Discuss the role of assisted reproductive technologies and cooperative dairies in conserving indigenous cattle breeds while raising productivity.

Article 48 asks the State to organise animal husbandry on modern and scientific lines and to preserve and improve breeds. The inauguration of the Banas Bovine Breeding Research Centre (BBBRC) at Bhildi reflects this. It is India's first facility dedicated to the Kankrej breed [1]. Assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs) speed up genetic gain, and cooperatives carry that gain to farmers. Together they can make conservation pay.

Role of assisted reproductive technologies

• Faster genetic gain: BBBRC uses ET-IVF (embryo transfer with in-vitro fertilisation) to improve breeds 10–20 times faster than conventional breeding [1].
• Multiplying elite germplasm: one high-merit indigenous cow can yield many calves through surrogate mothers. Bovine IVF is now promoted for indigenous breeds through 24 IVF labs [2].
• Farmer incentive: under Rashtriya Gokul Mission, farmers get ₹5,000 per assured IVF pregnancy [2].

Role of cooperative dairies

• Assured market and scale: Banas Dairy's turnover of up to ₹24,000 crore gives smallholders steady prices for milk from native cows [4].
• Last-mile delivery: BBBRC is located in Banas Dairy's milk-shed, so cooperative networks can carry its breeding services to member farmers [1].
• Circular economy: Bio-CNG plants at Tharad and Radhanpur run on cattle dung [1]. This earns money even from low-yielding native cows. The Vav-Tharad plant is presented as a model for cooperatives nationwide [4].
• Lower input costs: cooperatives plan to make their own cattle feed [4].

Limitations

• Low success rate: under the Mission, 36,536 embryos were transferred but only 3,761 calves were born, about one calf per ten transfers [3].
• Cost barrier: farmers have been slow to adopt IVF because it is expensive. The government has launched indigenously developed IVF media to bring the cost down [3].
• Uneven capacity: the model works where strong cooperatives exist, as in Gujarat. It is harder to replicate where they are weak.

ARTs provide the speed and cooperatives provide the scale and the market. Together they turn conservation into a livelihood. The way forward is to publish each lab's calving rate, reduce the cost per calf, and spread cooperative breeding services to weaker States. This would advance Article 48 and SDG target 2.5, which aims to maintain the genetic diversity of domesticated animals.