Animal Husbandry Minister J. Chinchurani shared stage with the Leader of Opposition V.D. Satheesan here on Tuesday to protest against the Centre’s move to bring milk cooperatives with a turnover of over ₹50 lakh under the ambit of the Income Tax.
Inaugurating a protest organised by Kerala Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (popularly known as Milma) at the Palayam Martyrs Column here, Ms. Chinchurani also hinted at the possibility of the Left Democratic Front (LDF) and the United Democratic Front (UDF) coming together for the cause in the future.
“A motion will be moved against the decision of the Central government at the next session of the Legislative Assembly. The resolution will be passed unanimously with the Opposition’s support. The Centre’s decision that has been adopted without consulting with the stakeholders is unacceptable,” she said.
The Minister, who lit a protest flame to launch a Statewide agitation, said the decision has cast a huge burden on dairy farmers who belong to the lowest rung of the society. The blow has come at a time when they are struggling to sustain the dairy sector amidst severe hardships caused by the pandemic,” she lamented.
Pointing out that she had already written to the Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to demand a rollback of the decision, Ms. Chinchurani added that the issue was raised at a national-level consultative meet convened by Union Minister for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying Parshottam Rupala on Monday.
Mr. Satheesan, who presided over the protest meet, stressed on the need to keep aside political differences to counter the Centre’s move. Efforts will be made to ensure that the MPs from Kerala took up the issue in Parliament, he said.
He added that the decision to tax milk cooperatives could lead to around 70% of such societies facing closure. This could push large sections of dairy farmers into crisis and could ultimately result in a severe fall in milk production.
Milma chairman K.S. Mani, Thiruvananthapuram Regional Cooperative Milk Producers Union administrative committee convener N. Bhasurangan, member V.S. Padmakumar and Ernakulam Regional Cooperative Milk Producers Union director board member Johny Joseph also spoke.
