Scandal over milk

BS OPINION

The worst fears have now been confirmed with several areas, including the Capital, facing a milk shortage without any valid reason. This is despite the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB), headed by Dr Patel, continuing to claim that India is the world's largest producer of milk and that it is surplus in milk as well.

Dr Kurien-led Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (Amul), the largest player in the milk sector, corroborates this assertion. Still, for some odd reasons, the NDDB has resorted to import skimmed milk powder.

Going a step further, it has even threatened to import butter oil. The danger of this move is that the imports might land up at a time when the domestic milk production would be heading towards a post-monsoon peak, hurting the interests of millions of local milk producers, leave alone the domestic dairy industry that now boasts of being of international standard.

The NDDB is offering many explanations for the current situation though most of them seem prima facie untenable. Its plea that the recent drought has delayed calving of cattle by two months is surely one of them.

It has bewildered even the agriculture ministry. The other cause is said to be the recent crackdown on suppliers of synthetic milk. If that is so, it is indeed shameful that this poisonous milk was earlier being allowed to get into the NDDB-owned Mother Dairy milk chain.

Indeed, the genesis of the problem can really be traced to the Delhi Mother Dairy's move to stop buying milk and milk powder from the Amul cooperative.

This decision, based obviously on considerations other than purely commercial, deprived Mother Dairy of the cushion that it had in adjusting its milk and milk powder procurement to seasonal changes in consumer demand.

This played havoc with the milk sector as demand started looking up with the beginning of the festival season. Though, pushed to the wall, the Mother Dairy did approach the Amul cooperative to come to its rescue but it was too late.

The latter had already committed supplies to other buyers and could agree to meeting only a part of the demand. Thus, the NDDB should take the blame for creating a situation where import of milk powder and, perhaps butter oil as well, became seemingly unavoidable.

This apart, the NDDB cannot also absolve itself of its failure to anticipate this situation and take timely corrective action. Even if the NDDB's drought-related explanation is accepted, it is not clear why this apex body should not have visualised this situation as early as the end of last year's monsoon season.

Under the circumstances, a thorough probe into the whole episode is called for to fix responsibility as also to ensure that such things do not recur in future.