Madhya Pradesh: Is Amul covertly milking another cash cow?

In a dramatic U-turn last month, chief minister Mohan Yadav announced that the milk cooperatives in Madhya Pradesh were being handed over to the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) for the next five years.

Animal husbandry secretary Gulshan Bamra, who had reportedly objected to certain conditions sought by Amul and the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation, was shunted out overnight. Bamra had been the lead negotiator with Amul for the past nine months and the sudden announcement that the milk cooperatives would be managed and operated by NDDB took people by surprise.

Bamra had in fact told the Times of India in May 2024 that ‘a decision on Amul’s role in MP for the benefit of milk-producing farmers will be taken by the government soon.’

“There is no clarity about what the government wanted to do,” exclaimed Girish Paliwal, former director of the Bhopal Sahakari Dugdh Sangh Maryadit. “Till last month, government officials were saying that the Madhya Pradesh State Cooperative Dairy Federation’s brand ‘Sanchi’ would be taken over by Amul. Now, the government has signed an MoU with NDDB… chief minister Mohan Yadav has been talking to everyone except the milk federations. The MP federation runs with the support of elected bodies but elections have been due since 2017. It’s like finalising marriage without consulting the bridegroom.”

The dissatisfaction over the government’s decision runs deep. “Sanchi has a robust infrastructure which was developed without the government’s help over the years… the BJP government has been sleeping for the last 20 years and has now woken up and handed the brand over to others,” said Ghanshyam Barasker, also of the Bhopal cooperative milk federation. Critics pointed out that in 2008, the NDDB had taken over the management and operation of milk cooperatives in Jharkhand for five years, but the experience was far from satisfactory.

The decision to hand over Sanchi to NDDB instead of Amul, they felt, was expedient because a takeover by Amul would have triggered a political and social backlash. What would happen after five years? If elected bodies do not run it and the state government shrugs off its responsibility, who will manage the cooperatives and take over the assets and liabilities after this period?

Congress leader Vivek Tankha posted on X, ‘Sanchi is being taken over by Gujarat’s famous brand Amul through the back door. [A similar] attempt was made with Karnataka’s Nandini.’

Sanchi has a robust infrastructure which was developed without the government’s help over the years, says Ghanshyam Barasker of Bhopal milk coop federation.

The Madhya Pradesh govt may kneel down, but the 7.5 crore people of MP for whom Sanchi is a household brand, will protest’. He went on to add, ‘for a long time, Amul has been trying to take over the Sanchi dairy federation. Amul is a branded company of Gujarat and is doing a great job… every state has the right to have its own milk brand. We will not allow Sanchi to be taken over, and if the government does not listen to us, we will raise the issue in Parliament, the state assembly and approach the courts.’

Soon after the Rajya Sabha MP’s post, chief minister Mohan Yadav called on Union Home Minister and minister for cooperatives Amit Shah in Delhi. The CM told the media that the MoU with NDDB would secure the help of the Union government in increasing milk production and the income of dairy farmers in the state.

Less than a month after taking over as chief minister, Mohan Yadav had flown to Ahmedabad for a late-night meeting on 10 January with officials of Amul, reportedly prompted by Amit Shah.

Gulshan Bamra and managing director of the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation Jayen Mehta were present. An economic survey for 2023–24 indicated that the state’s per capita availability of milk—at 644 grams per day—was higher than the national average of 459 grams per day.

The survey claimed that as many as 5,941 functional dairy cooperative societies in MP—the third largest milk producer after UP and Rajasthan—had collected 201.22 lakh tonnes of milk in 2022–23, a jump of 26 per cent over the previous year. If the state’s dairy cooperatives were doing so well, why bring in Amul? Others wondered why Amul would be interested in helping a potentially rival brand grow.

Was Amul—which recently tied up with a Michigan-based dairy to supply fresh milk to the Indian and Asian diaspora in the US—looking for similar opportunities in Madhya Pradesh?

Poor report card for government schools

Shocking figures shared at a recent meeting of the education department hit the headlines: the state government is estimated to have ‘spent’ an estimated two lakh crores in the last 10 years on supporting 94,000 government schools. Media reports indicated that, this year, as many as 5,500 government schools had reported zero admission in class one. As many as 25,000 schools reported one or two admissions in grade one while 11,345 schools had admitted fewer than 10 students in grade one. In other words, as many as 40 per cent of the government schools have a handful of students enrolled, or none.

In Chhindwara district, 299 schools had zero enrolment and 805 schools had just one or two students. Narsinghpur, home district of the state’s school education minister Rao Uday Pratap Singh,was reported among the top five districts reporting zero enrolment in class one.

An estimated 40,000 students dropped out of government schools in just one district. Whether students are giving up on education or migrating to private schools is a difficult question to answer because authentic figures on private schools don’t seem to be available. The number of private schools promoted by political leaders, ministers, MLAs and political workers has, however, visibly increased.

The ASER (Annual Status of Education) report on school education in 2023 noted an increase in enrolment since 2018. Nationally, the period from 2010 to 2014 saw a decline in government school enrolment. This was followed by a ‘plateau’ period (2014–2018) and an increase of 7.3 percentage points in government school enrolment in the period 2018 to 2022, the report had claimed.

The figures caused an uproar and educationists were quick to point out that there’s a reason why states like Tamil Nadu provide school students free meals, uniforms, school bags, geometry boxes, books, crayons, maps, bicycles, footwear and even bus passes.

A building and a few teachers, they say, are not enough to keep children in school. Upendra Kaushal, president of the State Teachers’ Association, claimed that at least 1,275 schools across 46 districts had no permanent teacher at all and 1.7 lakh guest teachers were engaged.

Guest teachers are paid a pittance and their contracts are renewed every few months. Are these the Shikshaveers of MP, like the Agniveers of the army?

Bulldozers still on a roll

Seventy-year-old Barkat Bai had no money to build a permanent home. In 2008, the then chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan handed over a patta or land deed allotting a small parcel of land in Neemuch for the lady to live on. According to her son-in-law, that’s where she had been living for 40 years.

Last month, however, when Barkat Bai fell ill and was taken by her daughter to neighbouring Gujarat for treatment, the municipal authorities turned up at 6 a.m. with a bulldozer and demolished her jhuggi.

The municipality claimed this was vacant land reserved for a fire station. While the official deed has silenced the officials, it is doubtful if Barkat Bai will be allowed to reclaim her home.

Never mind what the Supreme Court says, bulldozers are still on a roll.