After the controversy surrounding the alleged takeover of Karnataka’s iconic milk brand ‘Nandini’ by Amul, another dispute seems to be brewing following the Madhya Pradesh government’s consent to hand over the Madhya Pradesh State Cooperative Dairy Federation and the milk unions affiliated with it to the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) for the next five years.
Madhya Pradesh State Cooperative Dairy Federation markets its products under the ‘Sanchi’ brand.
The opposition Congress termed the move as an attempt by the Gujarat-based co-operative dairy Amul’s ‘backdoor’ to take over MP’s state-run milk brand Sanchi.
“During the meeting, it was agreed that the Madhya Pradesh State Cooperative Dairy Federation and its associated milk unions will be managed and operated by the NDDB for the next five years. For this, necessary approvals will be obtained and legal action will be taken,” an official release said.
CM Yadav said that there is a consensus on giving responsibility to the NDDB to increase the income of farmers and cattle keepers by making the state a leader in milk production.
If required, necessary amendments will also be made to the Cooperative Act for this purpose, he said.
Multi-purpose cooperative societies will be set up in all the 11,000 villages, he added.
In recent times, too, reports show that NDDB had taken over the functioning of some other state cooperatives, namely Mahananda Cooperative Dairy in Maharashtra and Sreeja Cooperative Dairy in Uttar Pradesh.
Madhya Pradesh stood at the third position in the country as it produces 9 to 10 per cent of the country’s total milk production.
After Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh is leading in milk production at present, Yadav added.
Five and a half crore litres of milk are being produced in the state every day.
In terms of the availability of milk per person, Madhya Pradesh’s position is better than the national average, he said.
“While the availability of milk per person in the country is 459 grams per day, in Madhya Pradesh it is 644 grams,” the CM said, adding that the target was to double the state’s milk production in the next five years.
Meanwhile, Congress Rajya Sabha member Vivek Tankha questioned the state government’s decision and termed it a takeover by Amul through backdoors.
In a post on X on Wednesday morning, Tankha said, “Sanchi, the trusted milk products brand of MP, is being taken over by Gujarat’s famous brand Amul through the backdoor. This attempt was also made with Karnataka’s Nandini (milk brand). The MP government may kneel, but the 7.5 crore people of MP, for whom Sanchi is a household brand, will protest.”
