A video clip of Union Home Minister Amit Shah saying – “In 2021, Milk production in India has increased from 40 grams to 155 grams”, is being widely shared claiming that he used grams to measure milk, instead of litres/milli-litres. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
The archived post can be seen here
Claim: Amit shah wrongly stated grams as a measuring unit for milk, instead of litres/milli-litres during a speech.
Fact: The full-length video available on Amit shah’s YouTube Channel shows that he is talking about the ‘Per capita availability’ of milk in the country. According to the Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying, ‘Per capita availability’ of milk in India is measured in ‘Grams/Day’. The same is mentioned on National Dairy Development Board and Economic Survey websites. Also, the Food and Agricultural Organization uses kilogram/year to measure the ‘Per capita availability’ of milk globally. Hence, the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
A reverse image search using the keyframes extracted from the viral clip led us to a video that was live streamed on 12 September 2022 on Amit Shah’s Official YouTube Channel. In the video, Amit shah spoke about the “Relevance of cooperative institutions for a Dairy sector” at International Dairy Federation’s World Dairy Summit 2022 held in Greater Noida.
Highlighting the impact of the ‘Operation Flood’ program on the country’s Milk production, from the 25:10 time stamp he says, “In 1978, 40 grams of milk is available for every person in the country. Because of co-operative dairy, in 2021, milk production in the country has increased from 40 grams to 155 grams. This is a big achievement.”
As Amit shah mentioned ‘every person’ in the speech, he most was speaking about the per capita availability of milk in the country. So, we looked at the Annual Report for 2021-22 released by the Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying, and found that the ‘Milk Production’ in the country is measured in ‘Million Tonnes’ and ‘Per Capital Availability’ is measured in ‘Grams/Day’.
The National Dairy Development Board also measures ‘Per capita Availability’ of Milk in ‘Grams/Day’
The same unit of measurement was also used in the Economic Survey of India, 2021-22.
Also, in a press release dated 01 June 2021, the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry, and Dairying used ‘Grams/Day’ to indicate the growth of ‘Per Capita Milk Availability’ in the country.
Further, we found that the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations uses ‘Kilogram/year’ while measuring Global Milk consumption.
To sum it up, it is evident that the ‘Per capita availability’ of milk in India is measured in ‘grams/day’, not litres or milli-litres.
