| This paper analyses the overall performance of dairy industry in India: issues and challenges. The importance of dairying in our country hardly needs emphasizing. The vast resources (more than 50 percent of the world's buffalos and 20 percent of its cattle) of livestock in the country play an important role in the national economy as well as in the socio-economic development of millions of rural households. Despite the drastic growth of service and industrial sector in India, still majority of the people nearly 70 percent living in rural areas. Thus Higher growth of economy is impossible unless and until the rural areas developed well in all aspects. Under these circumstances the governments have introduced many schemes and programmes for rural development. But it failed to succeed in achieving its targets. Livestock sector arised as major subsector in agriculture by providing major source of income to the majority of the people in rural areas, especially in dry land and drought prone areas. The marginal and small farmers are the major beneficiaries of the dairy industry in rural areas. It providing employment to the nearly 18 million people, more importantly 60 to 70 percent are women. Dairy farming plays a significant role in sustaining the rural livelihoods, although the phenomenons of farmer's suicides, migration are widely prevalent in rural India. |