The Department of Animal Husbandry & Dairying (DAHD), Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying, successfully conducted Pashujanya Yudh Abhyas (PYA), the third national-level mock drill under the National One Health Mission, aimed at testing and validating the country’s preparedness, coordination mechanisms, and emergency response capabilities for managing animal health emergencies arising from zoonotic disease outbreaks.

The 5 day long exercise was held at Khari village, Vidisha District, Madhya Pradesh, from 29^th June to 3^rd July 2026. Built around the One Health approach, it brought together stakeholders from the animal health, human health, wildlife, food safety, laboratory and district administration. The drill was designed to assess operational readiness, intersectoral coordination and communication, and mechanism for managing a zoonotic disease outbreak from first alert to containment.

The scenario simulated an outbreak of Influenza A (H1N1) in animals carrying the potential for spillover to humans and wild life. Working through this scenario, participants tested the full response chain — disease surveillance, early warning and reporting, outbreak investigation and field epidemiology, sample collection and transportation, laboratory diagnosis, risk assessment, incident management, biosecurity, containment operations, movement control and public communication.

The exercise saw active participation from the Department of Animal Husbandry & Dairying (DAHD), Government of India, Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC); the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), Office of the Principal Scientific Advisor, Government of India, laboratories under the National BSL-3 Network i.e ICAR-National Institute of High Security Animal Diseases (NIHSAD), Bhopal and All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Bhopal, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC), including the State and District Animal Husbandry, Health and Forest Departments, and State and District Administration of Madhya Pradesh. Experts drawn from the animal health, human health and wildlife sectors worked together under the guidance of the National Joint Outbreak Response Team (NJORT).

The Secretary, Department of Animal Husbandry & Dairying, Shri Naresh Pal Gangwar, observed that Pashujanya Yudh Abhyas demonstrated the One Health approach in action, and emphasised that regular preparedness exercises are vital to detect, contain and respond to zoonotic threats in a swift and coordinated manner.

On the concluding day, 3^rd  July 2026, a debriefing meeting was held under the Chairmanship of the Animal Husbandry Commissioner, DAHD in the presence of Director, NCDC, Director, Animal Husbandry, Madhya Pradesh and presence of the back end, front end and observer team to review the observations recorded during the exercise, discuss the gaps identified and deliberate on the way forward. The deliberations focused on strengthening emergency response protocols, improving inter-sectoral coordination and building capacity for the effective management of animal health emergencies and zoonotic disease outbreaks.

Pashujanya Yudh Abhyas (PYA)  was a successful exercise that provided valuable insights to inform future strategies for strengthening India’s preparedness and response to zoonotic disease outbreaks. It reinforced the Government’s commitment to building resilient veterinary systems for the prevention, early detection and rapid response to emerging and re-emerging zoonotic diseases, and underscored the value of the One Health approach in fostering a coordinated and efficient response across all relevant sectors.

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JP

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