The Government of India is well aware and considerate of the fact that dairying has been a major source of livelihood for millions of dairy farmers in the country, and all the schemes/programs of the Government, are aimed at further strengthening it.

However, this is a fact that there has been some demand and supply gap observed in the dairy sector- primarily due to increased demand for nutritious, safe, and hygienic milk and milk products post-COVID-19 pandemic.

To meet the growing demand and because the supply of milk in the ensuing summer season being a lean season may be less, there were demands from several dairy cooperatives for the import of conserved dairy commodities – milk fat and powder.

With this background, NDDB along with the Government of India, has been monitoring the demand-supply situation. Since the process of import takes time, the necessary back-end processes are being put in place to timely manage the situation in case of any eventuality.

In case the situation warrants, the import may be done to help ease the situation for the dairy cooperatives to meet the summer demands. However, in that case, also it will be ensured that it is routed only through NDDB, and the needy Unions may be given the stocks at the market price after proper assessment.

This will ensure that the market is not distorted and the interests of our dairy farmers are protected, which is paramount and central to any decision taken by the Government.

The article that Sharad Pawar is referring to in his letter addressed to the minister of Animal Husbandry, Dairying, and Fisheries, Purushottam Rupala, which is available in the public domain, only states that a decision will be taken after watching the demand-supply position later in the summer, which inter alia means that no final decision has been taken in this regard.