With a focus on “providing unadulterated milk” to citizens, Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah on Monday said that a detailed plan for White Revolution 2.0 has been “readied” to bring all 8 crore milk-producing farmers of the country under the purview of the cooperative National Dairy Development Board (NDDB).
Shah was in Anand to attend the Diamond Jubilee celebrations of NDDB as well as the birth anniversary of Tribhuvandas Patel, the founder of India’s cooperative movement, who established the Kaira District Co-operative Milk Producers’ Union Limited known as “Amul”. Shah also cited the contribution of “hardworking” Prime Minister Late Lal Bahadur Shastri in setting up the NDDB to “replicate the success of Amul across the country”.
He added that the Amul brand of the cooperative has a “number one world ranking”, which is a feat. “It is not easy for a cooperative to market products and face stiff competition from corporations… Yet, of the eight crore milk farmers in India, 1.5 crore farmers are directly associated with the cooperative, and as part of White Revolution 2.0, we aim to bring the remaining six crore farmers under it — which is essential for providing pure milk to people.” Stating that Patel remains an “unsung hero”, Shah said, “Today, we must realise that had Polson Dairy not treated the milk farmers unfairly and exploited them by refusing to purchase milk and not paying just remuneration, Tribhuvandas Patel would have never had the opportunity to establish the cooperative… five crore milk farmers in the country are leading a sustainable and prosperous life due to his work.” The Home Minister said that it was Lal Bahadur Shastri, through creating the NDDB, who ensured that “mothers do not feed milk adulterated with urea” to their children. Shah said, “Neither Patel nor Shastri knew that the seed would become such a huge tree, which is the most successful and professional cooperative.” Shah said that the only reason that NDDB had been able to provide unadulterated milk to consumers was that it had “no owner”. Shah said, “The trust of Amul is that the milk is not mixed with urea and it has also enriched the health of children … Milk of the NDDB is unadulterated because it does not have an owner who thinks of his vested interests.”
Union Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying and Panchayati Raj Rajiv Ranjan Singh, who also attended the event, emphasised the issue of “adulterated milk products”, saying that the cooperative sector helps address it. Ranjan said, “Today milk is such that there is a lot of adulteration, which is leading to health issues. We have nearly eight to ten people per day reporting cancer. The main reason for it is adulterated food and milk… Most of the sweetmeat stores procure milk products from unorganised milk farmers, who are adulterating products, mixing urea, and even injecting animals to increase the quantity of milk… in New Delhi, if you eat unbranded paneer, it is sure to cause health issues the same evening.” Shah laid the foundation stone for a new NDDB office building, launched the Gir Ghee from Mother Dairy and Badri Ghee from Uttarakhand Cooperative Dairy Federation as well as other projects including Mother Dairy’s Fruit and Vegetable Processing Plant in Itola, Vadodara, and IDMC Ltd’s Polyfilm Plant in Narela, Delhi. Several MoUs were signed by the NDDB, including a collaboration with the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) to conduct cutting-edge research in One-Health, focusing on innovation in animal health and sustainability. A partnership between National Cooperative Organics Limited, Mother Dairy, and NDDB Mrida Limited is to promote organic farming practices; another among NDDB, Suzuki R&D Center India (SRDI), and Amul/Mehsana Milk Union to establish a compressed biogas plant, enhancing sustainable energy production — and an MoU between NDDB and the Space Applications Centre (SAC) of ISRO for remote sensing technology to assess fodder resources.