Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation Shri Amit Shah inspects indigenous and state-of-the-art technologies designed to further strengthen border security at the Jhumagachh BOP in Siliguri, West Bengal

1. At a Glance

• Union Home Minister & Minister of Cooperation Shri Amit Shah performed Bhoomi Pujan of the world's largest curd production plant — the Amul Bengal Dairy Project — in Kolkata on 19 July 2026 [1].
• Project cost ≈ ₹700 crore; will process 30 lakh litres of milk/day, producing 10 lakh kg of curd and other cultured dairy products daily [1].
• Benefits 1.25 lakh+ milk-producing farmers in West Bengal, including 30,000+ women milk producers [1].
• Ties into two other Ministry of Cooperation flagships: the e-RCS portal and the World's Largest (Cooperative) Grain Storage Plan — both launched/expanded alongside the dairy plant event [1][2].

2. Why in the News

• Shri Amit Shah's Kolkata visit on 19 July 2026 combined three cooperative-sector initiatives: Bhoomi Pujan of Amul Bengal Dairy Project, launch of the e-RCS portal, and inauguration/foundation-laying of warehouses under the World's Largest Grain Storage Programme, plus an MoU between Bharat Taxi and West Bengal's IT & Electronics Department for mobility services [1].

3. Background & Evolution

• Ministry of Cooperation created in July 2021 to give a separate administrative, legal and policy framework to the cooperative sector, strengthen grassroots cooperatives [2].
• World's Largest Grain Storage Plan in Cooperative Sector approved by Cabinet on 31 May 2023; rolled out via Inter-Ministerial Committee, building godowns, custom hiring centres, processing units, Fair Price Shops at PACS (Primary Agricultural Credit Societies) level [2][3].
• Computerisation of RCS (Registrar of Cooperative Societies) offices approved as a Centrally Sponsored Project to digitise cooperative regulation and improve ease of doing business — precursor to the e-RCS portal [3].
• Amul (Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation) has been expanding beyond Gujarat via state-specific projects — e.g., Sabar Dairy (Rohtak, Haryana), Banas Dairy Bio-CNG/Fertiliser plant (Vav-Tharad, Gujarat), Mandya Mega Dairy (Karnataka) — the Bengal project extends this pattern into West Bengal [4].

4. Core Static Facts

Item	Detail
Project name	Amul Bengal Dairy Project [1]
Event	Bhoomi Pujan (foundation laying), 19 July 2026 [1]
Performed by	Shri Amit Shah, Union Home Minister & Minister of Cooperation [1]
Investment	≈ ₹700 crore [1]
Processing capacity	30 lakh litres milk/day [1]
Curd/cultured dairy output	10 lakh kg/day [1]
Beneficiaries	1.25 lakh+ farmers; 30,000+ women milk producers, West Bengal [1]
Implementing ministry	Ministry of Cooperation (Government of India) [1]
Allied launch 1	e-RCS portal [1]
Allied launch 2	Foundation stones for warehouses under World's Largest Grain Storage Programme [1]
Allied MoU	Bharat Taxi + WB Dept. of IT & Electronics — mobility services expansion [1]
Grain storage plan approval	Cabinet, 31 May 2023 [2]
Grain storage nodal unit	PACS (Primary Agricultural Credit Societies) [3]

5. Multi-Dimensional Analysis

Economic

• Large-scale dairy investment (₹700 crore) creates rural non-farm employment and processing-linked income for West Bengal farmers [1].
• Strengthens cooperative dairy value chain, competing with private players in eastern India's dairy market [1].

Social

• Explicit targeting of women milk producers (30,000+) advances women's economic participation in cooperative dairying [1].
• Benefits smallholder/marginal dairy farmers dependent on milk as supplementary income [1].

Administrative

• e-RCS portal aims at digitising Registrar of Cooperative Societies functions — reduces paperwork, improves transparency in cooperative registration/regulation [3].
• Grain storage warehouses under PACS decentralise storage infrastructure to village-cooperative level, addressing post-harvest storage gaps [2][3].

