The summer of 2021 has been particularly cruel to dairy farmers. There is ample production but dismal procurement, thus leading to an alarming drop in sales. 

State Milk Producers and Processing Professionals’ Welfare Association Secretary Prakash Kutwal told SabrangIndia, “Milk producers were comparatively better off in 2020 considering the long summer and heat. Now, in 2021, Maharashtra’s milk sales have reduced by 40 percent.” 

Kutwal recounted how milk sales dipped yet again during the second wave of Covid-19, despite great sales observed in March, 2021. The unofficial lockdown caused by the surging Covid-deaths quashed farmers’ hopes of reviving the dairy sector this summer.

With rains coming in early, and eateries shutting down, the demand for cold products like ice-cream was much lesser than last year resulting in lesser sales for milk. Hostels and tea shops were also closed down in the city. Accordingly, procurement decreased by 10 percent. Kutwal said that due to the sudden impact on the food sector, milk producers got Rs. 22 per litre when they should have received at least Rs. 25 per litre.

Recently, two farmers unions: Milk Producers Farmers Struggle Committee and All India Kisan Sabha, called for a state-wide agitation on June 17,2021. In their joint statement they condemned private milk companies and co-operative milk unions for reducing the purchase price of milk by Rs. 10 to Rs. 18 per litre. This is in sharp contrast to pre-lockdown prices of Rs. 30-38 per litre.

“Private milk companies and co-operative milk unions have collectively pushed down rates and made huge profits. The state collects 13 million litres of milk every day. Of this, 40 lakh litres are used for making milk powder. The remaining 90 lakh litres of milk is distributed for domestic use by pouch packing,” said the statement.

Leaders emphasised that domestic consumption has remained stable through it all. Therefore, there is no need to consider 30 to 40 percent milk as excess; an alleged rumour promoted by milk companies to reduce milk prices.

A similar situation persists in neighbouring Gujarat. Sumul Dairy Director and farmer leader Jayesh Delad told SabrangIndia that milk sales decreased from Rs. 11 lakh in January, 2021 to Rs. 9 lakh during the second wave. In 2020 sales had fallen as far as Rs. 8 lakh following Rs. 11 lakh sales in May, 2019. On a positive note, he mentioned that sales were slowly recovering to Rs. 10 lakh in June. However, the possibility of a third wave still leaves dairy farmers with an uncertain future. State-wide, 1,50,000 tonne milk powder remains unused.

Even in case of small-scale farmers, companies like Amul do not change their prices while dealing with non-cooperative farmers, he said. At the same time, production costs keep increasing due to sky-high prices of diesel and petrol.

“In last few days, fuel prices have increased while milk prices haven’t increased in two years. So we have to increase prices,” said Delad.

Covid-19 lockdown caused a drop in the market demand due to closure of the outlets selling livestock products. A large number of private dairies were impacted and they stopped milk procurement from the farmers. This resulted in the farmers diverting their milk to the cooperatives.

As a result, milk procurement in the cooperative sector increased because, as per their mandate, they could not reject milk supplied by the farmers. The cooperatives are faced with liquidity problems due to higher conversion into milk powder and white butter caused by higher milk procurement.

Milk producers’ demands to state governments

When asked about preventive measures for measures in light of a third wave of coronavirus, Delad demanded subsidies from the government for the export sale of milk powder. In October 2020, the Gujarat government gave a Rs. 150 crore subsidy for powder. Delad suggests increasing this subsidy to Rs. 180 crore. Yet, no such schemes have been declared for the powder or butter lying unused.

According to Kutwal, milk companies like Gokul and Warna have made similar demands to the government and also gave money to dairy farmers albeit with no receipt. Maharashtra’s Milk Producers Farmers Struggle Committee and AIKS demanded a purchase and sale audit of milk of all private milk companies and co-operative milk unions during lockdown period by the state government.

It accused private workers of looting the milk producers and as such asked that the government obtain objective statistics on how much milk companies actually bought, sold and at what rate.

“Laws should be enacted for private and co-operative milk companies. An 80-20 revenue sharing policy should be implemented in the milk sector, strict measures should be taken to curb adulteration in milk, and a brand policy should be implemented,” they said in a press note.

Centre’s contribution in helping milk producers?

