Cooperative model best suited for India, says Shah

What is the news?

The Union Home Minister has said that the cooperative model is the only model of economic development that will work to achieve an all-encompassing and all-inclusive development of a huge country like India.

He also said that one of the most successful cooperative models in India is Amul and based on this, a similar model needs to be adopted for organic farming where farmers are encouraged to adopt this practise.

What are Cooperatives?

According to the International Co-operative Alliance, cooperatives are people-centred enterprises owned, controlled and run by and for their members to realise their common economic, social, and cultural needs and aspirations.

Amul Cooperative Model

Amul was founded in 1946. It is managed by the Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd. (GCMMF), a cooperative body that comprises 3.6 million milk producers of Gujarat.

It follows a professionally-run 3-tier model.

Tier 1: It collects milk from farmers at the district level

Tier 2:  It runs district cooperative unions that process and manufacture milk and milk products

Tier 3: then markets these products under the Amul brand through the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation.

Why is the Amul Model successful?

The success of Amul could be attributed to following important factors:

1) The farmers owned the dairy, 2) their elected representatives managed the village societies, and 3) the district union usually employs professionals to operate the dairy and manage its business.

Source: This post is based on the article “Cooperative model best suited for India, says Shah” published in The Hindu on 28th Nov 2021.