Punjab misses out on key livestock, fisheries schemes: Panel

Chandigarh: Punjab has been left out of several key central livestock and fisheries schemes, with a parliamentary standing committee flagging gaps in fund flow, veterinary infrastructure and implementation, despite the state's strong dependence on the rural economy.In its report, the Standing Committee on Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Food Processing said Punjab was among the states where little or no funding was released under the National Livestock Mission over the past five years, indicating uneven distribution of projects under an employment-oriented scheme.The panel also flagged serious infrastructure gaps. Under the Mobile Veterinary Units (MVUs) component of the Livestock Health and Disease Control Programme, Punjab was among the states and UTs where no units were operational, despite the scheme's goal of one unit for every one lakh livestock population.Punjab also saw no training under the MAITRI initiative between 2021-22 and 2025-26, even as the scheme aims to provide doorstep artificial insemination services to farmers. Nationally, over 40,000 technicians have been trained under the programme.On sex-sorted semen technology, however, Punjab performed strongly, recording a female calf birth success rate of around 95%, higher than the national average. But the panel noted that the conception rate remained lower than under the regular artificial insemination programme.The report also flagged low and inconsistent funding to Punjab under the Scheduled Castes Sub Plan (SCSP) component of the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana, despite the state having one of the country's highest SC populations at 31.9%.The committee said Punjab received just Rs 3.37 crore under the scheme, much lower than states such as Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.It also recommended targeted efforts to promote fisheries in Punjab's waterlogged Malwa region, including cluster-based inland aquaculture and allied activities such as ornamental fisheries, pearl farming and saline-water fisheries.