Cooperation Minister: We are giving Rupay cards to every farmer. Every village dairy is being made a ‘Bank Mitra’ and is being provided ATMs, and the accounts of the dairy and every farmer are being transferred to the District Cooperative Bank; Headquarters of NCDFI is going to be built in Anand at an expense of about Rs32 crore and will be a 100 percent green building
Union Minister Amit Shah attends the E-Market Award 2023 Ceremony and foundation stone laying of office building of NCDFI at Gandhinagar, in Gujarat
FinTech BizNews Service
Mumbai, December 31, 2023: Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation
Amit Shah laid the foundation stone of the headquarters of National Cooperative
Dairy Federation of India (NCDFI) Limited in Gandhinagar, Gujarat on Saturday and
addressed the e-Market Awards 2023 ceremony. Many dignitaries including Gujarat
Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, Gujarat Legislative Assembly Speaker Shankar
Choudhary, IFFCO Chairman Dilip Sanghani, NDDB Chairman Dr Meenesh Shah
and NCDFI Chairman Dr Mangal Rai were present on the occasion.
In his address, Amit Shah said that the dairy and especially the cooperative dairy
sector in our country has achieved multi-dimensional goals. He said that if milk
trading is not done by the cooperative sector, then milk production remains limited to
a middleman and the milk user. But if the cooperative sector trades milk in a
cooperative manner, then many dimensions are integrated into it, because the aim is
not to make profit only and it has multidimensional benefits to the society, agriculture,
villages, milk producers and ultimately the country. He said that India has
experienced this success story in the last 50 years.
The Minister of Cooperation said that today India has reached the first place in the
world's milk production with 24% share and under the leadership of Prime Minister
Narendra Modi, milk production in India has increased by about 51% in the last 8
years, which is the highest in the world. This is the fastest increase. Shah said that
this has been possible only because most of these productions have been done
through cooperative dairies. He said that if cooperative dairy is to be run, then many
institutions will have to be formed to nurture it and NCDFI will do this work. In a way,
NCDFI is doing the work of providing guidance to all dairies. Shah said that White
Revolution started from the village ‘Vasi’ and now headquarters of NCDFI is going to
be built in the same Anand district in an area of about 7000 square meters. It will be
built at an expense of about Rs 32 crore and will be operated through a solar power
plant. He said that the new headquarters building will be a 100 percent green
building.
The Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation said that when the
cooperative sector does dairy business, the first to benefit is the milk producers,
because they are not exploited. He said that if someone produces milk alone, he/she
does not have the capacity to store the milk and cannot explore the market. But if the
cooperative sector does milk business, then milk unions are formed at the village
and district level and they have the capacity for cold storage, processing, converting
the milk into a product as per the market demand and then share the profits with the
sisters who are involved in milk production on cooperative basis. In this way the
exploitation of milk producing sisters ends. He said that a person involved in
production of milk alone cannot worry about the health of his/her animals, but if milk
is produced in a cooperative manner, then the District Milk Producers Association will
also make arrangements for breed improvement, health improvement and good diet
of the animals. The third advantage is that if the milk business is done through the
cooperative sector then it automatically gets linked to the nutrition movement.
Amit Shah said that he knows about many such dairies including Banaskantha Dairy,
which take care of the health of malnourished children by providing them nutritious
milk. Many dairies like Ahmedabad Dairy take care of the nutrition of pregnant
women and their children by giving them laddus. He said that the entire cooperative
sector has joined the fight against malnutrition. The Union Minister of Cooperation
said that at one time it was difficult for India to even imagine dairy and dairy
technology, but we made such efforts that symmetric milk production started all over
India. There are many areas which were not connected with cooperative dairy, even
there, through NDDB, the capable diaries of Gujarat are expanding their work in
North Indian states like Uttar Pradesh and Haryana and increasing their work in a
cooperative manner. He said that if milk is to be produced in a symmetrical manner
in every village of the country and every household is to be made self-reliant, then
this work is possible only through cooperative dairying.
Amit Shah said that Indian dairies have brought laurels to the country in the world in
milk production. He said that in 1946, when a dairy in Gujarat started exploitation,
Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel inspired Tribhuvan Bhai against it and in 1946, small
dairies were started in 15 villages. He said that a small beginning against exploitation
in 1946 transformed into a huge movement and from this came the idea of white
revolution in the country and the emergence of NDBB. He said that today many
cooperative dairies have developed across the country. Amul processes around 40
million liters of milk every day and 36 lakh sisters store the milk and every week they
get the price of the milk produced. Shah said that in 2021-22 Amul Federation has a
turnover of Rs72000 crores.
