Speaking on the issue of Amul’s competition with Aavin of Tamil Nadu, Union Minister Amit Shah said Tamil Nadu Cooperative Milk Federation (Aavin) and the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd. (GCMMF) (Amul) are registered under their respective State Cooperative Acts.
Shah’s reply read “As informed by the Department of Animal Husbandry & Dairying, in the year 2002, the Central Government notified amendments to the Milk and Milk product Order (MMPO) 1992 making it more liberal to facilitate dairy development in the country, ” said Shah.
According to the aforementioned Amendment, the provision of assigning milkshed was done away with. So, there is no restriction on anyone to set up a dairy network anywhere in the country.
The question was raised by member P. Wilson on steps taken by ministry on Amul’s competition with Aavin of TN, Co- operation Milk producers federation and whether the spirit of Operation White Flood 1970, which transformed India from Milk deficient nation to Biggest producers, is to let other Co-operatives thrive without infringing each other’s milk shed area, if so, the details of steps taken by the Government.
Giving a broader picture of the dairy scene, Shah informed that in the dairy cooperative sector, there are 22 Milk Federations/ Apex Bodies, 240 districts, cooperative milk unions, 28 marketing dairies, 24 Milk Producer Organizations covering about 2.3 lakh villages and 1.8 Crore dairy farmers as members.
In order to strengthen the dairy cooperatives throughout the country, the Department of Animal Husbandry & Dairying, Government of India is implementing dairy development schemes such as National Programme for Dairy Development, Dairy Processing and Infrastructure Development Fund and Supporting Dairy Cooperatives and Farmer Producer Organizations engaged in dairy activities, he added.