Madhya Pradesh has witnessed a nearly two-fold rise in the production of eggs and meat in the last five years, according to official data.
In the same period, the growth in milk production has been less than that of egg and meat.
The egg production during 2012-13 was 87,120,0000 (87.12 crore) pieces, which went up to 1,69,41,000,00 (169.41 crore) in FY 2016-17, according to the data in the recently released "MP's Economic Survey 2017-18".
The meat production rose from 40,000 metric tonne (MT) in 2012-13 to 79,000 MT in 2016-17, the data revealed.
In the same period, the milk production went up only by one-and-a-half times - from 88,38,000 MT (2012-13) to 13,445,000 MT (2016-17).
While the opposition Congress used the numbers to slam the BJP for its "pink revolution" remarks four years ago, the ruling party said the figures reflect the overall improvement in the state's economy.
In the past, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan had rejected a proposal to make egg a part of meal menu in the state's anganwadis (child care centres).
Addressing the party workers about two years back, Chouhan had said, "Not eggs, but milk will be made available to children and pregnant women at anganwadis".
The state Congress said the BJP's stand on meat and egg is well known and this data only exposed the saffron outfit.
"During the Lok Sabha polls (in 2014), the BJP had alleged that then Congress-led UPA government was promoting a 'pink revolution' by subsidising slaughterhouses and promoting meat exports," Congress spokesman Pankaj Chaturvedi told PTI.
Chaturvedi said he would like to know what the saffron party has to say now that the egg and meat production has doubled in the past five years in MP.
He said the BJP tried to communalise the animal husbandry sector during the Lok Sabha polls but now its own government in Madhya Pradesh seems to have been promoting meat and egg production as reflected in the Economic Survey data.
State BJP spokesman Deepak Vijayvargiya, however, attributed this growth to the overall improvement in the economy and development of Madhya Pradesh, where the saffron party is in power since 2003.
"Madhya Pradesh has registered the highest growth in the agriculture sector. Development is taking place in all sectors. You cannot pick one thing and connect it to the party's ideological stand (on meat export).
"The state witnessed multi-faceted growth so the meat and egg production also went up," Vijayvargiya said.
Source:-Moneycontrol.com
