Sikkim Progressive Youth Forum today via a press release has expressed concern over the ongoing milk debate, and the policies that are coming with it. The forum has spoken over various issues pertaining to the production and the pricing, the most important being the welfare of herdsmen/milk farmers.
“Just a few days ago, the Sikkim Milk Union released a new order chart of milk and made it public. According to the order letter, it was decided to take only milk containing at least 3.5% fat and 7.5% SNF and its price was reduced from 41.05 to 35.03,” the press release stated.
“The government’s decision had saddened the herdsmen. When the prices of all commodities remained high in the market, the price of milk produced in the village was reduced. That decision of the government was directly anti-labor.”- SPYF
SPYF also mentioned that a few days later, the MD of the Milk Union released an hour-long video explaining why the price of milk had come down and misleading people, but did not say a word about how to get the right price.
“Today, the Chief Minister made a long speech in an attempt to further confuse the herdsmen. He said that nothing has happened even when the price of milk has come down by 6 per liter. On the one hand, the Chief Minister was saying that the price has not been reduced, while on the other hand, the Chief Minister announced to increase the price of milk to 40. From this it can be understood that the statement of the Chief Minister is not clear.Referring to Gelling, the herdsmen did not give good milk, not to mention the river water. Giving such a speech, the Chief Minister had even indicated that it was not right for the herdsmen to ask for a fair price.” -SPYF
SPYF also claimed that CM Tamang tried to emotionally sway the people, by saying that he had sold milk himself.
“If so, why reduce the price of milk? They were pretending to be pro-people by announcing to reduce the price of milk from 41.05 to 35.03 and then to 40.0. If the Chief Minister is to be pro-people, then the main task of the government is to increase the price of milk, to make 41 to 42 or more but not to reduce it.”- SPYF
“We, the Sikkim Progressive Youth Forum, demand that the government should not hurt the working class in this way. It is not right for Corona to suffer more than the government to help when it is in crisis. Provide continuous incentives to herdsmen. The government’s goal should be to increase the price of milk, but not to hurt the people,” the press release concluded.
