Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation, Amit Shah attends the 49th Dairy Industry Conference organized by Indian Dairy Association

Gandhinagar :18/3/23:Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation, Shri Amit Shah attended the 49th Dairy Industry Conference organized by the Indian Dairy Association (IDA) as the chief guest at Gandhinagar, Gujarat, today. Several dignitaries including Chief Minister of Gujarat Shri Bhupendra Patel were present on the occasion.

In his address, Shri Amit Shah said that dairy is a business for the world but in a country like India with a population of 130 crore, it is a source of employment, an alternative to strengthen the rural economy, a solution to the problems of malnutrition and a sector of immense potential for women empowerment. He said that since India’s independence if we look at the development of the dairy industry, then it is evident that the dairy sector has aptly linked all these aspects with the development of the country. Shri Shah said that the Cooperative Dairy which worked has for the prosperity of the farmers, has hugea contribution in this. Cooperative dairy has paved the path for making the country’s poor women farmers self-reliant. He said that in the 75th year of independence, Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi formed the Ministry of Cooperation to fulfil the mantra of “Sahkar se Samridhi”.

The Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation said that Indian Dairy Association was established soon after independence the in 1948, and IDA has been instrumental in the development of the dairy sector in the country. He said that an attempt has been made in this conference to have acomprehensive discussion to make India’s dairy sector the strongest in the world. He said that our dairy and animal husbandry sector contributes 4.5 per cent to the country’s GDP and the contribution of dairy sector to agriculture sector is 24 per cent, which is valued around Rs 10 Lakh crore and it is highest in the world. Shri Shah said that dairy is a strong part of our economy and in terms of employment, about 45 crore people from 9 crore rural households, especially marginal farmers and women, are directly associated with the dairy sector today.

The Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation said that today India’s share in milk production has gone up to 21 percent and the Amul model has contributed a lot in this. He said that the Government led by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi is making every possible effort for 360-degree development of the dairy sector in India. Shri Shah said that after the formation of 2 lakh primary milk production societies in the country, 33 percent of the world’s milk production is likely to happen in India and for this the Government under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi, State Governments and the Cooperative Movement will have to work together. He said that India should become the world’s largest market in the field of milk production as well as milk processing equipment. Shri Shah said that we have to move forward with the goal that by the year 2033-34 India should produce 33 percent of the world’s milk with about 330 MMT milk production every year.