By Manoj Kar
Kendrapara(Odisha), July 12: On a rickety bicycle, 50-year-old Shankarshan Mallick had to travel over 30 km everyday to sell 3 litres of milk in a marketplace in Chandol on the Cuttack-Chandol state highway.

Mallick, who did not own an inch of cultivable land, hailed from the remote Adhanga where caste-related-discrimination is pronounced.

Being a dalit, Mallick, owner of two milk-yielding cows, had no takers for 10 litres of daily milk produce.

But things have changed towards the better since the day the dalit cattle farmer established link with a milk cooperative society of a nearby village.

Mallick is now proud owner of seven crossbreed cows yielding him 45 litres of milk on a daily basis. Once struggling for square meals a day, Mallick earns nothing less than Rs 10,000 a month.

“It's some sort of a silent revolution that is sweeping across a cluster of perennially backward villages in this part of the state,” observed the bankers of Mahala rural branch of State Bank of India .

Rearing crossbreed cows and marketing the milk yield through local dairy cooperative society, around 45 dalit families in about five villages of Patkura area have begun asserting themselves in social strata with newfound economic upliftment.

Though dairy cooperative bank has gained emphatic momentum after milk chilling plant came up in Bhagabanpur, its benefits had the dairy farmers from scheduled caste community.

The dalits rearing cattle were at disadvantage to sell off the milk in local areas because of superstitious casteist belief. The milk coming out of the dalit household had few takers among the upper caste.

Finding no option, they had to travel far off to market the produce. But not that has become a thing of past thanks to the Bhagabanpur milk cooperative society.

“The cooperative society began receiving our milk produce since early this year. That has solved our major livelihood hurdle,” said Mallick.

Apart from solving the marketing problem of the milk yield, the society is generous in extending long-term loan through the local state bank of India .

Lady luck is smiling on us. I now own seven cross breed cows with the average daily milk produce being nothing less than 50 litres.

“I had borrowed Rs 70,000 long term loan from the society a year back of which I have made the repayment of one-third of the amount. My target is to repay the entire amount by next 18 months so that I will be eligible for Rs 1.5 lakh interest-free loan.

“It's a dream come true. The cooperative movement has changed the life cycle of dalit cattle farmers here, remarked Mallick.

All of my seven members of my family nurture the cows. We have taken to fodder cultivation to feed the cows to increase their milk yielding capacity. Our hard labour is not going unpaid. We are earning Rs 10,000 on average each month.

Like me, several others from our community are now leading a decent and dignified life thanks to the help offered by the Bhagabanpur milk cooperative society.

Spurred by the success story scripted by local cattle farmers, the State Bank of India (SBI) authorities have gone ahead with adopting these villages predominantly inhabited by milkmen community.

An official of local SBI said that the villages like Bhagabanpur, Gajipur, Adhanga, Kanthaduha and Sarasundarpur have been adopted by the bank. An estimated Rs 55 lakh loan has been provided to the dairy society benefiting around 170 milk producing families in these villages.

“We are simply impressed by their entrepreneurship and the attitude to become self-dependent. In fact they did not approach the bank for help. But we have come forward as part of policy decision to provide mortgage-free and surety-free short-term loans to the farmers,” said the SBI officials.

This gesture is to recognise the enterprising villagers who within a span of two years have turned self-sufficient enough to lead a decent life. Rearing cross-breed cows has worked wonders here. The Maa Jagulai Women's Dairy Cooperative Society formed by them marketed the milk in professional manner.

The result is all there to see. About 200 families now earn more than Rs 4,000 a month- a fact that is hard to believe in these backward villages, the SBI sources observed.

It all started in January 2003 when the Dairy cooperative society began functioning under joint endeavour of 72 dairy farmers. Marketing the produce was the main obstacle. The society solved it. From procurement of 120 litres a day, now the society augments marketing of more than 3000 litres of milk every day, narrated Kamalakanta Swain secretary of the dairy cooperative society.

The milk yield increased by leaps and bounds and that prompted the OMFED authorities to install 5000-litre capacity chilling plant in Bhagabanpur this year. We have never looked back since then, remarked Ambar Rout, the pride owner of five crossbreed cows.

“I was unemployed despite being a diploma engineer. I searched for jobs for a year, then I plunged into dairy business. I look after my infirm father and mother and enjoy the homely comfort and at the same time earn not less than Rs 6000 a month,” observed Rout with a tinge of pride.

As Kamalakanta Rout, one of the founding members of milk chilling plant put it, there has been sea-change in living standards in villages after dairy business picked up through the local society. No more people depend on government's IAY largesse for building a pucca house. Now they can dream to own concrete house of their own.

The local dairy society has not lagged behind in its achievement. It stands second in the list of 903 dairy cooperative societies in undivided Cuttack district. However it has topped by way nutritional quality of the milk supply to Orissa State Cooperative Milk Producers' Federation Limited (OMFED). Its supply of milk has never been rejected even once since the inception of the society, added society secretary Swain.