Minister Vijay Shah offers jaggery and fodder to cows at Govardhan Puja in Khandwa gaushala

Madhya Pradesh Tribal Affairs Minister Dr Kunwar Vijay Shah was the chief guest on Monday at a Govardhan Puja programme at the Keshav Dham Gaushala in Khandwa. He extended greetings on Govardhan Puja and the Annakut festival and said the puja was being celebrated with joy across the state today. According to him, every tradition and festival of ours carries respect for nature, and Govardhan Puja is the greatest example of this.

Before his speech, Shah worshipped the cows at the gaushala and fed them jaggery and fodder. Khandwa MLA Kanchan Mukesh Tanve, Collector Rishav Gupta, Zila Panchayat CEO Aishwarya Verma, Additional Collector Shraddha Shukla, district BJP president Rajpal Singh Tomar and Dharmendra Bajaj were present, along with other public representatives and officials.

Shah said the government was trying to fill vacant posts of assistant veterinary field officer. A training centre for the post will be built in the Harsud assembly constituency, along with a 100-seat hostel. He asked Zila Panchayat CEO Verma to prepare a proposal for one model gram panchayat and one model anganwadi in Khalwa block. The Tribal Affairs Department would provide every possible budget for this, he said.

MLA Tanve said it is everyone's responsibility to preserve our culture and traditions, and that the state government organised the Govardhan Puja event with this aim. Thanking Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Dr Mohan Yadav, she said it is their contribution that everyone is together celebrating the Govardhan festival as a government programme.

District BJP president Tomar said that by worshipping Govardhan and cattle, "we give the world the message of nature, environment and livestock promotion". According to him, it is a festival to protect nature and the environment. India is an agricultural country, he said, and animals are very important in such a country; "we worship the cow mother". Tomar appealed to farmers to adopt natural farming, as it would reduce spending on fertiliser and yield pure, nutritious grain that would not cause disease.

At the district-level programme, prizes were given to keepers of the highest milk-yielding cows to promote cattle rearing. First, second and third prizes were awarded at the district level. Chief Minister Dr Mohan Yadav sent the prize money through DBT directly to the winners' accounts.

Deputy Director (Veterinary) Dr C S Dawar said the Animal Husbandry and Dairy Department runs the "Gopal-Krishna Gram Puraskar Yojana" to conserve and promote indigenous cattle and raise milk production in villages. Under it, in Vrindavan Gram Bediyanv in Khandwa district, Vinod, son of Gokul, took first place, Pintu, son of Sundarlal Patel, second, and Chandrashekhar, son of Gendalal, third. In Vrindavan Gram Jogibeda, Mohan, son of Sardar Singh, won first place and Saurabh, son of Mahesh Yadav, second. In Vrindavan Gram Anjaniyakala, Sohan, son of Shyamlal, was first and Uttam Pawar second. In Vrindavan Gram Shahpura, Mahesh, son of Chhitar Gurjar, was first and Yashwant Patel second.

The scheme provides for a first prize of Rs 1 lakh, a second prize of Rs 50,000 and a third prize of Rs 25,000 for each Vrindavan Gram.