Governance

• Reflects continued Centre-driven push (via Ministry of Cooperation, formed 2021) to expand cooperative-sector infrastructure into non-traditional-cooperative states like West Bengal [2].

6. Recent Developments (last 12-18 months)

• Cooperation Minister has inaugurated/laid foundation for multiple dairy and cooperative infrastructure projects across states in 2025-26, including Sabar Dairy (Rohtak), Banas Dairy Bio-CNG plant (Gujarat), NDDB/OMFED projects (Odisha), and cooperative dairy initiatives in Ladakh [4].
• 19 July 2026: Kolkata event — Amul Bengal Dairy Project Bhoomi Pujan, e-RCS portal launch, grain storage warehouse foundation stones, Bharat Taxi MoU [1].

7. Prelims Hooks

• Amul Bengal Dairy Project is billed as the world's largest curd production plant [1].
• Bhoomi Pujan performed by Amit Shah on 19 July 2026 in Kolkata [1].
• Project investment: ≈ ₹700 crore [1].
• Processing capacity: 30 lakh litres of milk/day [1].
• Daily curd/cultured product output: 10 lakh kg [1].
• Beneficiary farmers: 1.25 lakh+, including 30,000+ women milk producers [1].
• e-RCS portal launched same day — related to Registrar of Cooperative Societies computerisation [1][3].
• Nodal implementing ministry: Ministry of Cooperation, created July 2021 [2].
• World's Largest Grain Storage Plan in Cooperative Sector approved by Cabinet on 31 May 2023 [2].
• Grain storage plan implemented at PACS (Primary Agricultural Credit Societies) level [3].
• MoU signed between Bharat Taxi and West Bengal's Department of Information Technology and Electronics for mobility services expansion [1].
• Amul = brand of Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF) — note the Bengal project is a state-specific extension, not headquartered in Gujarat [4].

8. Mains Relevance

• GS-II: Government policies & interventions; Cooperative federalism; Statutory bodies (Ministry of Cooperation's role).
• GS-III: Agriculture/allied sectors — food processing, dairy cooperatives, storage infrastructure, PACS strengthening, rural employment.
• Possible stems:
• "Discuss the role of dairy cooperatives in strengthening rural incomes in India, with reference to recent cooperative dairy investments outside Gujarat." (GS-III)
• "Examine the objectives and progress of the World's Largest Grain Storage Plan in Cooperative Sector launched by the Ministry of Cooperation." (GS-III)
• "How does digitisation of Registrar of Cooperative Societies offices (e-RCS) contribute to ease of doing business in India's cooperative sector?" (GS-II)

9. Related Topics to Study Next

• Ministry of Cooperation (2021) — mandate, "Sahakar se Samriddhi" vision.
• PACS (Primary Agricultural Credit Societies) — computerisation drive, multipurpose PACS model.
• World's Largest Grain Storage Plan — Inter-Ministerial Committee, agri-infrastructure at PACS.
• Operation Flood / White Revolution — historical dairy cooperative movement, precursor to Amul model.
• GCMMF/Amul cooperative structure — three-tier cooperative model (village-district-state).
• Dairy Sahakar Scheme — earlier Ministry of Cooperation dairy scheme.
• Food Corporation of India (FCI) storage capacity — compare with cooperative-sector storage push.

10. Common Errors / Trap Areas

• Do NOT confuse Ministry of Cooperation with Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare — dairy cooperatives and PACS fall under Cooperation; agricultural marketing/MSP under Agriculture [1][2].
• Amul is headquartered in Anand, Gujarat (GCMMF) — the "Bengal Dairy Project" is a West Bengal-specific plant, not a headquarters shift [4].
• Grain Storage Plan was approved 31 May 2023, not the date of any individual state-level foundation-laying event (avoid conflating approval date with launch/event dates) [2].
• e-RCS relates to Registrar of Cooperative Societies computerisation — not to be confused with RBI's cooperative bank regulation.
• "World's largest" claims here apply separately to the curd plant (production) and the grain storage plan (storage capacity/scheme scale) — do not merge the two superlatives into one fact [1].