Lumpy Skin Disease in Rajasthan has returned to the Bharatpur division, with 6,694 cattle infected across five districts. Livestock owners fear a repeat of the devastating 2022-23 outbreak.

Lumpy Skin Disease has returned to Rajasthan, bringing back painful memories from four years ago. For now, the infection remains confined to the Bharatpur division. Cases began to surface in the division in August, and the disease has since spread rapidly. As of September 3, a total of 6,694 cattle have been found infected across five districts of the division. These include 4,000 animals in Deeg, 2,500 in Bharatpur, 124 in Dholpur, 69 in Karauli and one in Sawai Madhopur.

Following the spread of the infection, the administration has banned cattle fairs, animal exhibitions and other gatherings involving animals in the Bharatpur division. More than two dozen animals have died in the affected areas in recent days. According to the Animal Husbandry Department, 13 of these deaths have been confirmed to be caused by Lumpy Skin Disease. Information obtained from district animal husbandry officials shows that six animals have died of the disease in Bharatpur district and seven in Deeg. A total of 21 animals have died in Deeg in recent days, but only seven deaths have so far been confirmed as being caused by Lumpy. Reports on the remaining deaths are still awaited.

However, given the situation in Bharatpur division, the administration has now tightened measures to control the spread of the disease. On September 3, Divisional Commissioner Nalini Kathotia directed officials to immediately stop animal markets, livestock fairs and the mass movement of animals in Bharatpur, Dholpur, Deeg, Karauli and Sawai Madhopur. Officials have also been directed to ensure the availability of medicines to control external parasites in affected areas, carry out disinfection, organise treatment camps and safely dispose of dead animals as per the prescribed protocol.

Divisional Commissioner Nalini Kathotia has also raised concerns over the vaccination coverage. A review found that only 49.92 per cent of the total cattle population in Dholpur, 64.14 per cent in Karauli and 60.16 per cent in Sawai Madhopur had been vaccinated. The Divisional Commissioner termed the coverage unsatisfactory and directed the concerned officials to ensure that the vaccination target is achieved in full.

Lumpy Skin Disease in Rajasthan: Vaccination Gaps and Rising Concerns

Following the spread of the disease, the Animal Husbandry Department has stepped up surveillance and vaccination. But livestock owners are also raising questions about whether adequate vaccination was carried out before the disease began spreading.

Brahmdev Shastri, a People for Animals activist and farmer from Kaman in Bharatpur, alleges that a large number of cows have been infected and that the situation worsened because vaccination was not carried out on time.

“Instructions had been issued to start vaccination in June, but the Animal Husbandry Department officials and employees remained asleep. Vaccination did not take place in most areas. Meanwhile, infections among animals began in August. Before anyone could realise what was happening, the infection had spread to thousands of animals. The department has now woken up. Department teams are now reaching villages one by one,” he says.

The Animal Husbandry Department has taken these complaints seriously. Officials posted in Bharatpur, Sawai Madhopur, Karauli, Dholpur and Deeg have been issued notices seeking explanations.

Department officials, however, say vaccination could not be carried out in several places because vaccines were not available on time. In Nadbai town of Bharatpur district, where there have been complaints that vaccination did not take place for two months, Deputy Director of Animal Husbandry Dr Rajesh Chaudhary says 4,000 doses were received on June 16 and administered to animals in surrounding areas. After that, there was no vaccine available. The next consignment arrived on August 6 and vaccination began the following day, August 7.

As of September 3, 915 animals have been found infected in the Nadbai area, including 32 animals detected on September 3. The relief, however, is that 605 of the infected animals have recovered.

Department teams are also now reaching Brahmdev Shastri’s village, Bamni. He says several animals had already fallen ill by the time the teams arrived.

“Teams are now reaching our village, Bamni, but by then many animals had already been affected. Because vaccination had not been done, a cow at my son’s home in the village contracted Lumpy and fell ill. We are now getting her treated,” he says.

He says two cows at his farmhouse in Kaman had been vaccinated on time and remained safe.

There is also considerable anxiety over Lumpy in Deeg, where 4,000 animals had been found infected as of September 3. Local voluntary organisations are helping care for sick and abandoned animals. Pratap Prajapat, a worker with the Bajrangi Goseva Samiti in Deeg, says, “You can see infected animals everywhere. We are taking sick, abandoned animals to gaushalas and getting them treated.”

The fear of four years ago

The current outbreak is particularly worrying for livestock owners because they witnessed the devastating impact of the disease in 2022-23. According to government figures, 76,030 cows died of Lumpy Skin Disease in Rajasthan during that period. The government provided assistance of Rs 40,000 per cow to 48,892 livestock owners for the deaths of 51,430 milch cows. Livestock owners, however, claim that the actual number of deaths was much higher than the official figure.