As per the Economic Survey 2020-21, milk and products was the only item in terms of protein-rich food inflation (not including vegetables) that declined continuously from 9.4 percent in April 2020 to 4.0 percent in December 2020.

Accordingly, the central government boasted of several measures to increase the productivity of livestock and, by extension, milk production such as the ongoing scheme State Dairy Cooperative & Farmers Producers Organization (SDCFPO), inclusion of livestock in Kisan Credit Card (KCC) scheme and a stimulus package of Rs. 15,000 crores under the Prime Minister’s Atma Nirbhar Bharat for animal husbandry infrastructure.

However, when asked about the various initiatives announced by the government since 2019, the Maharashtra leader Kutwal said there is no government presence on the field. In fact, he said some money from past schemes was still pending. Similar responses came from Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh as well.

As for the KCC scheme, of the 1.5 crore or so dairy farmers associated with 230 milk unions and milk producing companies during June 1 to December 31, 2020, 47.81 lakh applications were collected. Out of those, 36.18 lakh applications were forwarded to banks by October 3, 2020.

Persisting despite troubles

West Bengal’s Kangsabati cooperative milk producers’ union has begun selling its produce to Covid-19 hospitals and stay-at-home patients in an effort to keep sales afloat. However, as the epidemic continues in waves, experts call for effective moves to improve the milk sector.

The situation persists even in regions of Uttar Pradesh, the leading state in terms of milk production. Speaking to SabrangIndia, Chandra village resident Dilpreet from Amroha district said farmers have been suffering since last year under the dual burden of the pandemic and the three farm laws forcibly passed by the central government.

“On top of that, when products are stopped because of the Covid-19 virus, we face a lot of problems. Farm loans hit us with double or even triple interest. Meanwhile, last year prices were around Rs. 30 per bag of milk. In January 2021, this increased to Rs. 40 thanks to farmers body Samyukta Kisan Morcha’s intervention,” he said.

Despite this increase in prices, Dilpreet only noticed a significant increase in village deaths rather than profits. When asked about government schemes, he says he too has seen no impact on the ground-level. A few years ago, the ruling party provided cows. However, following elections, dairy farmers lost the party’s attention and the cows too died.

“Every dairy farmer has a side business because they cannot keep their animal alive and household running by simply selling milk,” he said, emphasising the need for the government to not only procure grains but also find a solution for dairy farmers, whose future is marred by looming uncertainty.

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The lockdown has once agains led to concerns being raised about the procurement price of milk. Having to sell cow milk at Rs. 15 – 20 per liter, farmers in Maharashtra took to the streets to protest. Their anguish spilt over to the streets as they dumped their milk on roads and stopped milk supply to urban areas, The Indian Express reported.

It was reported that since April, dairies in Maharashtra had started slashing procurement prices they paid to farmers for their milk. In Maharashtra, farmers who were paid at the rate of Rs. 30 per liter for their milk with 3.5 percent fat and 8.5 percent SNF (solid not-fat) milk are now being paid anywhere between Rs. 17 – 22.50 per liter, IE reported.

The agitation, which was led by the Swabhimani Shetkari Sangathana, saw members of the organization and some farmers stopping tankers passing through Sangli and Kolhapur districts and emptying them on the Pune-Bengaluru highway.

Why this is happening

Sabrang India had earlier reported that milk producers were facing the heat as milk prices fell due to a drop in demand and a rise in inputs like fodder, gram, straw, etc. Around March, the decline had been around 25 percent and this has led to a fall of Rs. 5 – 7 per liter. Speaking to The Times of India, Raju Shetti of the SSS said that the decline had further exacerbated to 40 percent and that the farmers were left with a lot of unsold milk.

Dairy owners said that the pandemic and the extended lockdown is to blame for the farmers’ woes, IE said. They claimed that during the initial days of the lockdown, items like ghee, butter, cheese, milk cartons sold like hot cakes due to people stocking up, the closure of institutional buyers like ice cream manufacturers and sweet shops hit milk sales.

Even the slowdown of festivities like marriages and religious occasions which made use of a lot of milk and milk products has worsened the problems further. The closure of sweet shops on the streets, tea stalls, canteens, hotels etc. have led to a further decrease in the demand of milk. Even the SMP (skimmed milk powder) which is either traded on community platforms or reconverted into liquid milk when production goes down is presently being sold at Rs. 160 – 170 per kg as opposed Rs. 270 – 300 prior to the pandemic.

