Discuss how White Revolution 2.0 seeks to build on the legacy of Operation Flood in transforming India's dairy cooperative landscape.

Q. Discuss how White Revolution 2.0 seeks to build on the legacy of Operation Flood in transforming India's dairy cooperative landscape. (15 marks, 250-350 words)

Operation Flood (from 1970), steered by the National Dairy Development Board on the Anand pattern, made India the world's largest milk producer through farmer-owned cooperatives [3]. White Revolution 2.0, launched in 2024 by the Ministry of Cooperation with the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, revives that cooperative logic for a new set of challenges [1][2].

Continuity: the cooperative model retained - Retains the three-tier Anand pattern — village society, district union, state federation — with NDDB again as the technical coordinator, not a parallel bureaucracy [2]. - Like Operation Flood's milk-shed expansion, the core instrument remains village-level procurement: formation of 75,000 new Dairy Cooperative Societies in uncovered panchayats and strengthening of 46,422 existing DCSs [1].

Scaling up: deeper and wider reach - Targets 1,007 lakh kg per day of cooperative milk procurement by 2028-29, roughly a 50% increase, raising the organised sector's share and farmer bargaining power [1]. - Backed by hard infrastructure — Bulk Milk Coolers, Automatic Milk Collection Units and testing equipment — extending Operation Flood's chilling-and-transport spine into remaining villages [1].

Departures: what Operation Flood did not attempt - An explicit sustainability and circularity pillar, with dedicated multi-state cooperative societies for circular-economy and input-service delivery — absent from the productivity-focused 1970s design [4]. - Sharper focus on women's participation, who form the bulk of dairy labour, as a stated inclusion goal [5]. - Institutional novelty: a dedicated Ministry of Cooperation anchoring the drive, replacing the single-agency model with inter-ministerial convergence [1][2].

White Revolution 2.0 is thus less a repetition than a maturing of the same idea: Operation Flood's procurement architecture, now carrying goals of ecological circularity and gender inclusion. If cooperative governance and timely infrastructure delivery keep pace with the targets, it can convert dairying from a subsistence occupation into a durable rural livelihood, advancing SDG-2 and SDG-8.

(~310 words)

Sources: 1. WHITE REVOLUTION 2.0, Ministry of Cooperation (PIB) — 75,000 new and 46,422 existing DCSs; 1,007 lakh kg/day target by 2028-29; infrastructure components; ministry-level anchoring 2. WHITE REVOLUTION 2.0 (PIB) — joint launch by Ministry of Cooperation and Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying; NDDB as coordinating agency 3. White Revolution (PIB) — Operation Flood, NDDB and the Anand pattern cooperative structure 4. Coordination for Sustainability and Circular Economy in Cooperative Dairy Sector (PIB) — circularity pillar and new multi-state cooperative societies 5. Women in dairy cooperative societies (PIB) — women's participation in dairy cooperatives