Amit Shah: 6.5 million rural dairy families need to be transferred to cooperative sector: Amit Shah

Union minister Amit Shah said on Tuesday that 6.5 million rural families engaged in milk production are outside the cooperative sector and face exploitation as they do not get a fair price. Shah said that only 1.5 million of the 8 million rural dairy farming families are part of the cooperative sector and asked the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) to ensure that all of them receive the full value of their produce.

The Union Cooperation Minister was speaking in Anand, Gujarat on the occasion of the Diamond Jubilee of NDDB and the birth anniversary of Tribhuvandas Patel, founder of AMUL cooperative.

“Today, 8 million rural families produce milk daily, but only 1.5 crore have joined the cooperative sector. This means that the remaining 6.5 crores are still being exploited, they are not getting a fair price. Often they have to throw away milk,” Shah said.

Our goal is to ensure that all 8 million farmers get full value for their hard work through the cooperative sector and NDDB must move forward in this direction,” Shah said.

Shah paid tributes to Tribhuvandas Patel, founder of the Kaira District Milk Producers Cooperative Union, popularly known as Amul Dairy, who was instrumental in the establishment of the NDDB.

“Patel did not take care of himself while working on a unique idea to empower poor farmers, especially women associated with dairy farming. The real reason why women farmers are achieving so much today is because of the cooperative revolution,” he said.

The Gandhinagar MP recalled that Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri visited Amul in 1964 and decided that farmers across the country would benefit from the idea, concept and successful experiment that led to the establishment of NDDB at Anand.

Shah noted that the products of Amul and NDDB are not adulterated as these organizations are owned by farmers. “Over 60 years, NDDB has not only empowered farmers, especially women agriculturists, and cooperatives across the country, but also organized them and made them aware of their rights,” Shah said.

The trust created by various cooperative brands like Amul has empowered women and also laid the foundation for empowering citizens by providing nutrition to children, the Union Cooperatives Minister said.

According to him, these cooperative movements have accelerated the development of rural areas and the country and have also contributed to agricultural self-sufficiency.

Shah said the NDDB became a cooperative body in 1987 and from 1970 to 1996, it worked sincerely on the Operation Flood plan and turned it into a White Revolution.

“If it had not been done professionally, we might not have achieved the result,” he said, adding that the NDDB has started processing vegetables and fruits and checks are being issued to beneficiaries.

The Centre’s Govardhan Yojana has brought about multifaceted changes by helping to conserve soil, making farmers prosperous and working for a clean environment, Shah said.

“The Cooperative Ministry has set up three national level cooperatives: one to preserve and promote pure and sweet seeds, the second to sell organic produce under the brand ‘Bharat’ to global markets and the third to export cooperative products,” he said. said.

He said India currently has 22 state-level unions, 231 district-level unions, 28 dairy marketing units and 21 milk production companies.

“We are going to create 2 lakh new cooperative societies… We currently have 65,000 Primary Agricultural Cooperative Societies (PACS) which we want to increase to 2 lakh. This move will not only strengthen PACS but also increase the number of rural cooperatives.

“If PACS are strong, then district cooperative banks will be strong. And if DCBs are strong, state cooperative banks will also become strong,” Shah said.

The main work is to create primary cooperatives, he noted.

“Today, India is the world’s largest milk producer. With a production of 231 million tonnes, India has surpassed the US to become number one in the world. With a growth rate of 6 percent versus 2 percent globally, it will maintain,” Shah said.

He said many state governments have signed MoUs with the NDDB. Although the work is progressing well, it needs to be accelerated.

Shah said all aspects of White Revolution 2.0 have been included in the program to strengthen 1 million new and existing dairies and expand milk routes.

On the occasion, Shah laid the foundation stone for the new NDDB office building at Anand and other projects such as Mother Dairy fruit and vegetable processing plant at Itola, Vadodara and IDMC Ltd polyfilm plant at Narela, Delhi.

He also released Gir Ghee from Mother Dairy and Badri Ghee from Uttarakhand Cooperative Dairy Federation.