To add to it, there is now a glut of SMP in the market with about 2 lakh tonnes being available in the market which has further lessened procurement costs from farmers.

Planet Agriculture explained that while dairy farmers were already struggling with falling prices, in a notification dated June 23, 2020, the Union Ministry of Finance exempted imports of milk and cream in powder, granules, or in other solid forms into India under the Tariff Rate Quota quantity. It allowed the import of 10,000 tonnes of milk powder for the fiscal with a 15 percent tariff on imported quantity. Though 10,000 tonnes is only 0.059% of the total milk production, the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) deemed it a judicious step to be leveraged when prices shoot up.

Demands

Farmers are now demanding a subsidy of Rs. 5 – 10 per liter to be paid directly to farmers’ bank accounts and an incentive of Rs. 50 per kg for export of milk powder, reported Grainmart. They also demanded a halt on the 10,000 tonnes of milk powder and demarcation of at least 30,000 – 40,000 tonnes of the SMP as buffer stock.

#Maharashtra #MilkAgitation: Maharashtra Animal Husbandry Minister Sunil Kedar holds a meeting with Sadabhau Khot, leader of Swabhimani Shetkari Sangathana and other representatives of milk-producing farmers at Mantralaya

Video: @mataonline pic.twitter.com/YU6jNBH7SZ

— Mumbai Mirror (@MumbaiMirror) July 21, 2020

Solutions / criticisms

Speaking to Livemint, RS Sodhi, MD, Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation which sells products under the most popular brand, Amul, said that the cash support to farmers would not solve the problem. He gave two alternatives to increase demand. First, financial support from the Centre and the State for converting milk into powder, along with export incentives. Second, making milk powder a staple part of a mid-day meal take-home rations for children.

The Maharashtra state government had launched a scheme for dairy cooperatives to procure up to Rs. 10 lakh liters a day and convert it into SMP and butter, The Print reported. Launched in March, the scheme was to run till the end of May, but was extended till July 31 given the current situation.

Anook Kumar of the animal husbandry and dairy development department said that the idea of the scheme was to auction the SMP and butter on a central government portal. He told The Print that around 16 – 18 dairies participated in the scheme and the government had procured 5.61 crore liters of milk till July 19. However, given the numbers, the government hasn’t met its target of 10 lakh liters a day and has only been able to procure 5 – 6 lakh liters a day.

The reason for this, he said, was that almost 78 percent of the total milk in Maharashtra came from private diaries which were not included in the scheme due to which farmers from only 12 talukas benefitted partially from the scheme.

The All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) and SSS both said that the scheme was inadequate and hadn’t remedied the situation and have said that they will intensify the agitation starting August 1.

Political slugfest

Even while the farmers are still fighting for sustenance, the BJP and Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) have engaged into a political slugfest. 

Congress leader Balasaheb Thorat shot back at the BJP saying, “The BJP has no right to talk about farmers’ rights. It needs to explain why the Centre has allowed the import of 10,000 metric tonne of milk powder? When there is a surplus of milk and milk powder, the Centre should have given incentives for the export of milk powder,” IE reported.

However, the Centre maintained that it hadn’t yet imported the 10,000 tonnes of milk powder and accused the MVA government in Maharashtra of making false allegations and covering up its “failure to tackle dairy farmers’ unrest” in the state. 

BJP Kisan Cell Chief and former agriculture minister, Anil Bonde, told IE that the SSS was being used by the MVA government to spread false information about the BJP.

Hence, how the government ensures fair prices to dairy farmers in the state, remains to be seen.

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The problem allegedly started when the 100-odd farmers of the village demanded stakeholder status and more transparency in operations at KMF’s Bangalore Cooperative Milk Union Ltd (Bamul) local milk receiving centre. Since then, the receiving centre has closed down at 40 litre cans have been piling up outside the premises. Nearly 900 litres of milk has gone waste because the KMF staff have refused to collect the milk cans.

A dairy farmer told Deccan Herald, “This dairy collective started 20 years ago, and in all that time, none of us dairy farmers has received any stakeholder status or even an annual report about the milk being generated by the collective. There is no accountability at all.”

