ગુજરાતી
English
Ahmedabad, September 5, 2024
The condition of cattle rearing farmers in Gujarat is relatively better than the dairy sector, milk production has increased by 147 percent between 2001-02 and 2018-19.
While more than 300 companies do milk business in Maharashtra, till date only one company Amul used to buy most of the milk in Gujarat. But after 2001, BJP took over it completely and since then it is being run as a private company. Okay, but now the cooperative milk societies are suddenly closing down and private companies are taking milk in their place. Due to which the cooperative organization of cattle rearers is ending. Private milk dairies have once again come into the field. In the coming days, shepherds will ruthlessly exploit the farmers. Like Maharashtra.
There are 16 thousand societies in Gujarat which collect milk. Out of which 10 percent have been closed by 2024. In the current situation, the income from milk is decreasing.
The dairy industry in Gujarat has been affected, 1,272 cooperative milk dairies were closed in 2021. The milk which has started going to private dairies. Due to high prices, villagers have turned to private dairies instead of supplying milk to milk dairies. Many people have started milk business themselves. Milk dairies have collapsed in rural areas.
The maximum number of 170 milk dairies have closed in Dahod district.
152 in Narmada,
116 in Bharuch,
81 in Kutch,
64 in Sabarkantha,
93 in Dang
Mahisagar 74
Rajkot 49
Aravali 54
Banaskantha 45
56 dairies have closed in Ahmedabad.
Villagers do not want to operate milk dairies. Corruption, luxurious life of managers, financial malpractices, police complaints, politics have brought the dairies to a standstill.
It contains pure lactose, sodium and approved substances and chemicals (0.3%). It contains 9% milk fat, 31% total milk solids and 40% sugar. In which the managers of cooperative societies are creating a lot of ruckus.
Once again on the side of the British
The Bombay Milk Scheme was started in 1945. Under this scheme, the Mumbai government entered into an agreement with a private company called Anandani Paulson Limited to buy milk from the farmers of Kheda district. With this arrangement, milk started reaching Mumbai regularly. Paulson used to get a good salary in this business. There was a huge difference between the price received by Paulson and the price of milk given to the farmers by the contractors collecting milk from Kheda district. Therefore, the Mumbai government, Paulson and the contractor were all happy with this business; but the farmer was not getting proper compensation for his milk and his troubles were increasing. Because no one thought it appropriate to fix the prices to be paid to the farmers. The farmers of Kheda district put their problem before Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. Sardar Patel considered it necessary to develop farmers’ cooperatives from 1940. Sardar Patel advised that the milk market should be managed by the farmers themselves through their own cooperatives and if this proposal is not accepted by Paulson or the Bombay Government, they should stop selling milk.
Sardar Patel sent his trusted worker Morarji Desai to form cooperative milk societies in Kheda district. Morarji Desai at Samarkha village in Kheda district. On January 4, 1946, a village meeting was called and a ‘milk strike’ was declared. For fifteen days not a single drop of milk was sold by the milk producing farmers to the contractors. Anand, the Milk-Commissioner of Mumbai, anticipated such a situation and accepted the farmers’ demand to buy milk through cooperatives. Kheda District Cooperative Milk-Producers Union followed and the union was registered on December 14, 1946.
The cooperative societies kept developing gradually. The credit for its success goes to its founder president Tribhavandas Patel, his associates in the board of directors and dedicated employees. This cooperative society which started in June, 1948 with a handful of milk producing farmer members collecting 250 litres of milk and supplying pasteurized milk to the Mumbai Milk Scheme has become famous today as Amul Dairy. Thereafter cooperative leaders like Mansinghbhai of Mehsana district, Bhurabhai of Sabarkantha, Galbabhai of Banaskantha, Daskaka of Surat district, Devendrabhai of Rajkot district developed this activity. Dr. V.S. Kurien and Mr. H.M. Dalaya and many other talented and clever business managers joined it.
Now the BJP runs these dairies like a private company and gives bonuses. Earns profit. Does business and commits corruption. Therefore farmers get low prices. Therefore farmers are once again turning to private companies. 1945 British Anandni Paulson Limited Company is becoming Amul. The capitalist BJP has also capitalized cooperatives.
Milk production in Maharashtra has increased by 91 percent in 5 years from 2001-02 to 2018-19. Milk production in 2001-02 was 6,094,000 tonnes, while in 2018-19 it increased to 11,655,000 tonnes. In comparison, dairy industry owners blame lack of coordination for the disorganization in the sector in Maharashtra. In response to their demands for better organization, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray formed an advisory panel in February 2020, comprising representatives of private and cooperative dairies, to make suggestions to the government.
Dairy farmers from Western Maharashtra like Arun Jadhav are unable to recover their production costs due to private sector control over milk prices.
Dairy farmers are selling their cattle and their production levels are falling.
Milk farmers are reducing their production, as according to them this business is proving to be a loss-making deal for them.
In Maharashtra
For almost a decade, dairy farmers in western Maharashtra have been facing fluctuations in milk prices.
