India needs a dedicated Veterinary and Fisheries Research Council: A call for strategic reforms by Dr DVR Prakash Rao

By Dr DVR Prakash Rao – President - National Academy of Veterinary Sciences (India)

CHENNAI: A recent opinion in Business Standard of 16 July 2025 has argued against a creation of a separate Fisheries and Veterinary Research Council warning against the so called “Fragmentation” of ICAR.

This argument overlooks the strategic necessity, national relevance and institutional evolution required for Veterinary Sciences and Fisheries and to thrive as distinct but integrated pillars of India’s future food, health and livelihood systems.

The current synergy and integration of ICAR often comes at the cost of visibility, growth and sectoral autonomy of veterinary and fisheries sectors.

The fragmenting ICAR here does not threaten integration but strengthen by wheel-housing these sectors under their true leaderships.

The formation of a separate council Indian Council of Veterinary and Fisheries Research is not a fragmentation. It is a functional reform, a scientific necessity and national imperative.

The Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Sciences is a corner stone of rural growth and public health.

This sector contributes over 30% of the total agricultural GVA and supports over 300 million farmers, women and pastoralists across India.

This sector has witnessed a growth rate of 7 – 9% annually outperforming the crop sector constantly over the past decade. It is accepted that ICAR has done commendable work in agriculture sciences but subsumed the Veterinary and Fisheries sector structurally and administratively resulting in systemic under priority of Veterinary and Fisheries Research, innovation and public health integration.

The problems of Veterinary and Fisheries sectors are not peripheral issues but demand dedicated institutional framework, a robust R&D ecosystem, seamless integration with the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying. The budgetary allocations have declined receiving a cut of 36% in Animal Sciences Research and 30% in Fisheries Research.

The vision and mandate of MOFAMD differs substantially from ministry of agriculture.

This misalignment weakens delivery on national animal health goals, export standards, rural income growth and PM’s vision of “Sahkar Se Samriddhi” to livestock and dairy cooperatives.

The Veterinary Science is a distinct veterinary professional discipline but not an agricultural subset.

The Veterinary Science is both a biomedical and public health discipline. It operates at the interface of animal husbandry, human safety and environmental protection. The formation of a unified Indian Council for Veterinary and Fisheries Research is the only way forward and is both logical and synergetic given shared priorities in health, nutrition, trade and rural livelihoods.

It is shocking that less than 18% of ICAR institutional and budgetary capacity is only allocated to Veterinary and Fisheries combined which is a serious structural asymmetry causing serious damage to the growth of these two sectors. India has separate statutory councils for medical, dental, Ayush under ministry of health because of the functional necessity.

Hence a unified Indian Council for Veterinary and Fisheries Research will remove structural hurdles by aligning research directly to the mandate of the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying and thus facilitates the ministry to make significant contribution to national GDP, rural employment and protein malnutrition which go very well with the mandate and achievement of the ministry.