Anand: Union cooperation minister Amit Shah on Tuesday said it is time for India to take the next big leap through “White Revolution 2.0”. Shah was in Milk City Anand to take part in the celebrations of the diamond jubilee of the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) and the birth anniversary of Tribhuvandas Patel, the founder of Amul Dairy.
Referring to Operation Flood — the dairy development project launched by NDDB in 1970 — he said India is already the world’s biggest milk producer with 231 million tonnes of annual production, leaving the US behind.”With a growth rate of 6% against the world average of 2%, it will sustain growth in the dairy sector,” he said.
Shah stressed that around 6.5 crore rural families involved in milk production are outside the ambit of the cooperative sector and face exploitation as they do not get a fair price. “Today, 8 crore rural families produce milk every day. However, only 1.5 crore families have joined the cooperative sector. This means the remaining 6.5 crore are still being exploited and are not getting a fair price. Many times, they have to throw milk away,” he said.
“Our job is to ensure that all 8 crore farmers get the full value of their hard work through the cooperative sector and NDDB should move forward in this direction,” he added. India now has 22 state-level unions, 231 district unions, 28 marketing dairies and 21 milk-producing companies, he said.
Shah said all dimensions of White Revolution 2.0 have been included to strengthen 1 lakh new and existing dairies and expand milk routes. “We are going to create 2 lakh new cooperatives. Currently, we have 65,000 primary agricultural cooperative societies (PACS), which we want to increase to 2 lakh. This will not only strengthen PACS but will also increase village cooperatives,” he said.
“If PACS are strong, then district cooperative banks (DCBs) will be strong. If DCBs are strong, state cooperative banks will also become strong,” Shah said.
