Parliamentary panel pulls up Karnal NDRI

Bhartesh Singh Thakur
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, December 6

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Agriculture has pulled up the National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI), Karnal, over no outcome in semen sexing and expressed unhappiness over vacancies and low revenue generation. The committee’s report on performance review of the NDRI was submitted to Parliament on December 3.

According to the committee, due to increasing demand of milk in the country, preference of farmers had shifted 

from male to female calves. “Till date, no research has been done in the area of semen sexing, which can help in producing significantly more number of female calves rather than the normal ratio of 50:50,” said the committee.

The committee noted that research efforts at the NDRI, Karnal, “have only been initiated a few years back and initially, funding for research on semen sexing was not regular”.

The Department of Agricultural Research and Education, under the Union Agriculture Ministry, informed the committee that semen sexing technology had so far been developed only by the team “X-Y Inc, USA” and no other team had been able to develop an alternative technology for the last 15 years.

During the course of evidence, the Department of Agricultural Research and Education informed that most of the 36 vacant posts of scientist were of senior position like principal scientist and senior scientist. The posts of scientists had been advertised, but due to non-availability of suitable candidates, these could not be filled.