White Revolution 2.0 to empower women: Amit Shah

The Home Minister said White Revolution 2.0 will help inclusion of women engaged in procurement of milk in formal employment as the money will be deposited in their bank accounts

Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah launched the standard operating procedure for ‘White Revolution 2.0’ stating that milk dairies will aid empowerment of women and the fight against malnutrition.

Mr. Shah said that according to the western concept, a woman is considered unemployed even though she does all the work at home, adding that he disagrees with it. He said White Revolution 2.0 will help the inclusion of women engaged in procurement of milk in formal employment as the money will be deposited in their bank accounts. The scheme aims to increase procurement led by cooperatives from the present 660 lakh litres per day to 1,000 lakh litres.

Union Minister for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, and Panchayati Raj, Rajiv Ranjan Singh was also present at the launch.

Mr. Shah said that in the past 70 years, necessary changes in cooperatives were not made due to which the bodies became very successful in some States and were left to the mercy of State governments in others. He said the government has prepared a joint proposal of two lakh primary agriculture cooperative societies (PACS), dairy and fishery cooperatives, and sent it across the country, and all the States have accepted it. He said that once these PACS are registered, there will not be a single panchayat without a PACS, dairy or fisheries cooperative society.

The Minister said once this happens, co-operatives will be able to reach the whole country, which will lead to the creation of cooperative institutions at tehsil and district levels, and State institutions will gain strength and momentum.

“Our mothers and sisters are associated with milk production and especially cooperative dairies. 36 lakh sisters in Gujarat are involved in the dairy sector and they do a total business worth ₹60,000 crore. Today, Amul has become the most trusted brand in the food sector in the entire world,” he said.

Mr. Shah said that White Revolution 2.0 will “empower women and also give strength to the fight against malnutrition”.

“With the increase in availability of milk, the biggest benefit will pass on to the poor and malnourished children. Malnutrition in children can only be eradicated by the efforts of our mothers, more than the efforts by the governments,” he said.

The Minister said that the work of increasing the fertility of cultivable land will be done through animal husbandry. He said White Revolution 2.0 has been launched by incorporating these objectives together.

“Many people are apprehensive about whether budget support will be available for this programme or not, therefore I assure the Animal Husbandry Department that this is the highest priority area of the government and this programme will get full budgetary support,” he said.

Mr. Shah said that an important initiative has been taken in the form of ‘Cooperation among Cooperatives’. “We conducted experiments in two districts of Gujarat, Panchmahal and Banaskantha. We decided to open bank accounts of all the institutions of the cooperative sector in the cooperative banks. Apart from this, debit and credit cards were given to the mothers and sisters associated with the Primary Cooperative Society and Milk Producers Committee, which made them financially strong. Under this, till now more than four lakh bank accounts have been opened in cooperative banks and more than ₹550 crore has been deposited in just two districts. 1,732 micro-ATMs were opened and 20,000 new credit cards were issued. Digital transactions worth about 24 lakhs were done using the new credit cards,” he said.

Mr. Shah added that till now it has not been fully implemented in Gujarat, but more than 9 lakh accounts have been opened and deposits of about ₹4,000 crore have increased in cooperative banks. Under this, a total of 2,600 micro-ATMs have been distributed. “Now we are taking it to the national level,” he said.

Published - September 19, 2024 11:43 pm IST