Kurien says 'vindicated' as former protege's Kerala gambit goes bust

Another round of verbal volleys between the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) and the Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF) seems to be in the offing as the former's one-year old joint venture experiment in Kerala closed shop on Thursday.

NDDB's Delhi-based marketing unit, Mother Dairy, on Thursday formally announced the end of its joint venture with Milma Foods Ltd.

Verghese Kurien, the erstwhile chairman of NDDB, the apex body for dairy development in India, and current chairman of GCMMF, said his stand against the move was vindicated.

Kurien has been speaking out against NDDB's plan to set up joint ventures with dairy cooperatives in states. The Milma venture was conceived a year back by NDDB, which is led by Kurien's former protege Amrita Patel.

Kurien said, "the NDDB was formed in 1987 to propagate the Amul model but later it decided to branch out, which is not in the interest of farmers and cooperatives. The board breached the trust of the Parliament which passed the Act and went against the mandate of the elected members of the public."

He said the NDDB should go back to the Parliament and seek changes in the NDDB Act of 1987, if it still desires to continue with the joint venture model.

He predicted that a similar initiative by NDDB in Andhra Pradesh would also fail.

"I remain concerned about the future of dairy cooperatives, I do not find such models feasible. Such efforts are to be stopped now. Let the Parliament decide whether the NDDB Act should remain in force in view of the developments. It should also look into the board working against its mandate."

Amrita Patel was not available for comment in spite of repeated attempts made by Business Standard.

Meanwhile, the NDDB release said Mother Dairy had drawn the attention of the chairman of the Kerala Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (KCMMF) to the factors hindering the alliance, including transfer of marketing staff of the milk unions to the joint venture, and the joint venture's quality control staff's lack of access to the union dairy plants.

Mother Dairy said it had offered to withdraw from the venture if the issues were not resolved.