Operation Flood, launched in 1970, sparked the White Revolution and revolutionised India's dairy industry. Quite recently, Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah outlined plans for White Revolution 2.0 which focuses on cooperative societies, just as Operation Flood did five decades ago.
In 2023-24, dairy cooperatives collected 660 lakh kg of milk per day. The government aims to increase this figure to 1,007 lakh kg per day by 2028-29. To achieve this, a strategy has been developed to broaden the coverage and enhance the outreach of cooperative societies across the country.
According to the Ministry of Cooperation, White Revolution 2.0 aims to "increase milk procurement by dairy cooperatives by 50% over the next five years by offering market access to dairy farmers in areas not yet covered and boosting the role of dairy cooperatives in the organized sector." The ministry noted that this initiative is also expected to create jobs and support women's empowerment.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah remarked that, unlike the Western perspective that often considers a woman unemployed despite her household contributions, he disagrees with this view. He emphasized that White Revolution 2.0 will help formally integrate women involved in milk procurement into the workforce, as payments will be directly credited to their bank accounts. The plan is to elevate milk procurement by cooperatives from the current 660 lakh litres per day to 1,000 lakh litres.
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. Shah 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.
In Gujarat, Kerala, Sikkim, and the Union Territory of Puducherry, dairy cooperatives cover more than 70% of villages. However, in states like Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and Madhya Pradesh, as well as the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir, coverage is limited to just 10-20%. In regions such as West Bengal, Assam, Odisha, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, and the smaller Northeastern states, less than 10% of villages are covered by dairy cooperatives.
To address this, the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) has developed a plan to establish approximately 56,000 new multipurpose dairy cooperative societies (DCSs) over the next five years and enhance 46,000 existing village-level DCSs with improved milk procurement and testing facilities. A significant portion of these new DCSs will be set up in Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan, and Andhra Pradesh.
In February 2023, NDDB launched a pilot project worth Rs 3.8 crore to introduce dairy cooperatives in uncovered gram panchayats within the districts of Jind (Haryana), Indore (Madhya Pradesh), and Chikmagalur (Karnataka). The 79 DCSs created under this pilot project are collectively sourcing around 15,000 litres of milk daily from about 2,500 farmers, according to sources in the Ministry of Cooperation.
The primary funding for White Revolution 2.0 will be sourced through the National Programme for Dairy Development (NPDD) 2.0, a new central sector initiative under the Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying.