Dairy in India
Dairy plays a significant part in numerous aspects of Indian society, including cuisine, religion, culture, and the economy.
Dairy production in the Indian subcontinent has historical roots that go back 8,000 years to the domestication of zebu cattle.
In the mid- to late 20th century, Operation Flood transformed the Indian dairy industry into the world's largest.
A large variety of dairy products like paneer, butter, ghee, and yogurt are produced buffaloes in India.
The history of dairy in the Indian subcontinent goes back roughly 8,000 years to the first domestication of zebu cattle,[1] which is thought to have originated in India.
[6][7] Both the Vedas and the Pali canon, which are rich in descriptions of contemporary culture, contain numerous references to offerings of milk products and their processing.
[10] They also mention curdling of milk by the addition of plant substances such as the bark of the palash tree and the fruit of jujube, which may have contained rennet-like enzymes.
[10][11] Indologist Wendy Doniger compares Vedic peoples to American cowboys, noting that they would often go on raids for the cattle of their rivals.
[6] According to the Sutra literature, during the period c. 800 – c. 300 BCE, boiled rice with milk or curd continued to be a common food item.
[14] The Buddhist and Jain texts of the period also regard milk and its products important articles of food, with milk-rice being especially favoured.
[15] Milk, curds, and ghee were important elements of food in the Indian subcontinent over the reigns of rulers from different religious backgrounds.
[19] During this period, dairy co-operatives emerged as a dominant force, as a result of the exploitative nature of private milk plants and vendors.
Phase I (1970–1981) focussed on developing dairy production in areas surrounding New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, and Chennai.
[25] In addition to investments by the government of India, several phases of Operation Flood were funded in part by the World Bank and European Economic Community.
[44] Ancient Indian cosmology postulated that the Earth's continents were submerged in a variety of dairy products, including milk and ghee.
[51] During Pongal, rice is boiled in milk until it overflows out of the clay pot, and then offered to the gods, to the cows, and finally to the family members.
[55] There was some conflict in early Buddhism, with its emphasis on ahiṃsā (non-violence), as to whether drinking milk was ethical as it deprived calves of their nourishment, but this view was ultimately abandoned.
[39] However, according to some experts, the milk of indigenous cows have higher nutritional value and thus their declining population can have long-term health and environmental effects.
Subsequent studies in later years came to similar conclusions and noted the impact of cross-breeding on increased production and rural development.
[93] Cross-breeding also resulted in increased rates of conception, shorter dry periods, and substantially longer lactation lengths.
It is sold in variants on the basis of the fat content:[95] A large variety of dairy products are produced in India through methods that have developed in complex ways.
Paneer is prepared by adding an acidic coagulant to heated milk and then pressing and draining the mixture under mechanical pressure.
It is not consumed directly, but used as a base or filler material for preparation of a variety of Indian sweets such as rasgulla, rasmalai and sandesh.
The Veterinary Council of India establishes regulations for inspection of dairy cattle, and for measures to control the spread of disease and strengthening livestock.
[115] Livestock in the dairy industry are also regulated by the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1960, under which guidelines are issued regarding milking, artificial insemination, and transport of cattle.
[121][122] The Supreme Court of India has favoured life imprisonment as the maximum penalty for milk adulteration, and this has been implemented in Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Odisha.
[127] In May 2020, the National Green Tribunal directed the Central Pollution Control Board to issue guidelines that would allow pollution control authorities to monitor the environmental impact of dairy farming in India, taking particular note of the impact on local waterbodies, the quantity of methane emissions from dairy farming, and the handling of animal waste.
The issue of relaxing import duties on dairy products has been a point of negotiation for India in the context of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership.
[135] Due to religious reasons, imports of most dairy products into India require certification that the animals involved have not been fed on feed containing extracts of ruminant origin.
[139] Due to a high level of domestic consumption paired with global prices of an un-competitive nature, India's exports of dairy products are minimal.
