Livestock census unlikely to take off on time in J&K

Srinagar, Sep 14 (UNI) The livestock census in Jammu and Kashmir is unlikely to commence on the scheduled date of October 1, sources said today.

They said the Government Press had failed to supply nearly 30 lakh copies of census schedules to the Animal Husbandry Department with less than 15 days remaining for the commencement of the head count of the livestock in Jammu and Kashmir.

The sources said if the Government Press failed to execute the order on time, the Livestock Census may not take off on time and get delayed by several days.

The Animal Husbandry Department had earlier said that about 4000 enumerators would be deployed across the state for data collection from October 1. There would also be more than 600 officials supervising the head count, it added.

Besides the head count of animals, the enumerators from twin departments of Animal and Sheep Husbandry would collect information regarding people eking out a living out of the livestock based units and activities, water bodies, fisheries, fishermen, fishing equipment, agricultural implements, grazing lands, butchers, poultry farmers and traders during the month-long exercise.

The massive exercise would form a part of the 18th nationwide livestock census, the Department said.

The livestock census had started in 1919-20 and was being conducted every five years. It was conducted by the state Revenue Department till 2003 when the 17th livestock census was assigned to the Animal Husbandry Department.

The Department said the census would cover both rural and urban areas with no household being left uncovered. No official deployed on data collection or processing duty would be allowed to part with the information collected from the people in any manner, it added.

The Department said the information gathering would be fully coded to ensure that nobody was in a position to have access to any information or part thereof specific to a particular household.

The exercise was aimed at improving the lot of the people associated directly or indirectly with the livestock and fisheries activities, it added.

UNI