National Milk Day tomorrow: Milma’s state-level celebrations at Palakkad
Minister Chinchurani to inaugurate; Ex-CS Jayakumar to deliver memorial lecture
Palakkad / November 25, 2024
Palakkad, Nov 25: Milma is celebrating the 2024 National Milk Day tomorrow by organising a state-level event in the city that will be inaugurated by Animal Husbandry and Dairy Development Minister Smt J. Chinchurani.
Former Chief Secretary Shri K. Jayakumar, who is Director of the Institute of Management in Government, will deliver the memorial speech on social entrepreneur Dr Verghese Kurien, known as the Father of White Revolution in the country. Power Minister Shri K. Krishnankutty will chair the November 26 ceremony, while Shri V.K. Srikantan, MP, will deliver the keynote address in the presence of top functionaries of Milma, which is the brand name for Kerala Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation (KCMMF).
Tuesday’s function at Club Six Convention Center in Kallepully will also be attended by Milma Federation Chairman Shri K.S. Mani, Managing Director Shri Asif K. Yusuf, Regional Chairpersons Shri M.T. Jayan (Ernakulam) and Shri Mani Viswanath (Thiruvananthapuram), besides civic-body members and members of the Milma board of directors among others.
Shri Mani, addressing a media conference here today, said the occasion gains added prominence with Milma Malabar Union initiating a life insurance scheme for dairy farmers at a premium starting with Rs 10. Life Insurance Corporation is associating with the Malabar Union’s Snehamitram Life Insurance scheme that provides the facility to take policies ranging from Rs 20,000 to Rs 5 lakh. The minimum premium is Rs. 10, while the premium for the highest Rs 5-lakh policy is Rs 780. Farmers and dairy workers can also become members under the same premium.
Out of the total premium of Rs 51.92 on an insurance of Rs 20,000, the zonal union will bear Rs 41.92. Last year, the farmers had to pay Rs 24 rupees. The maximum insurance amount has been increased from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 5 lakh this time.
The Milma Chairman recalled that the KCMMF, which started operations in 1980 with just 450 dairy farmers and 2,000 litres of milk, has now grown to become a cooperative with 10 lakh dairy farmers, procuring more than 12 lakh litres of milk daily. Milma has an annual turnover of Rs 4,000 crore with value-added and innovative products, he said, revealing that its model meant returning the farmers 83 per cent of the price of sales.
The National Milk Day is traditionally celebrated on the birth anniversary of Dr Verghese Kurien (1921-2012), who was among the founders of the path-breaking Amul movement in nascent Gujarat that went on to give momentum to the country’s cooperative spirit in the dairy sector into the 1950s. A native of Kozhikode, his pioneering model won massive emulations across the world. Dr Kurien’s efforts saved his compatriots from malnutrition and showed them a profitable way of livelihood, triggering the White Revolution of the 1970s. In Kerala, the movement led to the foundation of Milma in 1980.
Milma is gearing up for a Plan of Action, charting out the federation’s strident development in the next one decade. “We will be announcing it early next year, and implementing the scheme from the next (2025-26) financial year,” Shri Mani revealed. Also, Milma is striving to increase its milk productivity to 14 litres per cow (from the present 10.4 litres) and lessen the dependence on other states for milk, which is currently seven lakh litres a day, he added.
Others present at today’s press meet, besides Milma MD Shri Asif K. Yusuf, were Managers Shri T. Sreekumar (Purchase and P&I) and Shri Murukan V.S. (Quality Assurance & Marketing).
ENDS
