119. Reading Skills Comprehension: Milk

MILK

Read the passages given below and answer the questions/complete the statements that follow:

Most states have village level dairy co-operatives and the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) guides and help develop them. The dairy co-operative network in India, as of March 2007, was owned by around 12.96 million farmer members, of whom 3.4 million were women.

Suppose a person with a cow has 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 beer got diluted milk, but the trader minted money.

The milk sellers can form a co-operative, 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. 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 moneylenders, increases ownership and accountability, ensures the better voice of dairy farmers in the management, gets them timely payments and provides access to useful technical guidance and information.

The great success of milk co-operatives in India can be summed up in one word—empowerment. The sheer hard work of ordinary and poor dairy farmers, their selfless co-operation with one another, and the courageous 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 created success stories like Amul, Verka and Operation Flood. Today milk is the country’s number one agricultural commodity. Thus, both milk producers, mostly poor, small and landless farmers and consumers, who get value for their money and healthy milk, are mutually benefited.

(a) What does NDDB do for the dairy co-operatives?

(b) How does a person with a cow dispose of his surplus milk?

(d) How are they so successful?

(e) What happens before the milk is packed in pouches?

(f) How does the dairy farmer benefit from the cooperatives?

(g) How are co-operatives good for the consumers?

(h) Name some successful milk co-operatives.

Answers :

(a) NDDB guides and helps the dairy co-operatives.

( b) He or she may sell it and make some money.

(d) They are successful because they have a reputation for selling unadulterated goods and do not emphasize maximizing profit.

(e) Milk is pasteurized before it is packed in pouches.