As Noorie turns three, the Pashmina goat cloning project is hobbled by lack of funds
As Noorie turns three, the Pashmina goat cloning project is hobbled by lack of funds
Financial crunch has taken a heavy toll on the prestigious cloning project in Jammu and Kashmir. The second-leg of the project aimed at producing multiple male Pashmina goats is hanging fire due to dearth of funding.
Strife-torn Kashmir had achieved a rare feat in scientific research when its scientists gave India the second cloned animal and the world its first cloned Pashmina goat — Noorie (The Light) — in 2012. India's first cloned animal -- `Garima', a buffalo calf, was born in Haryana in 2009.
It had taken two years for Dr Riaz Shah and his eight-member highly skilled team of scientists to produce, Noorie which was born on March 9, 2012, through a surrogate mother. It took another two years to standardise the technique.
"The four-year project under the World Bank-funded National Agricultural Innovation Project (NAIP) of Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) ended last year. Our aim was achieved. But to take it forward you need another project. You need funding and lots of facilities. We have submitted the project on Pashimna. It is now for the central government to decide," said Dr Riaz Shah, professor and chief scientist of animal biotechnology division at Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agriculture Sciences and Technology (SKUAST).
"It was not the objective of the cloning project to produce several goats. The aim was to establish this technology. It can be applied anywhere and to clone other species of animals as well," said Dr Shah.
Pashmina goats are found in the cold desert of Ladakh. People in the region rear these animals for the wool which is used to make the exquisite Pashmina shawls and jamawars that are much in demand within and outside Kashmir. The Pashmina industry also provides livelihood to lakhs of Kashmiris who weave the hand-made plain and embroidered shawls.
If the Centre approves the project and disburses funds, the second leg of the project can commence. It has the potential to take the cloning process to whole a new level.
"We want to clone a good number of animals, particularly the males of the species", he said.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}