This time, the infection is still confined to the Bharatpur division, but the fear has travelled much farther.

In Hanumangarh, 529 km from Bharatpur, livestock owners are also worried. Bag Ali, a cattle owner living in Sector 12, has 40 cows, and his family depends on them for their livelihood.

“Hearing that Lumpy is spreading again is frightening in itself. We have 40 cows and our family survives because of them. God forbid they should face a crisis like Lumpy again,” he says.

When Lumpy spread in the area in 2022, six of his cows were infected. Five of them died, but he received compensation for only two.

“The government rules required a slip showing that the cow had been treated at a government veterinary hospital. We had treatment slips from the government hospital for two cows, while we had the remaining cows treated by private doctors,” he says.

Bag Ali says, “Four years ago, every livestock owner in the area had to suffer the loss of cows. Now, hearing that Lumpy is raising its head again is very disturbing.”

As of September 3, no animal has been found infected in Hanumangarh. Surveillance and vaccination have nevertheless been started as a precaution. According to officials, the district has set a target of vaccinating 380,000 cattle, of which around 363,000 have already been vaccinated.

The threat and the government’s preparedness

Dr Lakshman Shridhar Rao, Additional Director at the Animal Husbandry Department headquarters in Jaipur, says that as of September 3, Lumpy Skin Disease cases in Rajasthan remain confined to the Bharatpur division. The department has not received information about infected animals from any other district.

According to him, the Bharatpur division shares a border with Uttar Pradesh, where Lumpy cases have been reported. There is a possibility that the infection reached Bharatpur through stray animals coming into Rajasthan from Uttar Pradesh.

Dr Rao says the Lumpy situation is not limited to Rajasthan. Cases have been reported in several states across the country, and the respective states are taking steps to control the disease. Rajasthan, too, has increased surveillance and vaccination.

However, the risk of the disease cannot be assessed only on the basis of the number of animals currently infected. The National Institute of Veterinary Epidemiology and Disease Informatics (ICAR-NIVEDI), under the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), through its National Animal Disease Referral Expert System (NADRES) V2, has issued a forewarning for Lumpy Skin Disease for November 2026. The forecast includes Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Manipur, Odisha, Puducherry, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Tripura and Uttarakhand.

The forewarning does not confirm that the disease will spread in these states. It is a forecast of the potential risk of Lumpy Skin Disease in November 2026 based on available data. Rajasthan’s inclusion is significant because, according to the department, as of September 3 the infection had been detected only in the Bharatpur division.

In this context, a media report published on September 1, 2026, citing an ICAR-NIVEDI forecast, spoke of a possible Lumpy Skin Disease risk in around 220 districts across the country. According to the report, these included 27 districts in Bihar, 25 in Tamil Nadu, 18 each in Rajasthan, Jharkhand and Karnataka, 12 in Manipur, 11 in Goa, 10 in Madhya Pradesh, nine in West Bengal, seven in Uttar Pradesh and two in Himachal Pradesh.

However, the figure of 220 districts is different from the November 2026 state-wise forewarning. The official November forewarning names 16 states and Union Territories, while the report citing 220 districts refers to a district-level risk forecast. Neither figure should be treated as the number of districts where the disease is currently present.

The impact could go beyond livestock owners

If Lumpy spreads further, its impact will not be limited to livestock owners. According to the 2019 Livestock Census, Rajasthan had 13.938 million cattle, and the livelihoods of millions of families depend on animal husbandry. Cattle fairs and animal markets are also an important part of the rural economy. At present, restrictions on such activities are limited to the Bharatpur division, but if the disease spreads widely, such activities could be affected across the state.

Dr Santosh Rajpurohit, former state president of the Rajasthan Economic Council, says, “If the infection reaches other districts, it will affect not only animal husbandry but also cattle fairs, animal markets and the rural economy linked to them. Our economy is agriculture-based, and animal husbandry is closely linked to agriculture. The dairy business is directly connected to it. When animals die, it is as if the backbone of livestock owners is broken.”

Rajpurohit says, “The government should launch a campaign on a war footing so that Lumpy does not spread further.”

For livestock owners who went through the 2022 crisis, the return of Lumpy is therefore more than just news about a disease. When a cow falls sick or dies, it means losing a part of the family’s income. And when the very name of the disease brings back memories of animals that died and families that suffered four years ago, fear reaches their homes even before the infection numbers rise.

