Amit Shah launches plan for ‘second white revolution’
Amit Shah launched Margdarshika to form 200,000 new agricultural cooperatives and boost the dairy sector, aiming for 100 million kg milk/day by 2028.
Union home and cooperation minister Amit Shah on Thursday launched Margdarshika, an action plan for the formation and strengthening of 200,000 new multipurpose primary agricultural cooperatives, or MPACs, apart from a set of initiatives to usher in a second White Revolution in the dairy sector.
The action plan will largely foster new cooperatives in panchayats that don’t have one for agricultural, fisheries and dairy-related activities, a high priority area for the Union government.
Cooperatives are business entities where all members contribute to create a fund and they equally share profits and losses among themselves. India’s biggest dairy brand, Amul, runs on a cooperative model. The country’s largest fertilizer manufacturer, Iffco, and a large number of rural and urban banks are also based on the cooperative model.
“A series of transformational initiatives has been taken in the 100 days of the ministry of cooperation,” Shah said, addressing a national-level conference.
The minister said PM Narendra Modi had created a separate ministry for cooperation to give “rebirth to the cooperative sector in all villages and districts”. The government is providing new impetus to the rural economy through cooperatives, he said.
To ensure effective establishment of new cooperatives, the action plan Margdarshika has been prepared by the ministry of cooperation in collaboration with Nabard, the state-run rural development bank and National Dairy Development Board.
The “White Revolution 2.0” initiative aims to expand cooperative coverage to include more dairies. According to the government’s projections, dairy cooperatives will procure 100 million kilograms of milk a day by the end of the fifth year of the initiative. This will significantly enhance the livelihoods of rural producers, Shah said.
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“Maximum women are engaged in the dairy sector, with some generating business worth ₹60,000 crore in Gujarat alone. This new initiative will focus on empowering women and further strengthening the fight against malnutrition,” Shah said.
The plan will leverage the benefits of existing programmes, including the Dairy Processing and Infrastructure Development Fund (DIDF), National Programme for Dairy Development (NPDD), as well as proposed schemes NPDD 2.0 of Department of Animal Husbandry& Dairying to achieve its objective.
The cooperation ministry has targeted 70,000 new multipurpose cooperatives over the next five years, including 22,752 by 2026; 47,248 by 2029; and 56,500 in the remaining period.
The minister also launched the nationwide rollout of RuPay Kisan Credit Cards for dairy farmers and the installation of micro-ATMs at dairy cooperative societies.