Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses a rally during the inauguration of Amul’s ultra modern chocolate plant in Anand, on September 30, 2018. | Photo Credit: Vijay Soneji

Ahmedabad

30 September 2018 16:23 IST

Cooperatives are controlled neither by the government nor capitalists, the Prime Minister says.

Inaugurating a new chocolate-making factory set-up by dairy giant Amul in Gujarat, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said a cooperative like Amul is a viable economic alternative to capitalist and socialist models.

The new factory opened by the PM is an expansion of an already functional confectionery unit of Amul near Anand. The Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation is India’s largest farmers’ cooperative.

Credits Sardar Patel

Mr. Modi credited Sardar Patel, who founded the Kheda Milk Union, for creating the model. “Sardar saheb sowed the seed for a third economic model — controlled neither by government nor capitalists. Instead, it was created with the cooperation of farmers and people and everybody was a part of it. This is one viable alternative to socialism and capitalism,” Mr. Modi said.

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“It fills me with pride that it is the result of a farmers’ cooperative movement of over seven decades that Amul has become an identity, inspiration and necessity in the country,” the PM said, while addressing a gathering of farmers after the inauguration.

He called upon Amul to set a target for making India the third largest milk processor in the world, from its current ranking of 10th, by the time the nation completed 75 years of its existence.

The new plant is a ₹533-crore premium chocolate plant. A nutritional food unit, the Anand Agriculture University Centre of Excellence in Food Processing, and a ₹20 crore Vidya Dairy ice cream plant were launched simultaneously.

The PM also launched a solar cooperative society at Mujkuwa village, constructed with the help of the Anand-based National Dairy Development Board.

In Kutch, the PM inaugurated a gas pipeline and LNG (liquefied natural gas) terminal set up by the Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation.