Amul writes to PM Modi asking for a ban on PETA
Days after PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) suggested that dairy aggregator giant Amul capitalize on India’s and the whole world’s readiness for vegan milk and food by producing soy milk instead of actual milk, Amul Vice-Chairman Valamji Humbal urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Tuesday to ban the NGO, saying it was an attempt to ruin the livelihood of more than 10 crore people by tarnishing the image of the Indian dairy industry.
“The dairy sector is an important contributor to the GDP of India, but the GDP can be adversely affected by misinformation spread by opportunistic elements like this NGO. Organisations like this are part of the conspiracy to render unemployed mill producers of India,” Humbal said in a press release on Tuesday.”
To ensure such organizations stop their activities in India, mill producers of Gujarat urge Prime Minister Narendra Modi to initiate necessary action to impose a ban on organizations which are engaging in the condemnable activity of tarnishing the image of the dairy industry through misinformation campaign and then harm them by encouraging plants of multinational companies producing synthetic milk,” he added.
Humbal insisted that 10 crore Indians don’t mete out any cruelty to their milch animals. “Indian culture positions livestock as part of their family and raises them as a member of the family. Therefore, the question of cruelty does not arise at all… This entire episode is a misinformation campaign and an attempt to break the Indian dairy industry, which is self-sufficient and thereby saves the country from the trouble of importing milk and milk products, and renders unemployed 10 crore people who are relying on it.
The move appears to have been prompted by various foreign companies,” said Humbal, who is also the president of Sarhad Dairy, a member union of Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF). GCMMF markets dairy products under the brand name Amul. While there is no scientific evidence to support claims of synthetic milk having any significant health benefits over actual milk, or that shifting to synthetic milk has any pronounced benefits for the environment, there seems to be a growing trend of consuming synthetic milk in the west.
For more daily updates click here.
News source: Indian Express
Update by Indranuj Ray