GS Paper - I

Operation Flood, launched in 1970, ushered in the White Revolution and transformed the dairy sector in India. Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah announced plans for “White Revolution 2.0”. What is the big picture currently in India’s dairy sector, and what is the objective of the government’s new initiative?

White Revolution 2.0

• The idea of White Revolution 2.0 revolves around cooperative societies, which were also the bedrock of Operation Flood five decades ago.
• Dairy cooperatives procured 660 lakh kg of milk per day in 2023-24; the government wants to increase this to 1,007 lakh kg/ day by 2028-29.
• For this, it has formulated a strategy of expanding coverage and deepening the reach of cooperatives.
• White Revolution 2.0 will “increase milk procurement of dairy cooperatives by 50%…over the next five years by providing market access to dairy farmers in uncovered areas and increasing the share of dairy cooperatives in the organised sector”, according to the Ministry of Cooperation.
• This will also generate employment and contribute to the empowerment of women in the process, the ministry said.

Scope for expansion

• Since it was created in 2021, the Ministry of Cooperation has focused on expanding the network of cooperatives, in particular dairy cooperatives.
• According to officials of the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB), the regulator of the dairy industry in India, dairy cooperatives operate in around 70% of the country’s districts.
• There are about 1.7 lakh dairy cooperative societies (DCSs), which cover around 2 lakh villages (30% of the total number of villages in the country), and 22% of producer households.
• These cooperative societies procure about 10% of the country’s milk production and 16% of the marketable surplus.
• The bulk of the funding for White Revolution 2.0 will come through the National Programme for Dairy Development (NPDD) 2.0, a new central sector scheme under the Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying.

Milk scenario in India

• India is the world’s top milk producer, with production having reached 230.58 million tonnes during 2022-23. In 1951-52, the country produced just 17 million tonnes of milk.
• The average yield is, however, only 8.55 kg per animal per day for exotic/ crossbred animals, and 3.44 kg/ animal/ day for indigenous/ nondescript animals. The yield in Punjab is 13.49 kg/ animal/ day (exotic/ crossbreed), but only 6.30 kg/ animal/ day in West Bengal.
• The national per capita availability of milk is 459 grams/ day, which is higher than the global average of 323 g/ day; this number, however, varies from 329 g in Maharashtra to 1,283 g in Punjab.