Unhealthy trend: NDDB to mediate between warring dairy co-op feds

Of late the news of dairy co-op federations fighting each other have grabbed the media headlines. Starting with the Amul-Nandini row, the issue is diffusing to many other dairy co-operative federations. The latest is Kerala’s Milma objecting to Nandini’s encroachment on its turf.

Concerned with the issue, the NDDB has decided to hold a meeting of the chairpersons and managing directors of co-operative dairy federations of the country this month to sort out the issue, media reports say. KCMMF is reported to have sent a long letter listing its woes.

Earlier, K S Mani, Chairman of Kerala Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation (KCMMF) had raised the issue of encroachment on its turf by Karnataka’s Nandini. Milma Chairman raised the issue in the Varanasi meeting of NCDFI recently. He said that co-ops should cooperate not compete with each other.

Interestingly, the Congress party in Karnataka is fighting on behalf of Nandini on an issue not very different from this. The Center’s decision to bring synergy between Amul and Nandini so that they jointly open a dairy co-op in each Panchayat of the state has acquired political overtones.

Releasing its manifesto for the assembly elections, Congress had promised that it would not allow Karnataka’s Nandini milk brand to be destroyed under any circumstances.The party’s promise about Nandini is significant in view of the recent controversy about Gujarat’s Amul dairy cooperative expanding its footprint in the state.

Reacting to this, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that to say suddenly that Amul is being brought to Karnataka to kill Nandini is “brazen”. The Minister disclosed that the Gujarat-based dairy cooperative Amul had entered the state when Congress was in power here and there is nothing wrong.

GCMMF Managing Director Jayen Mehta also clarified that it is not an either-or situation, rather both Amul and Nandini can mutually prosper. Mehta revealed that Amul’s ice-cream has been getting manufactured by plants owned by Nandini for the last two and a half decades.

Even before the Amul Nandini row could die, Kerala’s popular milk brand Milma objected to the Karnataka Milk Marketing Federation’s decision to establish outlets in parts of Kerala to sell its milk and other dairy products. The MILMA called it ‘unethical’. The Kerala federation has accused Nandini of flouting the accepted norms of India’s dairy sector.

In the bleak scenario, NDDB Chairman Meenesh Shah has taken a lead to resolve the issue by meeting all the stakeholders later this month, informed sources confide.