Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah on Sunday stated that Gujarat's dairy sector, built on the cooperative model, has transformed women into empowered entrepreneurs. Speaking at the inauguration of a new fully automatic milk processing and packaging plant of Madhur Dairy in Dashela village, Gandhinagar, Shah highlighted the sector's impact.
Women Empowerment Through Dairy
Shah emphasized that the dairy sector has revolutionized the lives of women in the state. 'Today, 36 lakh women in Gujarat are instrumental in providing 3 crore litres of cattle milk. A sum of Rs 200 is deposited into their bank accounts daily,' he said. These women have become entrepreneurs, contributing significantly to the state's economy.
Remarkable Growth of Cooperatives
Reflecting on the journey, Shah noted, 'From a humble beginning of just four cooperative societies and 6,000 litres of milk, generating a turnover of merely Rs 7,000, we have today achieved a staggering turnover of Rs 7 lakh crore. This remarkable progress stands as the greatest success of our cooperative system.' Madhur Dairy is affiliated with the Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd under the Amul brand.
White Revolution 2.0 and AI Integration
Shah added that under 'White Revolution 2.0,' Prime Minister Narendra Modi has formulated a strategic plan to triple the country's milk production in the next ten years. 'I would assert that Amul, along with Gujarat's entire dairy industry, has played a pivotal role in boosting the profits of our livestock farmers by successfully integrating global technologies into India, and has established a strong mechanism to ensure that these profits are directly credited to the bank accounts of the women,' he said.
Shah also mentioned that PM Modi inaugurated Amul's AI-powered digital assistant during the recent AI Summit. 'In the days to come, Amul's AI platform is poised to play a transformative role within the agricultural sector. This flagship digital assistant has been named 'Sarlaben' to ensure that the women involved in the sector can utilize it with ease and simplicity,' Shah explained.
New Madhur Dairy Plant
Built at an approximate cost of Rs 128 crore, the fully automatic Madhur Dairy plant has an initial milk processing capacity of 2.5 lakh litres per day, which can be expanded up to 5 lakh litres per day as required, officials said. The state-of-the-art facility is expected to further strengthen the dairy sector in Gujarat.
