Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday launched a slew of government schemes for farmers in Uttar Pradesh’s Mathura, with one among them being the ambitious National Animal Disease Control Programme (NADCP).

With 100 per cent funding from the Centre of Rs 12,652 crore for a period of five years till 2024, NADCP aims to eradicate the Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) and Brucellosis in livestock.

NADCP aims at vaccinating over 500 million livestock including cattle, buffalo, sheep, goats and pigs against foot and mouth disease. The programme also aims at vaccinating 36 million female bovine calves annually in its fight against Brucellosis disease.

The programme has two components – to control the diseases by 2025 and eradication by 2030.

PM Modi said it surprised him that earlier governments didn’t deal with this problem that plagues livestock and peoples, that is why he took it up as a campaign.

Taking a sharp dig at critics, Modi said, “There are a few who get a ‘current’ (electric shock) the moment they hear the word ‘cow’.”

Besides the ‘Swachhta Hi Seva’ Programme 2019, National Animal Disease Control Programme (NADCP) and National Artificial Insemination Programme, PM Modi also launched 16 projects of Uttar Pradesh government related to livestock, tourism and road construction.

Modi also personally interacted with farmers, veterinary doctors and plastic waste segregators. Taking his pledge to phase out single-use plastic, the Prime Minister not only launched a welfare scheme to segregate plastic from waste but also interacted with a number of waste collectors.

PM Modi sat down with the women who pick plastic from garbage and also extended a helping hand to them. He told them the importance of segregating plastic from waste so that it does not end up in the stomachs of bovines.

Modi exhorted Indians to get their homes and offices rid of single-use plastic, before Gandhi Jayanti that is October 2. He further appealed to self-help groups, individuals and others to join the mission.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his Independence Day speech and monthly radio broadcast Mann ki Baat had emphasised on the need to conserve the environment and urged citizens to eliminate the use of single-use plastic.

The Uttar Pradesh government had on September 1, implemented the ban on plastic having thickness less than 50 microns with a fine up to Rs1 lakh and six months in jail for violators.

Modi also inspected a machining facility that will recycle waste. He also interacted with veterinary doctors on how vaccines are administered to cows and what precautions are taken.