Earlier, milk prices were relatively stable when cooperatives and the government bought milk stock. Since the entry of the private sector in this business, the role of the government has become very limited. Now prices rise and fall according to their (entrepreneurs’) wish.
Private industry has made huge profits through price control, we say the same about the agricultural laws. In which it was said to benefit private companies in milk. If those laws had been passed, private dairies would have replaced cooperative dairies within 5 years.
Animal husbandry has now become a loss-making business.
More than 300 brands operate in the dairy industry of Maharashtra. If seen, farmers should have got a high price for milk amid such tough competition. But nothing like this happened.
Farmers have to go through huge fluctuations in milk prices. They get Rs 17 to Rs 32 per liter of milk.
According to a study by market research agency Crisil in September 2021, private dairies in Maharashtra buy 123-127 lakh liters of milk per day. Whereas for cooperative dairies this figure is only 36-38 lakh liters.
The dairy industry has been licensed since liberalization began in 1991. The Milk and Milk Products Order (MMPO) 1992 was passed to regulate milk and milk production, processing and distribution. But it was amended in 2002 to remove restrictions on milk processing capacity, which led to price instability.
After regulation, the fluctuations in the prices of skimmed milk powder in the global market affected the markets here.
With the liberalization of the dairy industry under economic liberalization, there has been a rapid growth of milk powder industries in the Indian market, which supply milk products.
The rates of companies associated with milk powder and butter business fluctuate every week, due to which the price of milk also changes every ten days. Due to which it has become a game of gambling.
No one cares whether the farmers get the price or not.
A milk-giving cow gives 11 to 12 liters of milk per day. Then it reduces to 8 liters. Milk is sold for 24 to 25 rupees per liter. Four kilograms of fodder has to be purchased daily, which costs 22 to 28 rupees per kg.
By selling ten liters of milk, one can earn up to 250 rupees. The cost of fodder is 88 rupees per day. Due to which the profit is reduced to 160 rupees. Cows do not give milk for 4 months, there is no profit from maintenance, medicine expenses, other expenses. Therefore people are not ready to keep animals. Above that, if you do labour work, you get Rs 300 to 500 per day.
More than 70 percent of milk in Maharashtra is bought by private companies.
More than 70 percent of milk produced in Sangli is bought by private companies.
Based on their experiences with the private sector, dairy producers in western Maharashtra decided to support the farmers’ movement (which started in November 2020) against the Agriculture Act as these laws were brought to liberalise the agriculture sector.
History
In 1841, a farmer named Thomas Selleck was the stationmaster on the New York and Erie Railroad, 97 km away. He asked to use the railroad to deliver milk to the distant New York City and thus 227 liters of milk was transported to New York City in a wooden barrel (churn).
Mechanical refrigeration became popular between 1880 and 1890.
A test to determine the fat of milk was developed by Niklaus Gerber in Switzerland in 1888 and Stephen Babcock of the University of Wisconsin in the United States in 1890. After that, the practice of determining the price of milk based on the component became possible.
The White Revolution is becoming a Black Revolution
More than 319 lakh liters of milk is produced daily in Gujarat; 24.64% of the world’s production takes place in India alone.
Cooperative activities are inherent in the economic progress of Gujarat.
Shankar Chaudhary’s dairy is running on the basis of no profit no loss. It gives a profit of 1 thousand crores to the cattle rearers. This profit is deducted from the milk of the farmers and the farmers are cheated.
The dairy has become an arena for politics. Dairy managers do politics by becoming honorable.
A noble work is going bad.
Disputes, corruption, scams, adulteration in the milk of cattle farmers, fraud in Mehsana’s Dudhsagar Dairy, Banaskantha’s Banas Dairy, Anand’s Amul Dairy have broken the trust of the members. Loon is happening. It is pushed towards massive loss.
There has been a scam of crores in Dudhsagar Dairy.
Crooked politics.
In 2017, a case was filed in the court against Vipul Chaudhary for committing a scam of 750 crores.
Amul Dairy leaders have a hold on local politics.
Dominance of the officials of influential milk committees has been established.
Cooperative leader non-political personality in Prajamanas Kheda District Milk Producers Union i.e. Amul Dairy is the best and most successful model of cooperative development model started in Anand district.
Banas Dairy
Banas Dairy Chairman Shankar Chaudhary is a politician. 1400 milk committees are associated with Banasderi. It has three and a half lakh milk workers.
There are more members. The pamphlet said that chairman Shankar Chaudhary has committed a scam of Rs 340 crore. Dalda was found mixed in Banas Dairy’s ghee.
Politics also played a role in the election of dairy directors.
Shankar Chaudhary took over the reins of Banas Dairy in 2014 after Mr Bhatola, who was the continuous president of Banas Dairy for 25 years, took over.
More than 13,000 cooperative milk producing committees in Gujarat are embroiled in politics. Now political leaders have become the heads in the administration of dairies. Now BJP leaders are becoming the heads of dairies. Basically, BJP has been running a campaign to take over cooperative dairies for the last 20 years. The result is that cooperative dairies are today becoming victims of BJP’s oppression. BJP leaders have also taken Amul, a company with a turnover of more than Rs 60 thousand crore, to task.
