Split milk

Days after the central government announced the clearance for import of skimmed milk powder, the Delhi government, along with Mother Diary, has come out with a statement that the need for importing milk is over. From the statement, it would appear, that Delhi Food and Civil Supplies Minister Haroon Yusuf has lived up to his promise of “normalising” supply by the weekend. But before one gets into the demand-supply equations of milk supply, the question that begs an answer is why is Delhi — along with other parts of the country — facing such an unprecedented shortage this year?

There are several factors to be considered here, including a drop in the milk output of cows; greater inspection standards being imposed for milk after the pesticide controversy and so on. But the real issue this time seems to be the clash between the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (or Amul) and the National Dairy Development Board (or Mother Dairy). Now one can expect a seasonal drop of milk output from cows during the summer months by around 30 per cent, but it appears that this particular crisis had been brewing for a while until things reached breakdown point in August when there was sudden rise in demand. Now fluctuations of this kind can be planned for in advance. But the unusual factor this time was the spat between the heads of Amul (V. Kurien) and Mother Dairy (Amrita Patel). The spat started over the future marketing strategy as outlined by Patel, who wanted to form joint ventures with other cooperatives. The idea did not appeal to Kurien, who is seen as the father of the milk revolution in India. He wanted to preserve the brand name of Amul.

Amul has historically been an important supplier of milk to Mother Dairy. This was drastically reduced last December. The drop was by as much as 50 per cent, which may have left Amul strapped at that point. Thus, when demand for milk shot up in August, Amul wanted to make supply dependent on certain conditions, including longer-term contracts. It was this that forced Mother Dairy to consider the import option. Policy makers would, no doubt, like to draw our attention away from this spat and pin the reasons for the shortfall on the dynamics of demand and supply. But they should take care to ensure that ego clashes are kept out of something as crucial as milk supply. It’s better to do this now rather than cry over spilt milk later.