National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) Chairperson Amrita Patel may get an extension once her term ends next month.
Official sources said the extension could be for three months or till such time a new chairman takes over, for which the search is likely to begin soon.
The approval of the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet is being sought for extending Patel’s tenure.
The search committee formed under Cabinet Secretary Ajit Kumar Seth and consisting of Secretaries of Department of Agriculture, Department of Animal Husbandry and the Indian Council of Agricultural Research is expected to meet on October 30 to discuss the likely norms for NDDB chairman’s appointment.
In fact, the Government will be looking out for a person to head NDDB, after almost 15 years. The 70-year-old Patel is currently in her third stint at the helm of the apex dairy policy-making body and has expressed her willingness not to continue for another term.
Patel was appointed first as Chairman of NDDB in 1998 at the age of 55 by her erstwhile mentor and predecessor Verghese Kurien, the Milk Man of India. Patel was subsequently re-nominated in 2003 and 2008 to the top slot of NDDB.
Potential contenders for the NDDB’s top slot include Vipul Chaudhary, Chairman, Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation, Deepak Tikku, Managing Director of NDDB Services, Dilip Rath, Managing Director of NDDB and B.M. Vyas, former Managing Director, GCMMF.
NDDB was set up by an Act of Parliament in 1965 mainly to replicate the success of the Kaira Cooperative Milk Producers’ Union (Amul) in other parts of the country. Currently, NDDB is implementing the Government’s National Dairy Plan (NDP) in 14 States.
The World Bank-funded NDP seeks to augment milk production in the country by improving productivity of milch animals and provide rural milk producers greater access to the organised milk processing sector.
Such a move is expected to help plug the projected shortfall in milk production by 2020.
The demand for milk is projected to rise seven per cent by 2020, while the production is growing at four per cent resulting in an estimated shortfall of three per cent.
Milk demand is set to touch 200 million tonnes by 2020, up from 133 million tonnes in 2012-13.
vishwanath.kulkarni@thehindu.co.in