Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah is likely to inaugurate a day-long dairy cooperative conclave of the eastern and northeastern zones in Sikkim on October 7. The National Cooperative Dairy Federation of India is organizing the conclave (NCDFI).
According to NCDFI Chairman Mangal Jit Rai, Shah's office has confirmed his participation in the Gangtok conclave. The function's honoree will be Sikkim Chief Minister P S Tamang.
Top officials from Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, Tripura, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, and West Bengal's cooperative milk unions and state dairy federations are expected to attend, according to Rai.
The event is expected to draw 1,200 participants from these 12 states.
Taking inspiration from Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Digital India initiatives, Rai stated that the NCDFI has launched an online marketplace called "NCDFI eMarket" to provide transparent and fair dealings to member dairy cooperatives with the National Dairy Development Board's patronage.
In 2021-22, he said, the NCDFI coordinated the supply of milk and milk products worth Rs 1,406 crore for institutional sale and facilitated the sale of Rs 4.37 crore frozen sperm doses (FSDs) worth Rs 84 crore.
Rai stated that the NCDFI completed a total trade worth Rs 4,815 crore on the NCDFI eMarket via various auctions on the platform. The total business transacted at the NCDFI reached Rs 6,305 crore in 2021-22, up from Rs 1,006 crore in 2015-16, representing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of around 30%, he added.
