A delegation comprising the Chairman of the National Cooperative Dairy Federation of India and Chairmen of state milk marketing federations and unions of Gujarat, Haryana, Punjab, Karnataka, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra met the Hon.Prime Minister of India Dr Manmohan Singh and Minister of Agriculture Shri Sharad Pawar to apprise them on the issues faced by the millions of milk producers of the country.
The discussion was based on a Memorandum submitted to them which included the following issues:
1. Amendment in the Cooperative Act
2. Reduce Income Tax on co-operatives which will help in improving returns to farmer members
3. Increase in prices of Cattle-feed Raw Material and corrective actions required thereof by imposing export duty on deoiled cakes
4. VAT on all value-added Dairy products to be fixed to 4%
5. Removal of VAT & Excise duty on use of Molasses in cattle feed
6. Restrict imports of Skimmed Milk Powder and Butter Oil
7. Classification of Advances to Dairy Cooperatives under Priority Sector Lending
Hon. Prime Minister assured the delegation that these issues will be looked into and necessary steps will be taken to provide support to our dairy industry. Shri Sharad Pawar also assured the Government support to the dairy cooperatives on the above issues. The delegation was informed that the Constitutional Amendment Bill for amendment in the cooperative act shall be discussed in the forthcoming session of the Parliament.
The dairy cooperative movement of the country covers 125 lakh milk producer families in over 1.2 lac villages of India and procures 250lac litres of milk every day. This milk is processed by a network of 180 district cooperative unions across 28 states of the country. It may be noted that this dairy cooperative revolution has made India the largest producer of milk in the world. The delegation of farmer leaders representing the dairy cooperatives of various states impressed upon the Prime Minister and Agriculture Minister that the Government`s urgent intervention is necessary to ensure a healthy growth of our dairy industry.