For now, the government machinery says it has stepped up surveillance and vaccination. The question is whether these measures will be enough to keep the disease confined to the Bharatpur division this time.

For livestock owners, however, real relief will come only if they do not have to see the kind of devastation they witnessed in 2022 all over again.

India’s latest GDP numbers offer a reason to look beyond the headline 7.8% growth. Gross fixed capital formation (GFCF), a measure of private investment in fixed assets across the economy, grew 11.9% in the first quarter of 2026-27, compared with 5.8% a year earlier. Its share of nominal GDP also increased to 34.3%, from 31.4% a year earlier.

Other indicators point in the same direction. Capital-goods production grew 15.2% in the quarter, compared with 8.8% a year earlier, while industrial credit expanded 20% year-on-year in July, compared with 6.5% a year earlier.

The numbers suggest that investment activity is gaining momentum. But raising concern is whether India is finally moving from a period of government-led capital spending towards a broader private investment cycle?

From Public Capex to Private Investment

For several years, public capital expenditure has been central to India’s growth strategy. The government has invested heavily in roads, railways, ports, power and other infrastructure, with the broader objective of improving connectivity and lowering the cost of doing business.

The idea was not simply for the government to build more infrastructure. Public investment was also expected to create conditions in which businesses would become more willing to invest in factories, machinery and new capacity. The latest data provide some evidence that this process may be gaining traction.

GFCF grew 11.9% in Q1 FY27, more than twice the 5.8% growth recorded a year earlier. Capital-goods production also accelerated, growing 15.2% in the quarter. In July, capital-goods production increased another 16.1%. Industrial credit provides another signal. Lending to industry grew 20% year-on-year in July, compared with 6.5% a year earlier.

Taken together, these indicators suggest that the investment story is broader than a single GDP component. But they do not, by themselves, prove that India has entered a private investment boom. GFCF measures investment across the economy; it is not the same as private capital expenditure.

Is Private Capital Actually Returning?

This is the more important test. Reuters reported that private-sector capital investment increased by more than 5 trillion rupees from a year earlier during the April-June quarter. It pointed to stronger factory utilisation, healthier corporate balance sheets and rising bank credit as some of the factors supporting the revival.

There is another encouraging signal from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE). Private companies announced projects worth 15.4 rupees lakh crore during the quarter, a 97% increase from a year earlier. But project announcements are not the same as money actually being spent. Companies can delay, scale down or abandon projects after announcing them.

That distinction matters because private capital expenditure had actually moderated in FY26. A Union Bank of India analysis reported by The Tribune found that private capex fell 2.8% to 11.9 lakh crore rupees in FY26 from 12.3 lakh crore rupees in FY25, after reaching a record level the previous year. The picture, therefore, is not of a private investment boom that has already been established. It is a possible revival that still needs to prove itself.

Why Might Companies be Investing Now?

One possible explanation is that existing industrial capacity is being used more intensively. When factories operate closer to capacity, companies have less room to increase output using existing machinery. That can make investment in new equipment, facilities and production lines more attractive.

Recent Reserve Bank of India assessments indicate that capacity utilisation has moved above its long-term average. Reuters reported that factory utilisation approached 77% in the fourth quarter of FY26. At the same time, corporate balance sheets have strengthened and bank credit has accelerated.

These conditions can reinforce each other. Higher utilisation can encourage investment. New investment can increase production capacity. Stronger demand can then encourage another round of expansion. But this cycle depends on one thing: whether companies believe demand will remain strong enough to justify investing in new capacity.

Where is the Money Going?

The sectoral composition provides another clue. Manufacturing grew 9.2% in Q1 FY27. Within manufacturing, electrical equipment production increased 27%, other transport equipment 19.5%, and computer, electronic and optical products 12.4%. These are among the sectors central to India’s effort to expand domestic manufacturing and build strategic industrial capacity.

Government policy is reinforcing this direction. The Mobile Phone Manufacturing Scheme, approved in July, has an outlay of 62,500 crore rupees through 2030-31. Semicon 2.0 has an allocation of 1.275 lakh crore rupees for areas including chip design, manufacturing, advanced packaging and research. These are government outlays designed in part to catalyse private investment. They should therefore not be treated as private capital expenditure themselves.

The bigger question is whether such support helps create industries that can eventually compete and expand without remaining permanently dependent on government incentives.

The Employment Test

More investment means more factories, machinery and infrastructure. But it does not automatically mean more jobs. The employment impact depends heavily on what is being built. A highly automated semiconductor facility can involve enormous capital expenditure while creating relatively few direct jobs compared with a labour-intensive manufacturing plant.

