Amit Shah asks Dairy Board to take lead in establishing cooperatives in panchayats with potential

Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation Amit Shah Thursday held a meeting with board members of the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) which owns Mother Dairy. In a statement later, the board said he sought to establish viable dairy cooperatives in panchayats that have the potential.

According to an official, Shah, along with top officials of the Ministry of Cooperation, visited NDDB’s office in Delhi and held a meeting with the board members. “He discussed future roadmap and various issues related to the dairy sector,” the official said.

After the meeting, the NDDB issued a statement and said that Shah appreciated NDDB’s initiatives in the Indian dairy sector and asked the Dairy Board to further strengthen cooperative dairying by playing a major role in establishing viable dairy cooperatives in uncovered panchayats/ villages having potential for dairying.

As per the statement, the minister also highlighted the need for multi-commodity cooperatives, a common brand for the export of cooperatives’ produce, promotion of organic produce, better capacity utilisation of milk processing facilities by cooperation among cooperatives, self-reliance in manufacturing dairy machinery and export of indigenous dairy equipment though IDMC Ltd, a subsidiary of NDDB.

According to the statement, the minister said India needs to become “Dairy to the World” through the export of quality milk and milk products to further enhance farmers’ income.

During the meeting, Meenesh Shah, Chairman, NDDB; Gyanesh Kumar, Secretary, Cooperation; Pankaj Kumar Bansal, Joint Secretary, Cooperation; and NDDB Board of Directors including Varsha Joshi, Additional Secretary (Dairy Development), Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying; Shamalbhai Balabhai Patel, Chairman, Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd.; Nihal Chand Sharma, Chairman, Himachal Pradesh Co-operative Milk Producers Federation Ltd; and Dr NH Kelawala, Vice Chancellor, Kamdhenu University were present.

According to the statement, the NDDB chairman briefed the minister about India’s dairy sector, the board’s ‘Farmers First’ vision for all its initiatives following cooperative strategies, scientific dairy husbandry practices adopted by farmers, efforts of NDDB’s subsidiaries to strengthening dairy cooperatives thereby improving the livelihood of crores of farmers and thus furthering the objectives of the NDDB.

The NDDB, a statutory body under the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, was established in 1965. It has several subsidiaries, including Mother Dairy Fruit and Vegetable Pvt Ltd, Indian Immunologicals Ltd, IDMC Ltd, NDDB Dairy Services, NDDB Mrida Ltd and NDDB CALF Ltd.