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Dairy Development in Pre-Independence Period

The history of government intervention in the animal husbandry and dairying can be traced back to the later part of 19 th century, when the British troops were inducted in India. They were unable to digest the poor quality of milk. The responsibility of supplying the fresh and quality milk rested with the quarter master general. On his intervention and to meet their daily requirement of milk, various military dairy farms were set up in different parts of the country. The first such attempt to set up a military dairy farm was made in 1891 at Allahabad.

In 1920, the post of Imperial Dairy Expert was created to organize the Indian dairying on sound footing. Prior to that, the entire work of the dairy research and development was being carried out by the Imperial department of agriculture. In 1922 and 1923, diploma in dairying was started at Bangalore and Allahabad,respectively.

Dr. N. C. Wright, Director, Hannah Research Institute, Ayr. (Scotland) was invited to India in 1936 to examine the progress of dairying and to recommend as to how its tempo could be increased. He submitted his report in 1937 and recommended the appointment of Director of Dairy Research, which however was appointed 15 years later after independence in 1952. He drew most of his recommendations from the report of Royal Commission of agriculture and recommended - (i) the grading of the present cattle by better breeding with selected indigenous animals for the production of pedigree animals, for distribution to villagers, for carrying on researches on animal nutrition and for doing propaganda among the villages in the clean handling of milk and milk products. (ii) Setting up a new Dairy Research Institute close to Delhi for specialized research in various fields like Dairy Bacteriology, Chemistry, Technology and Husbandry. (iii) Utilizing existing institute at Bangalore and Anand as regional stations. (iv) Introducing investigations of dairy problems in all agriculture colleges.

An expert cattle committee appointed by the Government of Bombay in 1938 gave their recommendations on (i) cattle improvement and milk production in villages, (ii) milk production and processing, and (iii) transport of milk products and distribution to consuming areas.

National Planning Committee appointed in 1938 under the chairmanship of Pt.Jawahar Lal Nehru had also an impact on dairy development. The sub committee on animal husbandry and dairying reported that (i) There is a considerable scope of expansion in dairy industry and its retail business and as such to meet the dietic needs it must be stepped up, (ii) Development of cooperative societies for production and consumption of dairy produce, (iii) Mechanized dairy farms to substitute existing farms, (iv) Education and higher research, (v) Make cattle fodder and feed adequate.

For the development of dairy cattle, various projects were taken to improve milk production. Bulls were supplied to local bodies and rural areas but the onset of world war intervened and staggered them. After the war, these were again started.To control and develop dairy trade a major project on cooperative dairying was initiated. Three types of co-operative societies viz. milk consumers cooperative societies, milk distributors co-operative societies and milk producers co-operative societies were started. Milk consumers societies were taken up at Burnpur and Allahabad (1943). Among milk distributive societies, the Radha Swami Educational Institute, Dyal Bagh Agra was quite popular. Prominent Milk Production Societies set up were Kaira and Allahabad (1945), Anand (1946) and Banaras, Meerut,Kanpur, Nainital (1949-50). All these societies made a very significant contribution in dairy development.

During this period, many dairy projects like greater Bombay milk scheme, Kaira District Cooperative Milk Union Ltd. Anand, Polson Ltd., Talankhery Co-operative Dairy Society Nagpur, Federation of Milk Union, Calcutta, Lucknow Cooperative Milk Supply Union, Madras Milk Supply Union, Madras, Kaventers Dairy and Ksheera Kshetra came into existence.

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