The Minister of Cooperation said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has brought
about many revolutions in the country, including the digital revolution. Diplomats,
politicians, heads of state from all over the world had come here for the G-20 and
everyone was surprised as to how online payments and digital transactions could
increase so much in a country like India. He said that one feels happy to see when in
a small village, a woman takes out her mobile and scans it and makes payment. He
said that India is among the fastest growing economies in the field of digital
transactions in the entire world and in the next 4-5 years we will reach the top.
Nearly 80 countries have sought information about the success of our online
payment system and India has happily agreed to provide this information.
Amit Shah said that awards have been given today for promoting e-market in the
dairy industry. He urged the members of NCDFI to go towards 100 percent e-
business. The Minister of Cooperation said that we have just started a small
experiment in Gujarat, in collaboration with Panchmahal District Dairy, Banaskantha
District Dairy and Gujarat State Cooperative Bank. We are giving Rupay cards to
every farmer. Every village dairy is being made a ‘Bank Mitra’ and is being provided
ATMs, and the accounts of the dairy and every farmer are being transferred to the
District Cooperative Bank. He said that deposits of Rs 800 crore have increased in
Banaskantha district alone and 193 ATMs are operational. RuPay debit card has
reached 96 percent farmers. Now the farmer does not need to go to anyone. The
payment for their milk is deposited directly into the account of District Cooperative
Bank, Banaskantha. S/he has a RuPay card linked to it. If s/he wants to buy anything
from anywhere and needs cash, s/he can take cash from the ATM of the dairy of
his/her village. Shah said that by making every dairy in the district a center, this
model should be implemented in the entire Gujarat, then the farmer will not have to
take out cash from his pocket for any purchase.
The Minister of Cooperation said that cooperatives should play an important role in
promoting the formal economy & economy of the country instead of the informal
economy. He said that we have envisioned such an economic system where the
cooperative plays a role in promoting the cooperatives. All the milk union officials
should study this model and send it to every district milk producer union so that it can
be known how much the strength of the cooperative sector has increased.
Amit Shah said that NCDFI should take steps towards organic farming. Amul has
used it very well. He said that with the inspiration of Prime Minister Narendra Modi,
we have formed a multi-state cooperative institution at the national level, which will
do the marketing of organic products. People have started connecting with it.
Adopting this model, today an organic cooperative is promoting organic products in
the country. Along with this, a cooperative has also been formed for export because
the world market for organic products is very big and also expensive. If the world
wants to consume expensive organic products then there should be no delay in
sending them from India.
The Minister of Cooperation said that we have also formed a seed cooperative which
will conserve and promote Indian seeds. Today, big seed manufacturing companies
remain with the big farmers. Even if someone has two acres of land, it will reach
there through PACS and will also connect the farmers with seed cultivation. This will
increase the farmer's profit. He urged NCDFI, as a nodal agency, to take the good
model that emerged in this regard to every district union. If any district union wants to
adopt it, then a team should be formed to guide it and the success achieved in one
district should be achieved in every district of India.
Amit Shah said that e-auction platform, reverse auction and forward auction are also
now going to be provided and there is also a provision for procurement of one lakh
metric tonnes of pulses on the e-market portal of NCDFI. Similarly, NAFED's app is
going to be launched on 4th January, in which no matter how much pulses a farmer
produces in India, NAFED will buy the entire produce at the rate of one rupee more
than the MSP. He said that we want to make India self-reliant in the oilseeds sector,
hence this work has been entrusted to NAFED. The farmer will register on NAFED's
app and cultivate pulses and all the pulses will be purchased by NAFED at the rate
of MSP plus one rupee.
The Minister of Cooperation said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has formed a
global alliance for ethanol, but even before forming the alliance, we have made a
policy for making ethanol from maize. According to this policy, if a farmer sows
maize, 100 percent of his maize will be purchased by NAFED and sent to the ethanol
manufacturing company and the farmer will get a price higher than the MSP. He said
that we have set goals like crop diversification, less use of fertilizers, self-reliance in
pulses and oilseeds.