The newspaper was also told that only 17 individuals have been accorded this stakeholder status by the local KMF collective when more than 100 families from the village supply milk to the federation. These 17 individuals were called “cronies of the local Bamul officials” by a farmer.

On Saturday, member of Bamul’s Board of Director for Bengaluru South constituency, H S Harish Kumar, met with the farmers in an open-air meeting. According to the farmers, Kumar and other officials leaving the place after a verbal dispute. Deccan Herald reported that Kumar claimed the milk collection at the village was stopped because the milk lacks fatty content. He subsequently added, “Collections will resume once the farmers submit a letter of apology to us.”

As per their website, the organisation has three-tiered structure:

1. Dairy Co-operative Societies at grass root level
2. District Co-operative Milk Unions at single / multi district level
3. Milk Federation at State level

Entities on all three function as per the organisation’s co-operative principles, and are governed by a board consisting of democratically elected members among the milk producers.

As a co-operative society, the organisation comes under the ambit of the Karnataka Co-Operative Societies Act, 1959. Under the Act, the following persons may become members of the society: an individual competent to contract under the Contract Act, 1872, any other co-operative society, the state or Central Government, institutions approved by the State Government, a firm, a company or any other body corporate, and an Agricultural Produce Market Committee based in Karnataka, and  a local authority.

Members have the right to be present for the general meetings convened by the co-operative society as well as the right to vote in the affairs of the society, thereby giving them a say in the on-going affairs of the concerned society.

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Image Courtesy: Sat Singh

Rohtak: 24-year-old Naushad Mohammad has worked in dairy for 10 years. It was a routine day for him which turned into a nightmare when he was tied to a pole and beaten with sticks while a mob called him a cow smuggler. He was heading to sell buffaloes when he was stopped by a cow vigilante.
 
“It was around 8 pm. We had reached Rohtak’s Bhalout village when I was waylaid by one Jashpal Gumana, who had chased me his scooter,” Naushad said, adding that Gumana overpowered him as soon as he got off the pick-up jeep he was in and shouted “cow smuggler” to attract the attention of nearby villagers.
 
Naushad’s companions Mehboob and Iqbal fled the spot sensing trouble.
 
Soon after, several youths arrived with sticks, tied him to a pole, stripped him and beat him mercilessly.
 
“Before I could understand what was going on, I was bleeding from the nose, ear, legs and back. One of the cow activists tortured me by burning a beedi on my skin and branding me a ‘cow smuggler’,” he said.
 
Naushad said policemen arrived at the site after he was beaten for two hours and took him to the police station.
 
“I was handcuffed and made to sit on the floor. I was tied to a bed with a chain while I was in pain. I kept pleading with the police to take me to a doctor,” he said.
 
Sunil Kumar, who runs a dairy at Charkhi Dadri village in Haryana, said Naushad had worked for him for the past 10 years. “I had hired him to sell buffaloes at a cattle fair. We run our livelihood through this trade. On 19 January, too, he was ferrying a buffalo and two calves, not cows, as the cow vigilante groups alleged,” Sunil said in a report by Firstpost.
 
The police have constituted a special investigation team (SIT) to probe the confinement and beating up of the Muslim youth who hails from Uttar Pradesh at a Rohtak village over suspicion of cattle smuggling.
 
Talking to The Tribune on Monday, Rohtak SP Jashandeep Singh Randhawa said an SIT, headed by ASP Makshud Ahmad, would look into the two FIRs registered in the case.
 
“Strict legal action will be taken against the persons responsible for the wrongful confinement and beating up of the youth. Disciplinary action will be taken against the police officials dealing with the matter if any lapse is found on their part,” he said.
 
Preet Singh, district president of the All-India Kisan Sabha, said he saw Naushad handcuffed and tied to a cot at the Sadar police station. He said he also clicked his pictures.
 
On the other hand, Manjeet, SHO, Sadar police station, said Naushad was never handcuffed or kept in police custody at the police station. He said two FIRs had been registered on the basis of the complaints lodged by Jaspal and Naushad, maintaining no arrests had been made so far.

