Diary cooperative giant Amul pattern has established itself as a unique model for rural development and especially for the women farmers by linking the producer to the market by eliminating the exploitative middleman.
Amul has played an important role in the lives of these women members for making them economically independent. Today, 30 lac women across 15000 villages of Gujarat bring in milk worth Rs. 30 cr every morning and in turn bring prosperity and happiness for their families and the entire village. By replicating Amul pattern in other states, India has emerged as the largest milk producer in the world.
Inspired by this cooperative movement, film director Shyam Benegal created the classic National Award Winning film –“Manthan” in the year 1976.
The title song of this film (Mero gaam kathaparey…) was later used by GCMMF in 2001 to create the corporate television commercial for Amul. It is a folk song played to the clips from the movie Manthan that showcases the economic independence celebrated by the women farmers, thanks to the co-operative movement called Amul. A line was added to the song “mare ghar jhanjar laxmi ke baje”(in my house, the bells of wealth ring), as a symbol of the success of Amul.
Now a decade later, GCMMF has re-created the magic of Manthan which talks about how this independent rural woman’s life has enriched further and now she is walking shoulder to shoulder with her urban counterpart. Even when it comes to technology, she is highly competent – from handling the automatic milking equipments to operating computers for billing at the village dairy societies. The new TV film emphasizes on her contribution towards creating a healthier lifestyle for the society in general and aims at establishing the bond between the milk producer and consumer.
On the occasion of the release of this new corporate campaign,Mr R S Sodhi, Managing Director, GCMMF mentioned that it is necessary for the urban consumer to appreciate the role of the rural milk producers in making available good quality fresh milk at affordable prices. Simultaneously, cooperatives pass on more than 80% share of consumer’s spending on milk and milk products to the producers, thereby helping in usher prosperity in rural areas.
Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation is India’s largest food products marketing organization. It procures 4 billion litres of milk annually from 3 million milk producers in more than 15000 villages, twice a day, and processes and markets its product range comprising butter, cheese, ice cream, fresh milk, yoghurt, milk powders, UHT milk, flavoured milk, ghee, paneer etc in 3000 cities and towns of India and 40 countries around the world. Its annual sales turnover in 2010-11 was US$ 2.2 billion.
The new campaign is telecast on all major General Entertainment, News, Music, Kids TV and Regional television channels from October 22, 2011.