Prime Minister Narendra Modi created the Ministry of Cooperation with the motto of “prosperity with cooperation”, said Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday.
Addressing Amul’s 75th foundation day function in Gujarat’s Anand, the Union Home Minister said cooperatives can make a huge contribution in making India a U$5 trillion economy. “Modiji has created the Ministry of Cooperation, it has been created with the motto of ‘prosperity with cooperation’. I firmly believe that within a US$5 trillion economy, cooperatives can make a huge contribution. To fulfil the dream of a self-reliant India, there can be no better way than cooperatives,” said Shah.
The Home Minister further recalled the contribution of Sardar Vallabhbai Patel in the establishment of the Kaira District Co-operative Milk Producers’ Union (later named as Amul).
“Sardar Patel had a close relationship with Amul. Farmers’ struggle against the injustice of private dairy was turned into a positive movement by Patel’s inspiration and hardworking leader Tribhuvandas Patel,” he said.
Shah noted that when the cooperative was founded and only 200 litres of milk was collected, it would not have been imagined that today the annual turnover of Amul (2021-22) would cross Rs 53,000 crores.
“Today, Amul has developed the capacity to process and store 30 million litres of milk per day. 36 lakh farmer families are associated with Amul by making it their business and living their life with dignity,” he stated.
“Small milk cooperative societies of more than 18,600 villages are contributing to make it a banyan tree by joining Amul. Amul has set up 18 district level dairies and 87 milk processing plants across the country,” Shah added.
According to Amul’s official website, in 1946, the farmers of the Kaira district in Gujarat went on a milk strike refusing to be cowed down by the cartel.
Under the inspiration of Sardar Patel, and the guidance of leaders like Morarji Desai and Tribhuvandas Patel, they formed their own cooperative in 1946.
“This co-operative, the Kaira District Co-operative Milk Producers Union Ltd. began with just two village dairy co-operative societies and 247 litres of milk and is today better known as Amul Dairy,” said the website.