Examine the role of multi-state cooperative societies in promoting circularity and sustainability in India's dairy sector.

Q. Examine the role of multi-state cooperative societies in promoting circularity and sustainability in India's dairy sector. (15 marks, 250-350 words)

White Revolution 2.0, launched by the Ministry of Cooperation with a Standard Operating Procedure issued on 19 September 2024, targets milk procurement of 1,007 lakh kg/day by 2028-29 [1]. Beyond volume, it embeds sustainability and circularity across the dairy value chain — and multi-state cooperative societies (MSCS), registered under the Multi-State Cooperative Societies Act, 2002, are its chosen institutional vehicle.

Closing the loop on dairy waste - Gomay Sahkari Samiti Multi-State Limited, registered in December 2025, promotes scientific manure management, converting cattle dung from a disposal burden into a resource [2]. - It links dung to renewable energy (biogas/CBG) and organic fertiliser supply, cutting methane emissions while creating rural income streams [2]. - A national workshop on sustainability and circularity in dairying, inaugurated by the Union Minister of Cooperation, framed this by-product monetisation as core to farmer profitability [3].

Securing sustainable inputs and services - Cooperative Inputs and Services Delivery Multi-State Limited (CISDL), also registered in December 2025, ensures timely, affordable access to quality feed, fodder and veterinary services [2]. - Higher per-animal productivity lowers emission intensity per litre of milk — the key climate lever in Indian dairying, where herd size is large but yields modest.

Why the multi-state form matters - Dung, feed and CBG markets cut across state lines; an MSCS provides a single pan-India legal entity, avoiding fragmented state-level registrations. - It aggregates scale for the 75,000 new and 46,422 existing DCSs being built under the scheme — over 24,000 new societies already formed [1][4]. - Constraints persist: MSCS governance faces concerns of limited member oversight, and viability depends on assured CBG offtake [5].

Multi-state cooperatives thus convert circularity from an environmental aspiration into a farmer income proposition, with dung and inputs as the two ends of a closed loop. Strengthening member-level transparency and firm biogas procurement arrangements will let this model advance both SDG-7 and doubling of dairy farmer incomes — the cooperative promise of "Sahakar se Samriddhi."

(~325 words)

Sources: 1. WHITE REVOLUTION 2.0, PIB, Ministry of Cooperation — launch date, 1,007 lakh kg/day target, 75,000 new and 46,422 existing DCS targets 2. White Revolution 2.0, PIB, Ministry of Cooperation — registration and mandates of Gomay Sahkari Samiti MSCS and CISDL 3. Workshop on Sustainability in the Dairy Sector and Circularity, PIB — policy framing of circularity in cooperative dairying 4. IMPLEMENTATION OF WHITE REVOLUTION 2.0, PIB — progress on new DCS formation 5. COORDINATION FOR SUSTAINABILITY AND CIRCULAR ECONOMY IN COOPERATIVE DAIRY SECTOR, PIB — coordination and implementation challenges