnagar riots accused Sanjeev Kumar Balyan and Pratap Chandra Sarangi, a Bajrang Dal leader.

Balyan had said the murder of Mohammad Akhlaq in Dadri, Uttar Pradesh, on the suspicion of beef consumption should not be seen as a communal issue. “I don’t want to link this issue with communalism, it is a social issue and related to emotions of the Hindu community,” he was quoted as saying.

Sarangi was the Odisha coordinator of Bajrang Dal at the time when the RSS affiliate was under scanner following the murder of Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two sons. Bajrang Dal activist Dara Singh was among those convicted.

As per the official website, the Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying came into existence on February 1, 1991, by converting two divisions of agriculture and cooperation — animal husbandry and dairy development — into a separate department. The main thrust areas of the department are development of requisite infrastructure in states/UTs for improving productivity, preservation and protection of livestock, strengthening of Central livestock farms for development of superior germplasm for distribution to states and expansion of aquaculture in fresh and brackish water and welfare of fisher-folk etc.

Of cow protection

With the creation of a separate ministry for animal husbandry, it is expected that along with other issues related to dairy development and fisheries, cow protection will also be the top agenda for the new government

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