How long will the exploitation of dairy development institute on farmers?

The government also decided to withdraw the amount to be paid to the farmers from this company, which was run for business. Farmers were optimistic after the cabinet decided on August 20 to release Rs 600 crore to the Dairy Development Corporation (DDC). However, due to complicated government procedures, the possibility of immediate money in the hands of farmers is diminishing. The government officials themselves have started saying that the chances of farmers getting money before Dasain are weak. As a result, the festival of 2 lakh farmer families belonging to cooperatives in more than 46 districts selling milk to DDC will be dull.

There are long-term reasons why farmers do not get paid on time. It is relevant to say that today's situation has arisen after Bethiti's legacy hollowed out the institution. Because, DDC, which buys milk from farmers at Rs 65 per liter and sells it at Rs 98, keeps about 51 percent 'margin' on each liter including manpower, transport and processing costs. Even that is not small, there is a turnover of 200,000 liters daily. However, in such a background, it is ironic in itself that DDC is going into losses and is not even able to pay the price of milk to the farmers. But the arrears owed by DDC to the farmers till August has reached 1.46 billion. DDC, which has become synonymous with managerial weakness, leakages, manipulation and lack of skilled manpower, cannot be in a stronger condition than this. But dairy farmers are suffering the consequences of this disorder.

He has not even availed of the loan he got earlier due to outstanding dues. When the Ministry of Finance gave a loan of 15 crores for the purchase of machinery, DDC purchased only one machine worth Rs. The remaining 13 crore 17 lakh 75 thousand 576 rupees were spent on employee salaries and allowances. It is alleged that although Artha provided Rs 300 crore earlier, only about Rs 17 crore was provided to the farmers and the rest was spent on salaries and allowances of the employees. Due to his similar behavior, the DDC board of directors has delayed getting the 600 million loan requested by the last week of May. This time, he has been given a condition that he can only spend the amount to pay the dues of milk to the farmers.

The time for farmers to receive this amount is getting longer. A letter is sent to the DDC about the decision of the Cabinet, the DDC sends a letter to the Ministry of Finance through the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Finance sends a letter to the Loan Office, and then the loan is released after the DDC collects the loan. The letter now makes sense. Even after getting the loan, DDC has to complete four more steps to reach the farmers. According to which, money should be sent to seven projects initially. Then the farmers will get it only after the money is sent to the irrigation center, cooperatives, private firms. However, DDC is planning to send the money directly to the cooperatives this year after depositing the money in their accounts.

Now both the government and DDC need to be sensitive and active to create an environment where money reaches the hands of farmers by shortening this process. Payment of farmers' dues is not a matter of good faith, but of their rights. That should be respected. Since there is also a reference to the festival, they should be in a situation where they will not be disappointed. But this point needs to be further debated. First, DDC owes farmers arrears of 1.46 billion but the loan they receive from the government is only 600 million. Therefore, the entire dues cannot be paid off from the loan. Therefore, there is confusion as to how the loan received from DDC is allocated for payment of arrears, what is the fair standard of payment of arrears. Also, when will he be freed from the government's mounting debt burden?

Second, how long will the DDC run on government loans from tax money paid by citizens? Is the model that works like this correct or not? This matter needs to be resolved. The trend should end so that he does not stand up from his business on his own or those who are responsible for the company are not accountable for it. This time the loan received is the last one, now we need determination and implementation that we will become strong on the financial and managerial side. Any institution should be at least self-sufficient. At the same time, the government and political parties should also stop the trend of making the institute a center of party recruitment and exploitation, instead should make a transparent plan for effective operation.