Lumpy skin disease has so far killed at least 57,000 cattle in Rajasthan and has infected at least 11 lakh, according to a report from NDTV. 

The skin disease primarily affects cows and has led to a massive protest from the Bharatiya Janata Party in Jaipur Rajasthan. The party has accused Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot of negligence. Earlier this week ono Monday September 19, 2022 a BJP MLA brought a cow to the Rajasthan Assembly to protest alleged inaction on the part of the state government. On the other hand, Gehlot has said that the central government should declare LSD a national calamity.

The disease primarily affects cattle and began earlier this year and has so far killed thousands of cattle in Punjab, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, and Madhya Pradesh

The disease shares genetic similarities with the goat pox and sheeppox viruses and to that end, Rajasthan has been using its stock to combat the infections. The state currently has 16.22 lakh goatpox vaccines and has successfully vaccinated 12.32 cattle, according to an NDTV report. 

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The central government has said that the goatpox vaccine is safe to use. Thus far, affected states have received and administered 1.5 crore doses of the goatpox vaccine. The total number of cattle in the country is around 20 crore. 

On the other hand, following the stunt from the BJP MLA at the Rajasthan Assembly on Monday this week, Gehlot tweeted that addressing the disease was the state government’s top priority but that the vaccines would from the centre. 

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“I called a meeting on August 15 regarding lumpy skin disease and called the leaders of the opposition, talked to everyone, talked to the religious leaders, our priority is how to save the lives of cows from lumpy skin disease, but the central government will give the vaccines and medicines,” tweeted CM Gehlot.

Earlier this year in August, Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Narendra Singh Tomar launched the Lumpi-ProVacInd, an indigenous vaccine developed by the National Equine Research Center, Hisar (Haryana) in collaboration with the  Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Izzatnagar (Bareilly).