Gandhinagar: Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi addressed the seminar of leaders of various cooperative institutions on ‘Sahakar Se Samriddhi’ at Mahatma Mandir, Gandhinagar, where he also inaugurated the Nano Urea (Liquid) Plant constructed at IFFCO, Kalol. Chief Minister of Gujarat Shri Bhupendrabhai Patel, Union Ministers Shri Amit Shah, Dr. ​​Mansukh Mandaviya, Members of Parliament, MLA, Ministers from the Gujarat Government, and leaders of the cooperative sector were among those present on the occasion.
Addressing the gathering the Prime Minister welcomed thousands of farmers who gathered at the Mahatma Mandir today. He said cooperation is a great medium for the self-sufficiency of the village. It has the energy of AtmaNirbhar Bharat. He said Pujya Bapu and Patel showed us the way for bringing self-sufficiency to villages. Along those lines, today we are moving ahead on the path of developing a model cooperative village. Six villages in Gujarat have been chosen where all the cooperative-related activities would be implemented, he said.

Similarly, the Prime Minister expressed heartfelt happiness on the inauguration of the Nano Urea (Liquid) Plant constructed at IFFCO, Kalol. He said that the power of a full sack of urea has come into a half-liter bottle, leading to huge savings in transportation and storage. The Plant will produce about 1.5 lakh bottles of 500 ml per day, the Prime Minister added that 8 more such plants will be established in the country in the coming days.“This will reduce foreign dependence with regard to urea and will save the country’s money. I am confident that this innovation will not remain confined to urea. In the future other nano fertilizers will be available to our farmers”, he said.

The Prime Minister informed India is the second-largest consumer of urea in the world but only the third-largest producer. After the formation of the government in 2014, the government did 100% neem coating of urea. This ensured that the farmers of the country got enough urea. Simultaneously, the work of restarting 5 closed fertilizer factories in UP, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, and Telangana was initiated. UP and Telangana factories have already started production, and the other three factories also will soon start working, he said.

Talking about the import dependence with regard to urea and phosphate and potash-based fertilizers the Prime Minister dwelled on high prices and lack of availability in the global market due to the pandemic and war. The Prime Minister said that the sensitive government did not allow the problems to be passed on to the farmers and despite the difficult situation did not let any crisis of fertilizer take shape in India. A urea bag costing Rs 3500 is made available to the farmer for Rs 300 while the government bears Rs 3200 per bag. Similarly on a bag of DAP government bears Rs 2500 as opposed to Rs 500 borne by the earlier governments. The Union Government gave a subsidy of Rs 1 lakh 60 thousand crore last year, this year this subsidy is going to be more than Rs 2 lakh crore, the Prime Minister informed. The Prime Minister promised to do whatever was necessary for the interest of the farmers of the country and continue to strengthen the farmers of the country.

The Prime Minister said that in the last 8 years, the government has worked on both the immediate and long-term solutions to the problems being faced by the country. He cited solutions like improving health infrastructure to deal with any further pandemic shock, Mission Oil Palm to tackle edible oil problems, bio-fuel and hydrogen fuel to handle oil problems, natural farming, and nanotechnology push are also results of this approach. Similarly, he said, there is a solution to many of India’s difficulties in self-reliance. He cited co-operative as a great model of self-reliance.

The Prime Minister said Gujarat was also fortunate because we got the leadership of Pujya Bapu and Sardar Saheb. Sardar Saheb did the work of bringing down the path shown by revered Bapu to self-help through cooperation. The example of the cooperative model of the dairy sector is before us. Today India is the largest milk producer in the world among which Gujarat has a major share. The dairy sector is also growing rapidly in the last few years and is also contributing more to the rural economy. In Gujarat, milk-based industries were widely spread because the restrictions on the part of the government were minimal in this. The government plays the role of only a facilitator here, the rest is either done by cooperatives or farmers.

The Prime Minister informed that the Government is continuously moving forward to connect the spirit of cooperation with the spirit of the Amrit Kaal. With this objective, a separate ministry for cooperatives was formed at the center. He added that efforts are being made to encourage a cooperative-based economic model in the country. “The greatest strength of cooperatives is the faith, cooperation, and enhancing the capability of the organization with collective strength. This is the guarantee of India’s success during the Amrit Kaal”, he added. The Government is working on making what is considered small and underestimated, into a big power in the Amrit Kaal. Today small farmers are being empowered in every way. Similarly, small-scale industries and MSMEs are being made a strong part of India’s self-reliant supply chain. “I am sure that cooperation will help us in realizing our goals and India will move ahead on the road of success and prosperity”, the Prime Minister concluded.

Highlights of his speech:

-Strength of one bag of urea is equal to half a liter bottle. Only half a liter bottle will satisfy one bag need of urea for farmers. Think about ease of transportation. The plant in Kalol has 1.5 lakh bottle capacity, but in upcoming time, 8 such plants are to be set up. This will reduce the dependence on foreign import.

-This innovation I am sure will not be limited to Nano urea and it will spread to other fertilizers. Our scientists are working on this.

-How important is this step towards Nano Urea needs to be understood. India is the second largest consumer of fertilizer but when it comes to production, we are on third position. Seven-eight years ago most of urea would go to black market instead of going to the farmers. Farmers on the other hand would face lathis. Large urea factories in our country had also shut. After forming government in 2014 in the Centre, we initiated 100 per cent neem coating of urea. This resulted into sufficient availability of urea in the country. Five closed fertilizer making units were restarted. In U.P. and Telangana they have resumed production. In rest of the States, the work is underway.

-We import about one fourth of our fertilizer need from abroad. But in potash and phosphate, we have to import 100 per cent from abroad. In last two years, the prices have gone up too much globally due to Covid pandemic and later due to war. While availability is insufficient globally, price has gone up due to war.

-Our government decided that there’s worrying situation globally and sourcing of fertilizer has been difficult. There are issues, but we have tried that the impact is not passed on farmers. And therefore even after facing all kinds of difficulties, we have not allowed a situation of shortage.

-A 50 kg bag is worth Rs. 3,500 value when we import, but a farmer is provided it for the price of Rs. 300. In each urea bag, our government suffers burden of over Rs. 3200. Same wa, on a DAP bag, the earlier government before us had burden of Rs. 500. Our government per 50 kg bag bears burden of Rs. 2,500.

-Last year Rs. 1,60,000 crore subsidy was given by the Centre for fertilizer. This year, the same relief will be over Rs.2 lakh crore. Whatever required for good of farmers, we are doing and we are going to do in future too. But we should think also, that whether in 21st century we should allow our farmers to depend on the nations abroad. Why government should spend money abroad? Shouldn’t we find some sustained way out? The same issues before other governments in the past too. But they thought about short-term measures. In last 8 years, we have done short-term and long-term both kinds of paths.

-A movement towards natural farming is also a part of permanent solution. I congratulate the farmers of Gujarat. A small farmer has turned to natural farming. Lakhs of farmers have started walking on the path of natural farming.

– One best model of Atmanirbharta is cooperation also.

-Gujarat is also lucky because Pujya Bapu and Sardar saheb’s leadership was here. When we discuss cooperation, Vaikunthbhai Mehta has to be memorized. An institute is working in his name. We have allocated Rs. 25 crore to strengthen it.

– Dairy, sugar and banking are examples of cooperation sector in Gujarat. Among very prominent successful models is the one in dairy sector. Today India is the biggest milk producer. And Gujarat has major share in it. In recent years, dairy sector is growing and contributing to rural economy. India produces Rs. 8 lakh crore milk. And mostly this business is done by our mothers and sister. On the other hand, wheat and dhan market is lesser than milk. Similarly if we look at animal husbandry sector it is worth Rs.9.5 lakh crore. It is a major support to small farmers. If in last decade, prosperity has been witnessed in rural sector, the reason for it is dairy sector and cooperatives.

– In Gujarat, opening a dairy was prohibited in Kutch and Saurashtra. When I was here, I said if Amul is growing, Kutch and Amreli can also grow with it. Today in Gujarat, in all corners dairy sector has achieved growth. Dairy sector has grown in Gujarat because the State government has least intervened. The government has given all freedom and played a role of just facilitator.

– Around 70 lakh women in Gujarat are part of milk production. Women in Gujarat have major role in Amul’s success.

– PM speaks about Lijjat papad and says it has also been a brand like Amul in cooperative sector.

– Our effort is to encourage economic prosperity through cooperation. We want to give level playing field to cooperatives. We have cut tax for this, apart from other measures.

– When I was Gujarat Chief Minister, I would urge the Centre over the Income Tax levied on cooperative sector, but there was no response. We came to power and resolved this issue.

– PM Modi also speaks about digitization of cooperative societies and banks.

– The biggest strength of cooperatives is trust and cooperation.

– Test of good businessman is how he finds solution in difficult situation. Same is with government. It has to find solution in difficulties.

DeshGujarat