“Ksheera Viplavam” (Milk Revolution) in Telangana : Vanam Jwala Narasimha Rao

“Ksheera Viplavam” (Milk Revolution) in Telangana

Vanam Jwala Narasimha Rao

Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao has announced that very soon a comprehensive scheme for the development of dairy sector will be launched in the State to make it a “Ksheera Viplavam (Milk Revolution) in which two lakhs Milk Producers (Dairy Farmers) from the Vijaya Dairy Development Society, Mulkanur Dairy Development Society, Karimnagar, Nalgonda and Rangareddy Districts Dairy Development Societies will be given top priority in the schemes to be announced.

As a prelude to the proposed Milk Revolution to be launched soon, the Chief Minister has accepted the demand of the other Dairy farmers of the Societies to give them Rs 4 per Liter as incentive as is done in the case of the dairy farmers of the Vijaya Dairy. The Chief Minister has also announced that the government through Dairy Development Societies would provide 50 percent subsidy for buying a Buffalo by the farmer the cost of which would be roughly around Rs 50, 000 to 60, 000 and the subsidy would be 75 percent if the Dairy farmers happen to be from the SC/ST community. In return, the CM has asked for a favor that every farmer in his household should plant 6 saplings and name each sapling after one of their family members and take care of the plants by watering regularly. To this, the gathering of over eight thousand dairy farmers responded positively by giving a thunderous applause.

The CM assured that the Rs 4 per Liter incentive will be implemented from September 24 onwards and the distribution of Buffaloes will commence after two months. As is done in case of Sheep distribution, the beneficiaries themselves will identify and buy the Buffaloes and subsidy will be routed through the Dairy Development Societies.

The CM has addressed a meeting of the members of the Vijaya, Mulkanur, Karimnagar, Nalgonda and Ranga Reddy District Dairy development societies at Pragati Bhavan lawns. In his address to the dairy farmers, the CM made it like an interactive session often asking them questions and eliciting their response.

Referring to the milk production in the State, the CM said that all the three Dairy Development Societies put together are producing just about 7 Lakh Liters of Milk as of now. Karnataka State is supplying 6 Lakh Liters, AP, 4 Lakh Liters, and Gujarat 2 Lakh Liters to the Telangana State. The milk being produced in Telangana state is a very small percentage when compared to the demand of 1 Crore Liters. It is in this context, the CM said there is a need to have a major programme in the milk production and marketing to the level of another Milk revolution, Ksheera Viplavam or Pala Velluava (Flood of Milk) in the State. He said that he would personally formulate the scheme and assured that dairy farmers from the three Dairy Development Societies will be given top priority,” the CM said.

The CM spoke on how after formation of the state; the government had been taking measure after measure benefitting the people and welfare of all sections of the people. He also recalled how the government started schemes initially to bring the poorest of the poor from the clutches of poverty, be it Single women pension, Aasara pensions, schemes for the most backward classes etc., He said the schemes and programmes are initiated one by one, taking up each and every sector in the society.

“After 60 years of relentless struggle we have achieved our Telangana State. The aim of having a separate State is to provide development and welfare of the people. Under the united AP rule, for 60 years, God knows what they did; the Telangana region suffered the most with all untold miseries in all fronts.  There is no power supply; farmers should stand in queues, often keeping their footwear as a symbol in the long queues to get the fertilizer and seeds. They were even subjected to lathi charge. The entire Telangana region was under utter chaos. When the new State is formed, we had to start everything from the scratch,” the CM said.

Recalling how the state government has planned to improve each and every sector in the State with innovative but practical schemes and programmes, the CM said though there are 35 Lakhs Yadavas and Kurumas in the State, the state was importing meat from other states. “Though there were 40 lakh Mudiraj and Bestha families in the State, daily about 40 truckloads of fish is being imported to the State. Only Hyderabad city is importing 650 truckloads of Sheep. This is the reason why we have launched and implementing Sheep Distribution Schemes for Yadavas and Kurumas at a cost of Rs 4000 Crore. Similarly, we are implementing distribution of fish links to Mudiraj and Bestha families. The aim is to make the State self-sufficient in its demand for meat and fish and export to other States, abroad, if need be. This is also aimed at making the Yadavas, Kurumas, Mudiraj and Bestha communities to become financially comfortable and self-sufficient” the CM said.

Dwelling further, the CM said in Hyderabad where one crore people live, the milk and vegetables are imported. “Only 10 percent of the demand met with the locally grown vegetables and milk. In fact, farmers living on the 100 Kilometers periphery should have been millionaires. But the reality is different. 90 percent of vegetables are imported from Bengaluru, Satara and Sanghli while our farmers are committing suicides. The per capita consumption in Telangana State is not even the average consumption. We are not even consuming 50 Paisa worth. Even if the consumption is one liter per household, we need about 1 Crore liters. How much your societies are producing is a mere 7 lakh liters. The political parties responsible for this sordid situation are now hitting streets and questioning me for taking the proper steps. It is as though they have created a heaven and now I am spoiling it. We are taking up one issue after one. We started with helping the people in abject poverty such as old age persons, single woman and increased the quantity of the subsidized rice from 4 Kgs to 6 Kgs. Then the farmers’ issues, irrigation projects, 24x7 quality power supply. Now some of the farmers are saying that they don’t need 24x7 power supply but for only 12 hours. I am a very brave man and I will do what I wanted for the people. Give me two years’ time, I will wash your feet with the Godavari waters,” the CM remarked amidst a round of loud applause from the gathering.

The CM also explained to the gathering about the reasons behind implementing the Land Records Rectification and purification Programme and how it will eradicate the endless litigation and problems pertaining to the right over the lands and how it decreases the law and order problems. The CM has urged the gathering to extend support to the programmes and enlist the support of their family members and friends. “The on-going land records Purification Programme is your work and you should help in making it successful. It is only when the land records are clean and correct, government schemes like giving Rs 8000 financial investment subsidy per acre per year to farmers will beneficial,” the CM said.

The Chief Minister also explained how the government is providing water for irrigation, quality 24 X 7 uninterrupted power supply and fertilizers and pesticides to the farm sector. In this context, he spoke about the formation of the Farmers Associations (Rythu Samkhya Samithis) at the village level to ensure that the farmers got their Minimum Support Price for their produce. The CM also explained how, the Mandal Level RSS will determine the MSP and only when it is agreed upon the farmers village wise should get their produce to markets. In case, MSP is not coming forth, the State Level Farmers Federation will buy the produce at the MSP and later covert it into the by-product with license from the government and sell it later. The formation of RSS will solve all the problems being faced by the farmers and remove the unnecessary middlemen from the business.” the CM said. He also found fault with those politicizing the government programmes be it distribution of Sheep, helping the weaker sections, forming of RSS and termed them as nonsensical remarks.