“If Sumul is prosperous, 2.5 lakh people get the benefits but if a private dairy is strong only five people get the benefits”, said Union Cooperation Minister Amit Shah extolling the virtues of the co-op model of doing business. If the cooperative sector is strong, poor men and women will be strong, added shah.
Shah said this while inaugurating and laying the foundation stone of various schemes of Sumul Dairy in Surat on Sunday. This was his first meeting of co-operators in Surat , after taking over as Cooperation Minister at the Centre. Besides hundreds of farmers and co-operators, several VIPs including Union Minister Smt Darshana Jardosh and Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel were present on the occasion.
The presence and enthusiasm of a large number of people in this conference at Tapi District of South Gujarat is a testament to how strong the cooperative structure is in Gujarat, said Shah. Shah said Sumul has started a fight to end malnutrition in 11 districts and this is being done in the spirit of cooperatives. “You have set a vivid example of the cooperative spirit by freeing children and girls from malnutrition in about 20,000 Anganwadis”, Shah lauded the Sumul team.
Tracing the journey of Sumul, Shah said it started 71 years ago, beginning with 200 litres to 20 lakh litres today, in which milk producing tribal men and women have greatly contributed. Today, due to the hard work and dedication of tribal women, milk worth Rs 7 crore is sold daily and arrangements have been made to transfer Rs 7 crore directly to the bank accounts of 2.5 lakh members, Shah underlined.
“This is the miracle of the cooperative principle, the miracle of the cooperative movement. It is a miracle of a cooperative system that has been created in Gujarat by the efforts of Tribhuvan Patel”, Shah paid tributes to Patel. He also paid tributes to Sardar Patel, Bhai Kaka and Vaikunthbhai Mehta for laying down the foundation of a strong cooperative movement in the state and said today Amul brand has become a global brand with a turnover of Rs. 53,000 crore.
Praising Narendra Modi for strengthening the co-op sector, Shah said PM has created the Ministry of
Cooperation which is doing its bit to help primary agricultural societies, milk producers unions, APMCs, fishermen’s brothers’ unions, trade unions, small industrial unions working in the cooperative sector.
The Modi government is working to provide software to all primary agricultural societies in the coming days. With a budget of more than Rs 900 crore, the Narendra Modi government has set up the Cooperation Department for basic facilities. I can say with full confidence that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has a dream of a US $ 5 trillion economy and the cooperative sector will contribute the most in the coming days, stated Shah. He said that Prime Minister Modi has provided many facilities in the budget for the cooperative sector.
He said that the farmers of South Gujarat have prospered and cooperative sugar mills running through the cooperative movement have contributed greatly to this. “Today I can proudly say that the best system of sugar mills in the country are in Gujarat. People associated with sugar mills were fighting for 40 years to solve problems related to Income Tax and liability of Rs 8,000 crores, which was immediately ended by the Prime Minister. He brought all co-operative production institutions at par with Corporate Tax”, Shah added.
Our goal is to strengthen the cooperative movement for workers of all cooperatives and make it the strongest cooperative movement in the world in the 100th year of Independence, he added.
The Union Home Minister said that he wished to appeal to the farmers of Gujarat to adopt natural farming to have chemical free food. I am sure that Shri Modi’s dream of a prosperous and healthy India will come true, concluded Shah.
