Kota: Suspected large-scale fake entries of animal vaccinations under the National Animal Disease Control Programme (NADCP) have surfaced on the Union govt’s National Digital Livestock Mission (NDLM) portal, raising concerns over implementation gaps and possible financial misuse linked to tagging and vaccination incentives.Under the programme, each animal is assigned a 12-digit unique ID verified through an OTP-based mobile application, with owner details and other information uploaded to the portal. Veterinary technicians are paid Rs 5 for tagging an animal and Rs 3.50 for administering each vaccination.
Scrutiny of NDLM portal entries in Kota district found records that did not match field claims by listed owners.One entry for “Kadirn” of Modak Station in Ramganjmandi showed 50 animals vaccinated against a listed mobile number. When contacted, Yogesh Meena, who received the call, said, “I own only two cows and a calf,” adding that none were vaccinated and that no person named Kadirn lives there. The technician listed, Kavita Kumari, was shown with a nine-digit mobile number, instead of the customary 10 digits.In another case from the same area, Abdul Khan was recorded as owning 111 vaccinated cows. He said he had 25 cattle, but “all sold over a year ago.”Multiple similar instances have been cited, fuelling allegations that vaccination details were uploaded without proper field verification and that some immunisation records may exist only on the portal. People within the department have also raised questions about login access, controls to prevent data changes, and monitoring, but these concerns “remained ignored,” according to the account.A veterinary department official acknowledged discrepancies “in many cases,” citing pressure to meet targets and resistance from cattle owners to tagging and vaccination. Sources said weak record-keeping and system oversight may have enabled false reporting.Dr Ganesh Narayan Dadich, additional director in the vetrinary department in Kota, who was the supervising authority at the time, told this reporter to speak to the incumbent joint director in the department. Joint director in the vetrinanry department, Dr Neetesh Bhardwaj, however, could not be reached for comment as his phone was switched off.The NADCP, launched in Sept 2019 by the Union govt and implemented with the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB), aims to control Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) and Brucellosis and eradicate them by 2030 through 100% vaccination coverage. The scheme covers cattle, buffalo, sheep, goats and pigs for FMD, and bovine female calves aged 4–8 months for Brucellosis, an infectious bacterial disease primarily transmitted to humans through unpasteurised dairy products or contact with infected animals.
