Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday stressed upon the significance of innovation and value addition while addressing a public gathering here on Sunday.
"There was a time when there would be scarcity. We had to import food grains. Now, things have changed. Today, the time has come to give importance to innovation and value addition", he said.
Prime Minister Modi was in Anand to inaugurate a number of modern food processing facilities worth Rs 1100 crore, including Amul's ultra-modern chocolate plant and Anand Agricultural Univesity's incubation centre-cum-centre of excellence in food processing. He also inaugurated a solar cooperative society at Mujhkuva village and laid the foundation stone for the expansion of Amul manufacturing facilities at Anand and Khatraj.
Talking further about the importance of the cooperative sector in helping the farmers of Gujarat, Prime Minister Modi said, "Not only Amul, people in North Gujarat also worked in the cooperative sector. We have the Banas Dairy, the Dudhsagar Dairy. All these endeavours helped the people of Gujarat, particularly the farmers. For a long time, we had people sitting in Gandhinagar who disliked the cooperatives. They prevented the sector from acquiring a foothold in Saurashtra. Things changed after the late 1990s and today almost all districts in Gujarat are doing well in the sector."
Emphasizing on the global brand value of Amul, Prime Minister Modi also termed it as an outstanding model of empowerment.
He said, "The brand of Amul is known worldwide. Today, Amul has become an inspiration across the globe. People from overseas also ask me about Amul. Amul is not only about milk processing. This is an excellent model of empowerment."
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He also underscored the need of exploring possibilities with the camel milk.
"A long time back, I had gone to Kutch and spoken about the need to popularise camel milk. That time a group of people mocked me. But, today the camel milk chocolate of Amul is doing well. We are doing well in milk processing but we can do even better. And, I am sure if Amul thinks in this direction, it will surely happen even faster", he said.
Talking about Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel's most important contribution in the field of cooperative development, Prime Minister Modi said, "In various parts of the world, at various times we saw what socialism is, we also saw capitalism. But, through Amul, Sardar Patel showed another way. Here is a way where neither Government nor industrialists call the shots. It is the people who matter. This is a unique model."
"A century ago, Sardar Patel entered civic politics of Ahmedabad. He won from Dariapur. His margin of victory then was 1 vote. When he assumed office as the head of the municipality, he laid emphasis on urban development, planning and in that he worked on cooperative housing. Guided by Sardar Patel, Pritamrai Desai Ji worked on cooperative housing in a big way in Ahmedabad. These efforts gave wings to the aspirations of several people," he added.
Prime Minister Modi also hailed the spirit of team Amul.
"We are focusing on Jan Dhan, Van Dhan and Gobar Dhan. This will help our farmers. In a few years, Amul will complete 75 years. This is a team that is unstoppable. I admire their spirit. Let us think about what targets Amul can set for their own 75th anniversary and for 2022 when India marks 75 years of freedom."
He also requested more dairies to work towards 'sweet revolution' and said, "I told several dairies in Gujarat to also work on the sweet revolution, which is related to honeybees. I am aware that Banas Dairy and the dairy in Amreli have done commendable work in this direction. I urge more dairies to also devote attention to this."
In his one day visit to the state, the Prime Minister will also travel to Anjar where he will inaugurate the Mundra LNG terminal, the Anjar-Mundra pipeline project and the Palanpur-Pali-Barmer pipeline project.