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Impose import duty on milk powder, edible oil, save Indian units, urges dairy don Kurien

Dr Verghese Kurien, father of India's White Revolution, today warned of ''new threats'' to his baby and urged the Vajpayee government to immediately impose import duty on milk powders and raise it on edible oils to at least 60 per cent.

In a speech at the 19th annual convocation of the Institute of Rural Management or IRMA at Anand in Gujarat, the ''Milkman of India'' said he began the Amul experiment five decades ago with a handful of farmers, five cans of milk and a dream inspired by Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel in his native district.

India now has 70,000 such village milk producers 'cooperative societies federated into 170 district milk producers' unions, which in turn were federated into 22 state cooperative dairy federations.

Citing the new threats, Dr Kurien, who is now chairman of IRMA's board of governors, said the advanced dairying nations export milk products with a subsidy of $ 1,000 per tonne, a level of subsidy which accounts for more than 60 per cent of the price of milk powder produced in India.

These are subsidy levels that could well exist even after the advanced dairying nations fulfil their obligations under the World Trade Organisation agreement.

''To block our modest forays in the export of milk products, advanced dairying nations want to impose new non-tariff barriers like compulsory labeling of milk products produced from buffalo milk. They also want that milk products manufactured for exports should be obtained from cows that are machine-milked,'' he said.

The former chairman of the National Dairy Development Board said this is a new struggle in a new millennium, between the forces and institutions of economic globalisation and our rural communities trying to retain control over their economic lives.

Referring to Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha rolling back the bound rate of duty for imported milk powder from zero to six per cent, he urged the central government to immediately notify the actual import duty for milk powders. ''Only then can we forge ahead to maintain the healthy growth of our domestic dairy industry and intensify the use of dairying as India's largest rural employment programme.''

Dr Kurien said unrestricted Open General Licence or OGL import of edible oils has severely eroded the fundamentals of oilseeds and edible oils economy of India. He demanded a raise in import duty for different edible oils from the current levels of about 20 per cent to 40 per cent to at least 60 per cent.

He pointed out that dairying has emerged as the single largest rural employment programme and is the largest contributor to agricultural gross domestic product. It provided subsidiary income to millions of small and marginal farmers and landless labourers, enabling them to buy some of their daily necessities.

Dr Kurien disclosed that the Anand experiment demonstrated many important life skills to our milk producers, many of whom are women. They now understand why it was necessary to provide the right nutrition not just to a pregnant milch animal but also to an expectant mother. They have begun to appreciate why girls should not not marry before they attain 18 years of age. They now know the importance of spacing their children and of family planning, health care and rural trusts, he pointed out.

In his welcome speech, IRMA director Dr Katar Singh pointed out that the institute had so far trained more than 1,200 managers through its post-graduate programme in rural management and over 6,000 in-service managers through its short-term management development programmes.

IRMA was established in December 1979 by the NDDB with support from the central and Gujarat governments. Today, its designated organisations number more than 650. Many of IRMA graduate students work for NDDB. This year, 31 managers and officers working with non-government organisations and voluntary agencies in Bangladesh, Ethiopia, India, Kenya, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Tanzania participated in IRMA's programmes, he added.

UNI

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Diary of dairy expert: From a project executive to Dr Kurien's successor

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