In a first-of-its-kind initiative, lakhs of dairy farmers in Gujarat will receive Rs 1 per litre as incentive for voting during the Lok Sabha election. For this, they will have to show the indelible ink mark on their index fingers.
In a bid to encourage voting on May 7, when voting for 25 out of 26 Lok Sabha seats in Gujarat will take place in the third phase of the ongoing general elections, home-grown dairy giant Amul has taken the policy decision of giving Rs 1 per litre as incentive to farmers, who vote.
The Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF), the apex body of all the milk unions of Gujarat and its 18 member unions, has 36 lakh dairy farmers as its registered members.
The dairy farmers, most of them women, associated with 18,565 village dairy co-operative societies spread across the length and breadth of the state, pour around 3 crore litres of milk every day.
GCMMF’s vice-chairman Valamji Humbal told TOI that the board members of the federation have resolved to pay the incentive to all the registered dairy farmers in the state.
In the countdown of the polls, India’s largest FMCG brand has already started spreading awareness among voters in urban Gujarat with ‘Chunav Ka Parv, Desh Ka Garv’ printed on milk pouches that are sold to consumers every day.
“Traditionally, we have been encouraging voting through messages printed on our milk pouches. It is an exercise that we have been carrying out ahead of all the elections. But this time, we have decided to encourage voting. It is for the first time that we are providing such incentive,” said Humbal, who heads Kutch-based Sarhad Dairy. A missive regarding the decision has already been circulated to all the member unions, he added.
The incentive to be deposited in the accounts of the milk pourers will be calculated based on the milk they pour at the village-level milk societies.
“For instance, a dairy farmer who pours a litre of milk will earn Rs 1 more. A dairy farmer who pours 20 litre will earn Rs 20 more which will be deposited in his or her account apart from the milk procurement price that is paid to them,” said Humbal.
Sources said the impact of this decision will be largely seen in milk shed areas of big dairies of Gujarat including Banaskantha’s Banas Dairy, Sabarkantha’s Sabar Dairy, Mehsana’s Doodhsagar Dairy and Anand’s Amul Dairy.
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