A Facebook page named ‘Once again Modi’ posted a story with a caption, which when translated reads, “Owner of Amul Milk, Anand Seth fired 1.38 lakh employees for eating beef. Thanks, Anand Seth Ji”.
Following this, there were several other similar posts and hence viral went the claim that Amul, a brand under the flagship of Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd. (GCMMF) has fired 1.38 lakh employees for consuming beef. Contemplating the same, people are are thanking owner Anand Seth and been sharing this post on social media widely.
Amul is an Indian dairy cooperative society, based at Anand in the Indian state of Gujarat. Formed in 1946, it is a cooperative brand managed by a cooperative body, the Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd. (GCMMF), which today is jointly owned by 36 lakh (3.6 million) milk producers in Gujarat, and the apex body of 13 District Milk Unions, spread across 13,000 villages of Gujarat. Amul spurred India’s White Revolution which made the country the world’s largest producer of milk and milk products. Since it is a cooperative society, it is not owned by any one individual.
Even though searching thoroughly there was no such news found, as, if any such decision had been taken by Amul then several media houses would have covered the story and multiple news channels would have broadcasted the story and have become the talk of the town.
AajTak talked to RS Sodhi, Managing Director of Amul, who refuted the claim. He said, “Amul doesn’t even have 1.38 Lakhs employees, so this claim is baseless. Amul is a cooperative society with no owner. Amul is owned by lakhs of farmers associated with it who supply milk to it”. He further said, “Amul does not discriminate based on caste and religion”.
Next, upon searching the viral claim and Anand Seth claimed as the owner of Amul in the viral posts, it was clear that Amul is a cooperative society with no owner. It is managed by Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation Limited (GCMMF) as per the information given on the official website of Amul. GCMMF was established in 1973. Shamalbhai B Patel is Chairman of GCMMF, while Vamaljibhai R Humble is the Vice Chairman and Dr RS Sodhi is Managing Director of the cooperative. At present, 18 District Cooperative Milk Producers’ Unions are its members.
As Amul stands for Anand Milk Udyog Limited, the fictitious name of Anand Seth as the ‘owner’ of Amul seems to have been picked up from here.
An official from GCMMF refuted the viral claim and said, “Amul is a cooperative of dairy farmers. There is no owner. Moreover, we don’t have these many employees.”
Further, one of the most remarkable features of GCMMF has been that professionals have always steered it since its inception. Incidentally, this is the birth centenary year of Dr Verghese Kurien, the father of the ‘white revolution’ and the founding Chairman of GCMMF. Kurien was a professional who fought relentlessly against all sorts of bureaucratic and legal hurdles created to stifle Amul from getting to the place where it is now.
Thus, it is clear that the viral claim is not true and Anand Seth is not even the owner of Amul. And Amul has not fired 1.38 lakh employees on the ground of consuming beef either.
