Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah presented the National Efficiency Awards on Saturday to cooperative sugar mills that excelled in various areas of operations
These prestigious awards, conferred by the National Federation of Cooperative Sugar Factories (NFCSF), recognize 21 mills from high and other recovery zones from across the country for their remarkable performance.
Shah attended NFCSF’s sugar conclave and National Efficiency Awards ceremony for the year 2022-23 as Chief Guest and personally felicitated the top three awardee mills.
These mills are Shree Chhatrapati Shahu Sahakari Sakhar Karkhana, Maharashtra, Subramaniya Siva Cooperative Sugar Mills, Tamil Nadu and Bhimashankar Sahakari Sakhar Karkhana, Maharashtra. Bhimashankar SSK Ltd. received the coveted Vasantdada Patil award for the best cooperative sugar factory on all india basis.
Union Minister of State for Cooperation Krishan Pal presented the other awards.
These cooperative sugar factories were shortlisted for the awards after an evaluation of their performance by an Expert Committee headed by the Chief Director of Sugar.
In his address, Amit Shah highlighted the longstanding significance of the cooperative movement in India, noting its cultural importance and the leadership role played by states such as Gujarat, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, and Karnataka.
He reported a significant increase in sugarcane production, which rose by 18 per cent from 5 million hectares in 2013-14 to 6 million hectares today. Overall, sugarcane production surged by 40 per cent from 352 million tonnes to 491 million tonnes, with yield improving by 19 per cent and sugar production escalating by 58 per cent.
Shah emphasized the substantial progress in ethanol production, noting that while there was zero diversion of sugar for ethanol in 2013-14, today 4.5 million tonnes of sugar is being allocated for this purpose. Ethanol production has dramatically increased from 38 crore litres to 370 crore litres, benefitting farmers directly.
Shah said that the direct benefit of all this has gone into the pockets of the farmers. He also said that the prosperity of farmers is the objective of the Modi government.
While welcoming the chief guest, Harshvardhan Patil, President of NFCSF also hailed Prime Minister Modi’s historic decision to establish a separate Ministry of Cooperation. He praised Shah for his dynamic leadership and unwavering support to the cooperative sugar industry. Patil also called for Shah’s intervention in raising the minimum selling price (MSP) of sugar and the procurement price for ethanol derived from B-heavy molasses and sugarcane syrup.
Earlier, Prakash Naiknavare, Managing Director of NFCSF briefed the minister on the day’s proceedings including technical sessions on high tech sugarcane farming and govt. policies in strengthening of Indian sugar sector.