For India, this distinction matters. A successful investment cycle should ideally do more than increase the value of fixed assets. It should raise production, improve productivity and create employment, particularly in sectors capable of absorbing large numbers of workers.

The current GDP data cannot yet tell us whether that is happening. That makes employment one of the most important tests of the investment revival in the quarters ahead.

The Demand Problem

There is another basic question: who will buy what the new investment produces? Household consumption grew 7.1% in Q1, while exports grew 12%. Both provide some support for companies considering expansion.

But investment decisions depend on expectations about future demand, not just one quarter’s performance. If domestic consumption weakens, businesses may postpone capacity expansion. If global trade becomes more uncertain, export-oriented companies could face the same pressure.

India is therefore attempting to build a private investment cycle while the global economy remains exposed to geopolitical tensions and trade uncertainty. That makes the transition from public investment to private investment more difficult than simply recording one strong quarter.

The Real Test Begins Now

The 11.9% increase in GFCF matters because it is accompanied by several other positive signals. Capital-goods production is rising. Industrial credit has accelerated. Manufacturing is expanding. Private companies are announcing more projects. Corporate capacity utilisation has strengthened.

But one quarter cannot establish a structural investment cycle. The more meaningful test will be whether companies continue to announce and execute new projects over the next several quarters; whether investment spreads beyond a limited group of sectors; and whether higher capital formation translates into greater production and employment.

The investment numbers also need to be read alongside the broader debate over India’s revised GDP methodology. The government has defended the new series, while some economists have raised questions about aspects of the estimates. That debate makes it even more important to look at several independent indicators rather than relying on the GDP figure alone.

For now, the data offer something more useful than a declaration of an investment boom. They suggest that the conditions for a shift from public investment towards stronger private capital formation may be improving. Whether that becomes a durable engine of India’s growth will depend less on what happened in one quarter than on what businesses do next.

Farmers in Rajasthan’s Hanumangarh district built diggis and other water structures after receiving government approval. But with the Atal Bhujal Yojana subsidy still pending, many are left paying loans and waiting for the money they were promised.

Rajaram Bishnoi, a farmer from Chak 4 NTW in Bhagatpura gram panchayat (village council area) of Rajasthan’s Hanumangarh district, applied to the Agriculture Department in 2024-25 under the Atal Bhujal Yojana (Atal Groundwater Scheme) to build a water diggi [a small farm reservoir dug into the ground to store rainwater and canal water for irrigation] with a capacity of 25 lakh litres on his farm. He was in the general category of farmers. The department approved his application. Rajaram then built the diggi on his farm. It cost him around Rs 5 lakh, but he is still waiting for the subsidy from the government.

Rajaram says that the government considers the cost of a diggi to be Rs 4 lakh and gives 75 per cent of this amount as subsidy to farmers in the general category. But the actual cost is higher. He said, “When I built the diggi on my farm, it cost around Rs 5 lakh. I was satisfied thinking that the government would at least give Rs 3 lakh as subsidy. But even after around two years, we have not received the subsidy amount.”

His son, Sushil Kumar Bishnoi, says they borrowed money from a commission agent at an interest rate of Rs 2 per hundred (i.e., 2 per cent, commonly charged per month in informal rural lending) and used it to build the diggi. “We thought that we would soon get the money from the government and repay the loan. But so far, all we have got is the wait. We have to pay the interest every month.”

Atal Bhujal Yojana Subsidy Leaves Rajasthan Farmers Waiting

Rajaram Bishnoi is not the only farmer waiting for the subsidy after building a diggi. Thousands of farmers in Rajasthan built diggis, farm ponds and water structures such as pipelines under the government scheme to save groundwater and increase the availability of water on their farms. They made this investment after getting government approval and in the hope of receiving the subsidy. But now, in Hanumangarh district, subsidy amounting to Rs 38 crore 52 lakh 6 thousand for the work done in two financial years is pending, and farmers have been protesting for a long time to get the money.

According to official figures from Hanumangarh district, farmers built 829 diggis, four farm ponds, purchased six agricultural machines, and laid 10 pipelines in 2024-25. A subsidy of Rs 25 crore 15 lakh 73 thousand is pending for these works. In 2025-26, 410 diggis, 12 farm ponds, 64 agricultural machines, and 40 pipelines were completed, and mini kits [small government-supplied packages of seeds, tools, or inputs] were also distributed. Payments of more than Rs 13.36 crore for these works are pending.

