Every time you pick up a glass of milk, pause and think how it made its way to your kitchen. So,
where is the milk coming from? Most states have village level dairy co-operatives and the
National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) guides and helps them. The NDDB website has an
interesting fact: The dairy co-operative network in India, as on March 2007, was owned by
around 12.96 million farmer members, of whom 3.4 million were women. A phenomenal 12.96
million owners! What organization could support this?
b. When people become members of an organization on equal terms and use their resources
towards achieving common goals, it is called as a co-operative. Suppose a person has a cow with
surplus milk, he or she might want to sell it and make some money. In villages, the local trader or
the middleman would buy this surplus milk at a price which suited him. Then, he would add
water and sell it at a higher price. Thus, the seller made no profit; the end buyer got diluted milk,
but the trader minted money.
c. This is where a co-operative steps in. The milk sellers form a co-operative. They organize for the
milk to be collected at village levels and transported to a plant where it can be pasteurized. Then,
this milk is packed in pouches and transported to distributors at various towns and cities. Here
good quality milk is sold to the end buyer.
d. Co-operatives have a reputation for selling unadulterated goods and do not emphasize
maximizing profit. Because every seller of milk is an equal member of the co-operative, they run
a transparent organization and work towards its growth. This avoids traders and money leaders,
increases ownership and accountability, ensures better voice of dairy farmers in management,
gets them timely payments and provides access to useful technical guidance and information.
The reason of stupendous success of milk co-operatives in India can be summed up in one word
– empowerment. The sheer hard work of ordinary and marginalized dairy farmers, their
unstinting co-operation with one another and an indomitable will to achieve a common goal.
Together, with the visions of people like V. Kurien, the father of Indian dairy farming, milk co-
operatives have scripted success stories like Amul and Verka. When the co-operative dairy
movement was started, the daily per capita milk consumption was 106 ml. Today, it is 250 ml or 90 kg per year. Today, milk is the country’s number one agricultural commodity.
Attempt the following questions based on the passage you have read. [1x6=6]
i. How did local traders or middlemen exploit milk producers earlier?
ii. What is a co-operative?
iii. How do milk co-operatives ensure that good quality milk reaches the consumers?
iv. How do dairy farmers benefit by forming co-operatives?
v. Give synonyms of the following:
A: surplus - B: stupendous -
vi. Complete the sentence –
The seller made no profit; the end buyer got diluted milk, but ______________________.
Answers
Answer:
Every time you pick up a glass of milk, pause and think how it made its way to your kitchen. So,
where is the milk coming from? Most states have village level dairy co-operatives and the
National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) guides and helps them. The NDDB website has an
interesting fact: The dairy co-operative network in India, as on March 2007, was owned by
around 12.96 million farmer members, of whom 3.4 million were women. A phenomenal 12.96
million owners! What organization could support this?
b. When people become members of an organization on equal terms and use their resources
towards achieving common goals, it is called as a co-operative. Suppose a person has a cow with
surplus milk, he or she might want to sell it and make some money. In villages, the local trader or
the middleman would buy this surplus milk at a price which suited him. Then, he would add
water and sell it at a higher price. Thus, the seller made no profit; the end buyer got diluted milk,
but the trader minted money.
c. This is where a co-operative steps in. The milk sellers form a co-operative. They organize for the
milk to be collected at village levels and transported to a plant where it can be pasteurized. Then,
this milk is packed in pouches and transported to distributors at various towns and cities. Here
good quality milk is sold to the end buyer.
d. Co-operatives have a reputation for selling unadulterated goods and do not emphasize
maximizing profit. Because every seller of milk is an equal member of the co-operative, they run
a transparent organization and work towards its growth. This avoids traders and money leaders,
increases ownership and accountability, ensures better voice of dairy farmers in management,
gets them timely payments and provides access to useful technical guidance and information.
The reason of stupendous success of milk co-operatives in India can be summed up in one word
– empowerment. The sheer hard work of ordinary and marginalized dairy farmers, their
unstinting co-operation with one another and an indomitable will to achieve a common goal.
Together, with the visions of people like V. Kurien, the father of Indian dairy farming, milk co-
operatives have scripted success stories like Amul and Verka. When the co-operative dairy
movement was started, the daily per capita milk consumption was 106 ml. Today, it is 250 ml or 90 kg per year. Today, milk is the country’s number one agricultural commodity.
Attempt the following questions based on the passage you have read. [1x6=6]
i. How did local traders or middlemen exploit milk producers earlier?
ii. What is a co-operative?
iii. How do milk co-operatives ensure that good quality milk reaches the consumers?
iv. How do dairy farmers benefit by forming co-operatives?
v. Give synonyms of the following:
A: surplus - B: stupendous -
vi. Complete the sentence –
The seller made no profit; the end buyer got diluted milk, but ______________________.
Explanation:
transported to distributors at various towns and cities. Here
good quality milk is sold to the end buyer.
d. Co-operatives have a reputation for selling unadulterated goods and do not emphasize
maximizing profit. Because every seller of milk is an equal member of the co-operative, they run
a transparent organization and work towards its growth. This avoids traders and money leaders,
increases ownership and accountability, ensures better voice of dairy farmers in management,
gets them timely payments and provides access to useful technical guidance and information.
The reason of stupendous success of milk co-operatives in India can be summed up in one word
– empowerment. The sheer hard work of ordinary and marginalized dairy farmers, their
unstinting co-operation with one another and an indomitable will to achieve a common goal.
Together, with the visions of people like V. Kurien, the father of Indian dairy farming, milk co-
operatives have scripted success stories like Amul and Verka. When the co-operative dairy
movement was started, the daily per capita milk consumption was 106 ml. Today, it is 250 ml or 90 kg per year. Today, milk is the country’s number one agricultural commodity.
Attempt the following questions based on the passage you have read. [1x6=6]
i. How did local traders or middlemen exploit milk producers earlier?
ii. What is a co-operative?
iii. How do milk co-operatives ensure that good quality milk reaches the consumers?
iv. How do dairy farmers benefit by forming co-operatives?
v. Give synonyms of the following:
A: surplus - B: stupendous -
vi. Complete the sentence –
The seller made no profit; the end buyer got diluted milk, but ______________________.
Answer:
how does NDDB help villagers