The GCMMF’s vision for the next 25 years will also be discussed at the function, said the federation’s managing director Jayen Mehta.
The event, being held at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, is expected see the participation of more than 1.25 lakh dairy farmers from around 18,600 villages in Gujarat. Mehta said 40-45 per cent of the dairy farmers in the audience will be women.
The GCMMF, set up in 1973, has an annual turnover of Rs 61,000 crore and 36.4 lakh farmers among milk producers of the 18 district dairy unions under it.
The PM will inaugurate five new dairy projects: modern cheese plant of Sabar Dairy, which has come up with an investment of Rs 600 crore; a long-life tetra pak milk plant of Amul Dairy at Anand; the expansion of its chocolate plant; a 50,000-litre ice cream plant of Sarhad Dairy in Kutch; and a unit of Bharuch Dairy coming up in Mumbai.
In context: While the GCMMF is a non-political body, its control over the last couple of years has been with the ruling BJP. Most of the 18 dairy unions that are members of the GCMMF are under the BJP’s control. Shankar Chaudhary, the Gujarat Assembly Speaker, continues to be the chairman of Banas Dairy, while Jetha Bharwad, Deputy Speaker and Chairman of Panchmahal Dairy, continues to head the district cooperatives.
When R S Sodhi quit as MD of the body last January, after more than a decade at the helm, some said it was because he did not toe the political line. “Two decades ago, leaders of the milk unions in Gujarat were aligned with the Congress. Now the baton has passed on to the BJP,” a former member of the GCMMF had told The Indian Express earlier.
Farmer protests simmer
On Wednesday, as agitating Punjab farmers resumed their “Dilli Chalo” march to seek a legal guarantee of minimum support price (MSP) for their crops as well as debt waiver, among other demands, a 22-year-old farmer, Shubhkaran Singh, died and several protesters were injured as the Haryana police allegedly hurled teargas shells and fired rubber bullets at the Khanauri and Shambhu borders between Punjab and Haryana.
After this incident, Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee (KMSC) leader Sarvan Singh Pandher, who is among farmer leaders spearheading the stir, announced the suspension of their “Dilli Chalo” march for two days until Friday.
To express their outrage over the death of Shubhkaran Singh, Haryana Bhartiya Kisan Union (Chaduni) chief Gurnam Singh Chaduni has given a call to block one or two roads in each of the districts in Haryana for two hours — 12 noon to 2 pm — on Thursday.
Chaduni has urged the farmers to maintain peace and avoid any confrontation with the police during their road blockade. He has also urged the truckers and other commuters to extend their support to the agitation.
Earlier on Wednesday, Union Agriculture Minister Arjun Munda called for peace, urging farmer protesters to return to the negotiation table. “After the fourth round (of talks), the government is ready to discuss all issues like the MSP demand, crop diversification, stubble issue and FIRs (against farmers). I again invite the farmer leaders for discussion. It is important for us to maintain peace,” Munda said.
It remains to be seen how the farmers’ agitation will proceed further. The farm leaders would hold a meeting on Friday evening to take stock of the situation and decide their next course of action.
Meanwhile, in a Wednesday night development, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), headed by PM Modi, approved a hike in the Fair and Remunerative Price (FRP) of sugarcane by Rs 25 to Rs 340 per quintal for 2024-25 season.
The FRP of sugarcane has been hiked from Rs 315 per quintal to Rs 340 per quintal at a basic recovery rate of 10.25 per cent. The new price is about 8 per cent higher than the FRP of sugarcane for the current season of 2023-’24. The revised FRP will be applicable from October 1. The Fair and Remunerative Price (FRP) is the minimum price that mills have to pay to sugarcane growers.
Amit Shah in Chhattisgarh
Union Home Minister Amit Shah will kick off the BJP’s campaign for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls in Chhattisgarh by addressing a public rally in Janjgir Champa on Thursday.
In the November 2023 Assembly polls, the BJP defeated the incumbent Congress by winning 54 seats out of 90 as against the latter’s 35 seats. The Congress however swept all the seats in the Janjgir Champa belt.
During his visit, Shah will also hold a meeting with the BJP leaders and workers in the state. Of the 11 Lok Sabha seats in the state, the BJP won nine as against the Congress’s two in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
— With PTI inputs
