From Dairy Farms to Cricket Fields: Indian Women Shines
Indian women's cricket team registered its largest-ever win by runs when it defeated Ireland in the 3rd W-ODI of the three-match series in Rajkot on Wednesday.
Opting to bat first, the host piled on the runs and scored 435 for five in its 50 overs. There have been only six instances of 400+ team scores in women’s ODIs, with India’s 435/5 being the fourth highest score ever in the form. Pratika Rawal top-scored with a mammoth 154 off 129 balls while stand-in skipper Smriti Mandhana scored India’s fastest ODI century in women’s cricket. Richa Ghosh also scored a rapid 59.
"Smriti Mandhana’s stellar performance as a skipper showcases her exceptional leadership and skill on the field. As I saw in one of Smriti's video that behind her success lies not just talent and hard work but also the strength of a nutritious dairy-rich diet, fuelling her endurance and agility. Coming from vegetarian family she follows a Lacto-ovo rich diet with lots of vegetables. A true testament to the power of balanced nutrition in achieving greatness!"
On one hand, the Indian women's cricket team is making the nation proud with their remarkable achievements, while on the other, countless Indian women are tirelessly ensuring nutritional and financial security for rural households through their unwavering dedication to dairy farming and agriculture. Their dual contribution embodies resilience, pride, and the true spirit of India.
Let us delve into the transformative landscape of dairy development schemes in India, with a focus on production-based milk subsidies. These schemes, while diverse in implementation, share a common goal: empowering farmers and strengthening the dairy ecosystem.
A recent example is the newly announced subsidy program in Assam state, standing on the shoulders of predecessors like the decade-and-a-half-old initiative in Karnataka state. Intriguingly, the interim impact assessment of Karnataka's program revealed commendable success in enrolling farmers, boosting milk production, enhancing productivity, and increasing farmer incomes. Yet, one critical challenge remains: attracting youth to embrace dairy farming as a viable livelihood.
In Karnataka's case, research highlighted a stark reality—farmers, despite subsidies, faced losses of ₹1.50 per liter for years. A subsidy of ₹5 finally brought a notional profit of ₹3.50 per liter. This raises a fundamental question: are subsidies, as they currently stand, sufficient to make dairy farming truly sustainable?
This isn’t about dismissing subsidy programs but about refining their design. Restricting benefits to state-cooperative-linked farmers may warrant introspection to ensure broader inclusivity. Meanwhile, innovative trends are emerging, with some states like Assam signing MOUs with organisations like NDDB, as well as integrating subsidies into their dairy strategies also.
As we move forward, impact analyses in the coming years will need to discern causal factors amidst overlapping initiatives. This is a crucial moment to reimagine subsidy frameworks, balancing immediate relief with long-term sustainability for India’s dairy sector and its farmers. Particularly women farmers.
Today, I celebrate the Indian women's cricket team's incredible victory, so I will keep my deliberation on milk subsidy brief.
Let us take a moment to honour and bless the daughters of our nation, like Pratika Rawal and Smriti Mandhana, who inspire us all with their grit and brilliance.
Soon, I will return with a blueprint on how milk subsidy programs can be designed to empower more such daughters of India who are relentlessly rearing livestock almost 16-18 hours a day.
Source : Dairynews7x7 Jan 15th 2025 a Blog by Kuldeep Sharma