Representing over 1.7 lakh milk farmers of Rajasthan at World Dairy Summit 2022, women Chairpersons of four milk producer organizations said, “While on one hand we are applauded by Hon’ble Prime Minister and global experts, on the other end, we are deeply distressed by the discriminatory treatment and denial in the state government’s financial support scheme given to the co-operatives.”
After unveiling their own value-added products such as ghee, paneer, and curd before the global experts, these Chairpersons observed, “Modi has said that 70% contribution in milk production is from women in India. Three of these four organizations are totally owned by women from rural Rajasthan while the fourth one has a substantive stake held by the female milk producers. And today, denial of subsidy is putting us on the verge of extinction.”
To provide financial help for the welfare of milk producers of Rajasthan, ‘Mukhyamantri Dugdh Sambal Yojna’ was announced in the FY19-20 state budget, under which the state government gave a grant of Rs. 2 per liter to the cattle owners for supplying milk in the cooperative milk producer unions of the state. In the recently presented budget for fiscal 2022-23, subsidy on milk has been increased from Rs. 2 per liter to Rs. 5 per liter, under the said scheme.
Union Agriculture ministry in an advisory dated March 23, 2012, to the state governments, stated, “the Producer Companies combine the institutional strengths of cooperative principles with the flexibility, autonomy, and transparency of the company and cooperative society. In view of this, the Union Government advised states to consider extending concessions/benefits to such organizations formed by farmers at par with cooperative societies.”
The four organizations have operations in and around 22 districts out of the total 33 districts of the state Asha, Sakhi, and Ujala Dairy have 100% participation by women producers. They expressed “for the convenience of the cattle rearers, our organizations also provide ancillary services such as fodder seeds, cattle feed, mineral mixture, artificial insemination, etc., helping producers to enhance milk productivity and their remuneration.”
With folded hands, they made a passionate appeal to Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot and his government to extend the benefit of ‘Mukhyamantri Dugdh Sambal Yojna’ and pointed out that Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Yogi Adityanath, who inaugurated the all-women producer organization Balinee in Bundelkhand, observed as to how Balinee is proving to be a harbinger of development in the backward region and declared that the state would help in creating five such more organizations led by female dairy producers to give a flip to economic improvement in rural areas.
