Setting a target for Amul to emerge as the world’s number one dairy company, Prime Minister Narendra Modi Thursday said several decisions, including reducing the premium on livestock insurance, to promote the sector were taken by his Cabinet in its latest meeting.
“At present, Amul (GCMMF) is the world’s eighth biggest dairy sector company. You all need to make it the world’s biggest dairy company. My government is with you in this endeavour, and it is Modi’s guarantee,” Modi said as he addressed a gathering of nearly one lakh people, mostly cattle-rearers and farmers, at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Motera area of Ahmedabad on the golden jubilee celebration of the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF), which owns the ‘Amul’ dairy brand.
He said of all the brands that have emerged in India after independence, ‘Amul’ is the most popular one.
Notably, while PM Modi credited Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel’s leadership for laying the foundation of Amul, his speech did not find any mention of Tribhuvandas Patel, who is regarded as the father of the cooperative movement in India — including the Kaira District Co-operative Milk Producers’ Union in 1946, or Dr Verghese Kurien who was brought in to strengthen the dairy cooperative. Kaira District Cooperative Milk Producers’ Union later introduced the brand Amul.
Golden Jubilee Celebrations of the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation is a landmark occasion in its illustrious journey. https://t.co/4GR88NYhfE
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) February 22, 2024
The PM lavished praises on women for being the “real backbone” of the country’s dairy sector. “Today in the country, if we combine turnovers of paddy, wheat and sugarcane, then also it does not come to Rs 10 lakh crore whereas in the dairy sector, where turnover is Rs 10 lakh crore, 70 per cent workers are women. Today, the heights of success of Amul is only and only because of women power. Today, when India is moving forward with the mantra of women-led development, then India’s success story in the dairy sector is an inspiration,” he said.
He also informed the crowd about various decisions his Cabinet took Wednesday. “For the prosperity of livestock (pashudhan)…we had a late night Cabinet meeting yesterday…(when) the BJP government took some important decisions in the Cabinet. We have announced new ways to save indigenous breeds based on research carried out under the National Livestock Mission. We also decided to extend financial aid to help bring wasteland to use as pastures.
To help farmers spend less on insuring livestock, the government has decided to reduce the premium amount. These decisions will help in increase the population of cattle and incomes of cattle herders,” he said.
Highlighting that the Centre “was working to wipe out foot-and-mouth disease from the root by 2030”, Modi said the government ran a free vaccination drive spending over Rs 15,000 crore that covered 60 crore vaccinations to achieve the target.
He also emphasised that his government was giving priority to every aspect linked to villages and also focusing on improving the lives of small farmers through various schemes and initiatives. He said strengthening the rural economy was necessary to achieve the goal of a ‘Viksit Bharat’ (developed India).
Referring to the BJP government’s ambitious plan of creating 10,000 FPOs, or Farmer Producer Organisations, PM Modi said his government was on a mission to turn small farmers into “agri entrepreneurs and exporters”. He also listed many schemes meant for farmers and village-dwellers, such as Micro ATMs, GOBARdhan scheme and Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samridhi Kendras.
The Prime Minister virtually inaugurated six dairy projects at the event, including the inauguration of a new automatic UHT plant of Amul, cheese plant with state-of-the-art daily production capacity of 30 metric tonne and whey powder manufacturing plant with daily production capacity of 45 metric tonne of the Sabarkantha District Cooperative Milk Producers’ Union Ltd or Sabar Dairy. Also inaugurated were Kutch District Cooperative Milk Producers’ Union Limited or Sarhad Dairy’s automatic ice-cream plant, Bharuch District Cooperative Milk Producers’ Union, Dudhdhara Dairy’s dairy processing plant at Navi Mumbai, and Rajkot District Cooperative Milk Producers’ Union Gopal Dairy’s ‘Dairy Vikas Pariyojna’.