 
Senior leader of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) Inderjit Singh said self-styled “gaurakshaks” were “openly taking the law into their hands with the patronage of the ruling BJP”, and that this was why the administration was not acting against vigilante groups. “As a result, cattle trade, a crucial livelihood of farmers, is on the verge of collapse as the traders feared these antisocial elements,” he said in the Firstpost report.
 
Haryana AAP convener Naveen Jaihind said it was not possible for cow vigilante groups to take the law into their hands without support from their political bosses. “It is sad that cattle traders are being harassed at the behest of BJP government leaders,” he added in the report.
 
While Naushad and his two companions have been booked under Section 11 of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960, and Section 13 (1) of the Haryana Gauvansh Sanrakshan and Gausamvardhan Act, 2015, a case against unknown persons has been registered under Sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 341 (wrongful restraint), 342 (wrongful confinement) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC on Naushad’s complaint.
 

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In the first political intervention after the gross lynching, to death, of a dairy farmer in Rajasthan , Pehlu Khan, last week,  leaders of All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) yesterday visited Jaisinghpur of Nuh District of Haryana to console the bereaved family members of Pehlu Khan, the dairy farmer who was allegedly killed by organisations reported to be a part of the sangh parivar. AIKS leaders including Hannan Mollah, former Member of Parliament (MP) and Polit Bureau Member, Subhashini Ali, General Secretary, P Krishnaprasad, Finance Secretary, Master Sher Singh, President of Haryana Kisan Sabha and Manoj Kumar visited the family of the victims.   Satvir Singh, state president of CITU, Major S L Prajapathy, Gurgaon District secretary of CPIM were also part of the delegation. 

The delegation met Pehlu Khan’s mother Ankuri Begam, wife Jebuna Begam, and two children Irshad and Arif who were also injured in the same incident. Pehlu Khan had six children including four daughters. The delegation also visited Ajmat who is bed ridden at home since he was forcefully discharged from the Alwar Hospital. 

Hundreds villagers gathered to receive the Kisan Sabha leaders.  Ajmal Khan, former MLA,  Kalekhan, former sarpanch, Sarfudheen and Khaleel Ahamad Akthar Hassan of Sahdani Sabha Mewat, Raj Singh and Adv. Arshad khan among others attended the meeting.  The meeting decided to call a panchayath of the people of neighborhood villagers in the next week to mobilise and protest the incidents that signal India's sliding into rank vigilantism.The family of Pehlu Khan has around 1.5 acres of land and is dependant on wheat cultivation and dairying as a means of livelihood. On that fateful day, Pehlu Khan, his two children, his nephew and two other villagers went to Jaipur to purchase milching animals since they hope they could get animals cheap in the Cattle fair of Jaipur Hatwada. 

The Mewat region, dominated by a Muslim population has a rich tradition of Hindu Muslim amity and brotherhood, termed “Gothpal”. The Muslim families are traditionally peasants and cattle breeders. This has been eroded over the decades by the politics of division and othering. The brutal killing of Pehlu Khan by RSS organisations has created fear psychosis and nervousness among the peace loving people. 

The FIR on the lynching clearly states that the mob which attacked the farmers belonged to the Viswa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Bajrang Dal(BD) and also points to the role of the parent organisation, the RSS. After Pehlu Khan died succumbing to his injuries, district-level leaders of the VHP had even threatened the senior police officers of dire consequences if they arrest any of their activists. The Police, then registered a false FIR against Pehlu Khan and other innocent farmers despite the fact that they have records of the cattle purchase issued by the Jaipur Municipal Corporation.  The Home Minister of Rajasthan has been, shockingly, accusing farmers of 'smuggling' cows by violating the law and even the Union Minister Mukhthar Abbas Naqvi has misguided the Rajya Sabha by denying that any such incident of murder even occurred in Rajasthan.  All this exposes the role of RSS and BJP leaders who appear set to defend the lynch mob in general and those responsible for this gross murder, in particular.

The situation is serious, dragging the country towards anarchy and lawlessness which needs to be fought tooth and nail to protect the democratic rights of the people and to preserve the secular fabric of the society.  The AIKS leadership has demanded a high level enquiry to unearth the conspiracy behind the Alwar Killing. The AIKS leaders also assured the village people and the family members all help to ensure strong action and stringent punishment to the entire culprits as per law including legal aid.

Home Page Photo Courtesy: Indian Express

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