The Union Cabinet has approved the Revised National Program for Dairy Development (NPDD).

The Revised National Program for Dairy Development (NPDD)

• It is a Central Sector Scheme focused on modernizing and expanding dairy infrastructure, ensuring the sector’s sustained growth and productivity.
• Budget: The total budget to Rs.2790 crore for the period of the 15th Finance Commission cycle (2021-22 to 2025-26). 
• Nodal Ministry: Department of Animal Husbandry & Dairying (DAHD)
• Features: 
  • Infrastructure Creation: It  will create infrastructure for milk procurement, processing capacity, and ensuring better quality control. 
  • Market Access: It is intended to help farmers gain better access to markets, to ensuring better pricing through value addition
  • Rural Development: It also aims to improve the efficiency of the supply chain, leading to higher incomes and greater rural development.
• Components: 
  • Component A:
    • It is dedicated to improving essential dairy infrastructure, such as milk chilling plants, advanced milk testing laboratories, and certification systems.
    • To  establish 10,000 new Dairy Cooperative Societies, processing in the North Eastern Region (NER), hilly regions, and Union Territories (UTs)
    • The formation of 2 Milk Producer Companies (MPCs) with dedicated grant support
  • Component B or “Dairying through Cooperatives (DTC)”:
    • It will foster dairy development through cooperation with the Government of Japan and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) 
    • This component focuses on the sustainable development of dairy cooperatives, improving production, processing, and marketing infrastructure in the nine States ie.
      • Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan, Telangana, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal.