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The Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation inaugurated and laid foundation stones for 954 works costing Rs 6,453 crore across 17 districts of Rajasthan at Alwar on 16 August 2026, including Bhoomi Pujan for a milk processing plant of 3 lakh litres per day capacity that is to be raised to 5 lakh litres.
Four Saras Dairy plants costing Rs 274 crore in total became operational at Bhilwara, Jaipur, Pali and Rajsamand, and four district cooperative banks were launched at Phalodi, Balotra, Didwana-Kuchaman and Pratapgarh offering crop loans at zero percent interest.
Rs 152 crore was transferred through DBT under the Chief Minister's Crop Insurance scheme and over Rs 667 crore to 67 lakh farmers under the Mukhyamantri Kisan Samman Nidhi at Rs 1,000 per farmer.
Earlier the same day at Chittorgarh, 944 development projects worth Rs 5,755 crore covering 15 districts were launched and a 21-foot statue of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, costing over Rs 1.5 crore, was unveiled on his death anniversary.
Rajasthan has 44,000 cooperative societies; 50 new warehouses are scheduled for construction in 2026-27, over and above 62 warehouses of 100 MT capacity and 100 warehouses of 500 MT capacity already completed.
Launched by the Ministry of Cooperation on 19 September 2024 to raise milk procurement by dairy cooperatives by 50% in five years, taking daily cooperative procurement from about 660 lakh kg in 2023-24 to a target of 1,007 lakh kg by 2028-29.
Key: Targets 75,000 new dairy cooperative societies in uncovered villages and panchayats and the strengthening of 46,422 existing societies; its four thrust areas are women farmers, local milk production, dairy infrastructure and dairy exports. This is the scheme the Saras plant expansion sits inside.
India's original White Revolution, launched by the National Dairy Development Board in 1970 to link rural milk producers to urban markets through producer-owned cooperatives.
Key: Ran in three phases from 1970 to 1996 - Phase I (1970-80) linked 18 milksheds to four metros and was financed by the sale of skimmed milk powder and butter oil gifted through the World Food Programme; Phase II (1981-85) expanded to 136 milksheds and built the National Milk Grid; Phase III (1985-96) deepened procurement and marketing infrastructure. It made India the world's largest milk producer.
Implemented since December 2014 by the Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying for the development and conservation of indigenous bovine breeds and genetic upgradation of the bovine population.
Key: Began with Rs 500 crore for 2014-15 to 2016-17; revised in March 2025 with an additional Rs 1,000 crore, taking the outlay to Rs 3,400 crore for the 15th Finance Commission cycle (2021-22 to 2025-26). Works through high-genetic-merit bulls, semen stations and performance recording - the supply side of the 'high-yielding breeds in every household' goal stated in the release.
Central income support of Rs 6,000 a year to farmer families, paid in three equal instalments directly into bank accounts.
Key: Launched on 24 February 2019 at Gorakhpur and implemented by the Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare under the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare; one of the world's largest DBT schemes. Distinct from Rajasthan's Mukhyamantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (Rs 1,000 per farmer), the state top-up disbursed at this event.
Functional household tap connections to every rural household, launched by the Ministry of Jal Shakti on 15 August 2019.
Key: Service standard of 55 litres per capita per day of safe drinking water; a centrally sponsored scheme extended beyond its original 2024 deadline. The Rajasthan tap-connection figures quoted in the release belong to this mission.
Residential schooling for Scheduled Tribe children, a flagship intervention of the Ministry of Tribal Affairs begun in 1997-98.
Key: The government's stated target is 740 EMRSs for about 3.5 lakh ST students. Referred to in the Chittorgarh address as 'Eklavya Vidyapiths', with 772 stated as set up.
Created on 6 July 2021 by transferring the cooperation subjects of the erstwhile Ministry of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare, through a Cabinet Secretariat gazette notification; provides a separate administrative, legal and policy framework for cooperatives and runs White Revolution 2.0, the National Cooperative Database (data on over 8 lakh societies) and the 'Tribhuvan' Sahkari University Act, 2025, which set up India's first national cooperative university in Gujarat.
Set up in 1965 to promote, finance and support producer-owned dairy cooperatives; declared an institution of national importance by an Act of Parliament in 1987, which also gave it statutory status. It launched and ran Operation Flood and is the technical anchor of White Revolution 2.0.
The apex state-level dairy cooperative federation of Rajasthan, founded in 1972, which procures, processes and markets milk and milk products under the Saras brand through district milk unions (21 unions covering districts such as Jaipur, Alwar, Bikaner and Jodhpur). The Alwar plant and the four commissioned plants belong to this network.
Recommends Minimum Support Prices for 23 crops - 7 cereals, 5 pulses, 7 oilseeds and 4 commercial crops. It only recommends; the final decision on MSP levels is taken by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), chaired by the Prime Minister.
Set up in 1999 after the bifurcation of the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, to give a focused, coordinated approach to the socio-economic development of Scheduled Tribes. Runs EMRS and observes Janjatiya Gaurav Diwas on 15 November, the birth anniversary of Bhagwan Birsa Munda. Its creation under the Vajpayee government was the point of the Chittorgarh address.
| Aspect | Operation Flood | White Revolution 2.0 |
|---|---|---|
| Launched | 1970 | 19 September 2024 |
| Anchor institution | National Dairy Development Board | Ministry of Cooperation (with NDDB and state federations) |
| Duration | Three phases, 1970 to 1996 | Five-year horizon up to 2028-29 |
| Core goal | Link rural milk producers to urban markets and build the National Milk Grid | Raise cooperative milk procurement by 50%, from about 660 lakh kg per day (2023-24) to 1,007 lakh kg per day |
| Institution building | Village societies on the Anand pattern, district unions, state federations | 75,000 new dairy cooperative societies plus strengthening of 46,422 existing ones |
| Distinctive thrust | Milk powder and butter oil aid converted into cooperative capital | Women farmers, local production, infrastructure and dairy exports |
The bottom tier is the village dairy cooperative society, where individual milk producers pool their milk. The middle tier is the district cooperative milk producers' union, which owns the chilling and processing plants. The top tier is the state cooperative dairy federation, which markets under a single brand - Saras in Rajasthan, as Amul is in Gujarat. Because ownership runs upward from the producer, the processing margin returns to the milk producer rather than to a middleman, which is why announcements of processing capacity (the 3-lakh-litre Alwar plant) and of payment cycles (a seven-day payment cycle for Saras producers) are treated as producer-income measures rather than as industrial announcements.
Simple Analogy: The farmers own the dairy the way shareholders own a company - the plant is not a buyer standing across the table from them, it is their own plant, so its profit comes back to them as a better milk price.
Gokul Mission (Rashtriya Gokul Mission, implemented since December 2014 by the Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying)
Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana and the Soil Health Card scheme
Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana and e-NAM
Kisan Sampada Yojana
MSP fixed at 1.5 times cost, as stated in the release
PM Kisan Samman Nidhi (launched 24 February 2019)
Agriculture Infrastructure Fund and Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana
Ministry of Cooperation established as a separate Union ministry
Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samriddhi Kendras
International Year of Millets
National Mission on Edible Oils; separately, White Revolution 2.0 launched on 19 September 2024
Dhan-Dhaanya Krishi Yojana
Rs 6,453 crore of works launched at Alwar and Rs 5,755 crore at Chittorgarh, with the Alwar Saras Dairy plant foundation stone laid
The 97th Constitutional Amendment Act, 2011 inserted the right to form cooperative societies into Article 19(1)(c), added Article 43B as a Directive Principle on promoting cooperatives, and added Part IXB. In Union of India vs Rajendra N. Shah (2021) the Supreme Court struck down Part IXB in so far as it applied to cooperative societies within states, holding that cooperatives are a State List subject, leaving it valid for multi-state cooperatives - which is exactly why a Union ministry works through state federations like RCDF rather than directly.
The percentage MSP increases quoted for bajra, jowar, cotton, mustard and wheat run through the CACP-CCEA route: CACP recommends for 23 crops, CCEA decides. The 2018 announcement of MSP at 1.5 times cost refers to the A2+FL cost concept, not the comprehensive C2 cost that farmer bodies demand - a standard distinction in questions on MSP.
The Chittorgarh address traced the Ministry of Tribal Affairs to 1999; the same lineage carries EMRS (since 1997-98), Janjatiya Gaurav Diwas on 15 November (Birsa Munda's birth anniversary) and the tribal sub-plan or ST component of the budget.
The Ministry of Cooperation's institutional additions - the National Cooperative Database covering more than 8 lakh societies, and the 'Tribhuvan' Sahkari University Act, 2025 setting up India's first national cooperative university in Gujarat - are the standing facts behind any 'Sahkar se Samriddhi' announcement.
GS Paper 3 > Indian Economy > Agriculture, Animal Husbandry, Cooperatives; GS Paper 2 > Governance > Welfare Schemes
General Awareness > Government Schemes and Static GK
General Awareness > Cooperative banking and rural credit
General Awareness > Current Affairs and Schemes
Cooperatives and dairy schemes recur every year in Prelims and in SSC General Awareness; the Ministry of Cooperation's initiatives have been a steady source since 2021.
The three-tier producer-owned dairy cooperative structure - village society, district union, state federation - pioneered at Anand and replicated nationwide through Operation Flood.
The rural milk procurement zone attached to a dairy plant, the unit in which Operation Flood counted its coverage.
'Prosperity through cooperation', the stated vision of the Ministry of Cooperation since its creation in 2021.
Minimum Support Price - recommended by CACP for 23 crops, decided by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs.
Direct Benefit Transfer, the route used for the Rs 152 crore crop insurance payout and the Mukhyamantri Kisan Samman Nidhi disbursement.