Union Minister of Home and Cooperatives, Amit Shah, on Saturday pitched for “cooperation between cooperatives”, citing a pilot programme involving the Banaskantha dairy association that has brought 96 per cent of the farmers in the district on digital payment mode. He advocated that the same model, which will also prevent farmers from unknowingly contributing to tax evasion, can be impleented across the country.
Shah was speaking at the National Forensic Sciences University in Gandhinagar, where he virtually laid the foundation stone of National Cooperative Dairy Federation of India’s (NCDFI) upcoming headquarter at Anand.
The project is due to be completed by December 2024, said Meenesh Shah, chairman and managing director of National Dairy Development Board (NDDB). The facility, to be built at a cost of Rs 32,000 crore, will be a green building.
The Union minister, in his address, said that without “cooperation between cooperatives”, the cooperative sector cannot progress. He cited the example of a pilot project at Panchmahal and Banaskantha, where the respective district dairy associations, in assocaition with Gujarat State Cooperative Bank, are providing ATM facilities and RuPay cards to every farmer. Bank accounts of farmers (milk producers) and dairies are also being transferred to the local district cooperative bank under the initiative.
The move, Shah said, will assist farmers in avoiding unknowingly contributing to tax evasion, which may otherwise occur if they pay in cash.
Citing benefits reaped from the pilot programme, Shah said, “…Only in Banaskantha district, deposits (at the district cooperative bank) have increased by Rs 800 crore and 193 ATMs have been operationalised… and 96 per cent of the farmers (in the district) have RuPay debit cards. Now, they don’t have to go to anyone. Their milk payment is directly deposited to the district cooperative bank… the RuPay cards are linked to it, through which they (farmers) can pay for all their needs and if they need cash, they can take it from their village’s dairy ATM.”
“If this model is accepted across the country… and I implore all present here (to ensure) cooperation between cooperatives, till we don’t do this, the cooperative sector cannot progress… If Amul takes a loan then it will take only from Gujarat State Cooperative Bank… if this is decided, then that is cooperation between cooperatives,” he added.
“If every farmer moves forward with his RuPay card, if their payments are made to district cooperative banks, then I think in the coming days, the cooperative sector will get a big push. In January, I am going to Panchmahal and Banaskantha to inaugurate (this initiative) and I have appealed to Gujarat State Cooperative Bank chairman Ajaybhai (Patel) that this model be percolated to every district, where every cooperative has their account in the district cooperative bank.”
“The model and its success story should be sent to every district milk producers’ union in a well-compiled Hindi and English (document)… A farmer does not want to evade taxes but a farmer does not know that when he pays by cash, tax evasion starts… We have imagined an economy where cooperatives have a role and especially that cooperatives assist other cooperatives,” Shah said.
Maintaining that the government has “imagined an economy” where cooperatives assist other cooperatives, Shah emphasised that “symmetric milk production (across the country) is possible only if it (dairy sector) is (part of the) cooperative sector”. He said that all over India, NDDB has “started a movement for symmetric milk production so that there is a dairy in every village… every district, and a (dairy) union…” and once the objectives are met, “the NDDB can exit”.
Shah added: “…Symmetric milk production is possible only if it is (part of the) cooperative sector. I was told by Meeneshbhai (NDDB chairman) that Assam CM (Himanta Biswa Sarma) has given work to NDDB, and I told him that ‘I know that already because I was the one who inspired him (Assam CM) to approach NDDB, make your own dairy union and then NDDB will make a timely exit once your union is made, it is my responsibility’… If we want to raise income levels, make every household atmanirbhar, then that can only be done by cooperative dairy, no one else.”