Crucially, many farmers in 2025-26 carried out the construction after getting approval from the government. But after the Atal Bhujal Yojana ended in October 2025, instructions were issued to stop the work. Resham Singh Manuka, district president of the Bharatiya Kisan Union [Indian Farmers’ Union, a national farmers’ advocacy organisation], asks, “When a farmer has invested money on his own land on the basis of government approval and has completed the construction, why is the financial risk of the scheme ending later being passed on to the farmer?”

This question is also important because the central government implemented the Atal Bhujal Yojana from April 1, 2020 to October 15, 2025 in 8,203 water-stressed gram panchayats in 229 blocks of 80 districts across seven states — Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. It was a pilot scheme for a fixed period. On July 30, 2026, Union Minister of State for Jal Shakti [India’s federal ministry overseeing water resources, river development, and drinking-water supply] Raj Bhushan Choudhary, in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha [the lower house of India’s Parliament], said the impact of the scheme was positive. He said that according to the 2023-25 assessment, improvement in groundwater levels was seen in 180 out of 229 blocks.

The government’s own assessment credits the scheme with improving groundwater levels in 180 of the 229 blocks it covered. But whether that technical success reaches farmers depends on the government actually paying what it approved — and in Hanumangarh, that payment is where the scheme is failing.

There is also a long chain of farmers’ protests and government assurances over the payment of the subsidy. On March 6, 2026, after farmers surrounded the office of the Joint Director of Agriculture in Hanumangarh, a written agreement was reached between officials and farmer representatives. It assured that the pending diggi subsidy for 2024-25 would be paid within two months. When the payment did not happen, farmers surrounded the district collectorate and Agriculture Office on May 19. They were then assured that the payment would be made within one month and 15 days. The issue was also raised in the district-level review meeting on June 22. When C.R. Chaudhary, chairman of the State Farmers Commission, visited Hanumangarh on July 30, farmers raised the issue before him.

He told farmers that the subsidy was pending not only for farmers in Hanumangarh but across the state. “I had a courtesy meeting with Union Jal Shakti Minister C.R. Patil in New Delhi and held detailed discussions on important issues related to the interests of farmers in Rajasthan,” Chaudhary said. He said he had written to the Union Minister requesting early payment of the pending subsidy amount for 38 blocks in 17 districts of Rajasthan under the Atal Bhujal Yojana.

Chaudhary told the minister that due to the premature closure of the scheme, liabilities of around Rs 214.86 crore of the Agriculture and Horticulture Department are pending. As a result, thousands of farmers are waiting for their subsidy despite completing their work. The state Agriculture Minister and Chief Secretary have also requested the release of funds in this regard. “I also requested that, keeping the interests of farmers as the top priority, the pending amount should be released soon and the subsidy transferred to the accounts of eligible farmers,” he said.

The chairman of the Farmers Commission had expressed confidence while talking to farmers in Hanumangarh that the Union Minister would take a positive decision on the matter and provide relief to Rajasthan’s farmers soon.

Farmers are getting repeated assurances, but no payment has been made so far. Recently, on August 26, farmers again had to take out a tractor rally. During the rally, the police tried to stop the farmers, but the farmers broke the barricades. This led to a situation of confrontation for some time. The police have registered a case against 11 leaders, including farmer leader Resham Singh Manuka, for allegedly taking out the tractor rally without permission despite the model code of conduct [a set of election-time conduct rules issued by India’s Election Commission that restricts government announcements and gatherings once polls are called] for the municipal elections and prohibitory orders being in place.

Manuka described the police action as an attempt to suppress the farmers’ protest. He said the farmers’ agitation would continue and that the issue would also be raised during the upcoming municipal and Panchayati Raj [elections to India’s local self-government bodies at the village, block, and district levels] elections. He said the farmers’ union would urge people to consider the pending subsidy issue while deciding how to vote. “We will also raise our voice against the government in the Panchayati Raj elections that will follow.”

Farmer Sushil Bishnoi says, “We took a loan and built the diggi after getting government approval. Who is responsible for the investment we made? Were farmers told about the possible risk of the scheme being closed?” Bishnoi says Agriculture Department officials had told them that the money would come soon, but all they have received so far are repeated assurances.

Manuka says that when the central government is calling the scheme a successful and exemplary model, why is the payment of farmers who worked on the ground under the scheme still pending? He also asks: if farmers invest their own money because they trust a government policy, who should bear the risk if the policy changes or the scheme ends — the farmer or the government?

When asked about the matter, Agriculture Department Joint Director Yashwanti says that the Agriculture Department and district administration have written to the state government about it. The government has requested the Centre. The pending money under this scheme has to come from the central government. “As soon as we receive the money, we will make the payment to the farmers.”