'I Want To Keep The Government Out'

Isn't it a shame that there are periodic shortages of Amul butter?

Why don't you ask the country's population to grow less rapidly? People's eating habits have also shifted towards bread and butter. Besides, the demand is maximum during summer when the productivity of cattle is low. The reported export of a size-able quantity of milk powder in 1994-95 by the private sector created further domestic shortfall.

You are at loggerheads with the Gujarat government. Doesn't the social role of the cooperative sector involve the government as well?

Let me tell you a story. Some years ago, Jagannath Mishra, the chief minister of Bihar, came to me with a proposition to turn around Patna Dairy where the government had sunk crores of rupees. I agreed on the condition that there would be no government interference. The dairy was stripped of most assets when we took over, two of my managers were murdered, but we ploughed on. The moment we told the chief minister that it had made Rs 60 crore,they wanted to take it over. I refused and we formed a cooperative. Last year, Bihar surpassed all records by selling 1.62 lakh litres of milk per day. That's why I want to keep the government out of cooperatives.

Given the economic reforms, maybe the cooperative sector's mandate is different today.

By using kind-sounding words like liberalisation, are we saying that patriotism is out? Why this overt bias towards industry and against agriculture? No one is questioning the integrity of Manmohan Singh or Chidambaram, but are their feet on the ground? There appears to be a sudden clamour for multinational investment. Have they realised the cost to the nation?

What do you mean by cost to the nation?

Does Nestle sell liquid milk? Forty five per cent of our procurement goes as liquid milk supply. We'll make much more money if we convert our entire procurement to milk products. The cooperative movement was set up to avoid the middlemen. Isn't it an irony that the same Congress government, which initiated the movement 50 years ago to throw out Polson, is now inviting multinationals which may directly or indirectly encourage exploitation?

But they may pay farmers more than the cooperatives for the milk.

The farmers will be left at the mercy of the middlemen. Besides, cooperatives give return to the producers, unlike multinationals who calculate their returns on capital. Our wage cost is 0.4 per cent of the turnover, while the overheads of multinationals are way beyond. Even quality-wise, we rate at par with international standards. Why, Nestle has been caught red-handed selling contaminated milk powder to Sri Lanka.

There have been reports about NDDB hoarding oilseeds to regulate market prices.

We were asked to start the oilseeds growers' cooperative to make the country self-sufficient in oil. We imported Rs 400 crore worth of oil to stabilise the prices. The state government wanted to distribute some edible oil and the then chief minister asked me if we would give them the oil. I asked how they were going to pay for it. They raided our godowns at Kandla and seized the oil, claiming that we were hoarding. The court, however, ruled in our favour. Let me make it very clear. The NDDB is not going to wind up the Dhara operations.

Isn't it ironic that you're fighting a BJP government when it is the BJP which shares your concerns about transnationals taking over India?

I have always maintained that cooperatives should not become appendages of the state government, whichever political party is ruling. At the same time, if there is a Swadeshi government which is patriotic, it will be good for the country.