T he XXXVI Dairy Industry Conference (DIC) was held between February 19-21, 2008 at Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi. Varanasi also known as Banaras and Kashi is the most visited pilgrimage destination in all of India. One of the seven holy cities, one of the twelve Jyotir Linga sites and also a Shakthi Peeth site, it is the most favoured place for Hindus.

Varanasi is one of the holiest places in Budhism too, being one of the sacred pilgrimage site said to have designated by Gautam Buddha himself. In the neighborhood of Varanasi, lies Sarnath where Gautam Buddha is said to have given his first Sermon about the basic principles of Budhism.

Banaras Hindu University is an internationally reputed temple of learning. It was founded by the great Nationalist leader Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya in 1916 with cooperation of great personality like Dr. Annie Besant.

The XXXVI DIC was inaugurated with grandeur and style befitting to the greatest dairy event of this sub continent. Over 900 delegates attended the Conference. The Conference was inaugurated by Shri Subodh Kant Sahay, Hon'ble Minister of State for Food Processing, Govt. of India. The Hon'ble Minister urged that the next revolution in dairying should give adequate priority to under developed areas and should take advantage of processing and value addition. He also said that his ministry would be keen to provide necessary support for development of dairy infrastructure, training and capacity building. He advised greater attention to be provided to entire Poorvanchal covering Jharkhand, Bihar, Orissa and Chhatisgarh in the Second Revolution.

Dr. Pradeep Kumar, Secretary, Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries appraised the delegates about the progress achieved by the dairy sector and the impediments that need to be overcome to achieve another revolution in dairying. He said that the fact that the gross domestic product from milk is greater than the combined outputs of wheat and sugarcane is hardly known and appreciated by the policy makers and the crop sector receives unusually higher importance in matter of allocation of national resources.

The highlight of the inaugural session was the Keynote Address of Dr. (Miss) Amrita Patel, Chairman, National Dairy Development Board (NDDB). She informed that NDDB has prepared a National Dairy Plan and its successful implementation would usher another revolution in Indian Dairying. It aims to raise productivity through better breeding and nutrition, augmenting infrastructure for procurement, processing and marketing and increasing the share of the marketable surplus of the organised sector, in both cooperative and private segments. The plan aims to strengthen existing institutional structure including dairy cooperative and producer companies at the grassroot level.

Dr. Panjab Singh, Vice Chancellor, BHU, highlighted the contribution of dairying in terms of income, employment generation and food and nutrition security. He also stressed the importance of increasing productivity for animals to become more competitive in changing world order under WTO.

The other Hallmark of inaugural session was conferring the fellowship to four distinguished scientists and dairy professionals. Mr. Deepak Tikku, Managing Director, NDDB was bestowed fellowship for his outstanding contribution to planning and execution of dairy programme in the country. Dr. B.N. Mathur, former Director, National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI), Karnal, Dr. V.D. Mudgal, former Director, Central Institute for Research on Buffaloes, and Dr. S.P. Agrawala, Head, Dairy Engineering Division, NDRI, Karnal were bestowed fellowship for their contribution in dairy research and education. Beside these, Venus Medal was presented to the Meritorious students and Best Paper Awards, Best Exhibition Award and Best Poster Award were distributed.

On behalf of the Association, I extend heartiest congratulations to all the recipients of different awards and wish them greater success in life!

During XXXVI DIC, there were twelve Technical Sessions, other than Inaugural and Plenary Sessions. In addition, there were four Industry Sponsored Sessions. Forty-eight eminent speakers gave presentation on the different topics, underlining the theme of the Conference. In the poster Session, 110 abstracts from different research papers were displayed. Thirty-eight stalls were put up for exhibiting dairy plants and machineries, product and services. All these exposed the delegates to enhance their knowledge pool!

The Plenary Session this time, was kept exclusively for deliberation on the outcome of different sessions. The outcomes were put together and presented in the form of “Varanasi Declaration” to provide a roadmap for “Another Revolution”. It was, indeed, an honour to have amongst us the revered Prof. Y.K. Alagh, Chairman, Institute of Rural Management, Anand. Prof. Alagh very kindly presided the Plenary Session and enriched us by sharing his varied experience in planning and development of agriculture, including dairy development.

The XXXVI DIC was participated by foreign delegates from a large number of countries, including, Mongolia, Nepal, Germany, USA, Australia, Denmark, New Zealand and Singapore.

The 56th Annual General Body Meeting of the IDA was held on the last day of the Conference, which approved unanimously the Annual Reports as well as Accounts of the Association.

The other Hallmark of the DIC was the exciting cultural evening befitting the ‘Banaras Gharana’. The delegates also enjoyed visit to Ganga Ghat—the historic ghat housing the hindu wisdom and an opportunity for roving in the ganges. There are more than 100 ghats along side Ganga in Varanasi. The delegates were also taken to “Kashi Vishwanath Temple”. Dedicated to Lord Shiva, the temple has earned the name of Golden Temple due to the gold plating done using one ton of gold donated by Maharaja Ranjit Singh on its 15.5-m high spire.

The successful implementation of XXXVI DIC once again proved the fact that to achieve the hard work, dedication, an unremitting devotion of a committed group and its leadership are essential. It gives me immense pleasure in acknowledging the contributions made by those who were directly or indirectly involved in organising the Conference.

My special thanks goes to the Chairmen, Co-Chairmen, Rapporteur, and speakers of the various sessions and all the delegates from abroad and different parts of the country, specially milk producers, in particular, women farmers!

We are grateful to the national and local media for their overwhelming support in covering various events of the XXXVI DIC!

I would be failing in my duty if I do not extend my special thanks to Dr. Panjab Singh, Hon'ble Vice Chancellor, BHU; Dr. S.R. Singh, Director, Institute of Agricultural Sciences, BHU; Dr. R.P. Singh, Dean, Institute of Agricultural Sciences, BHU; Dr. Sushil Kumar, Chairman, IDA (NZ); Dr. Alok Jha, Secretary General, Organising Committee, XXXVI DIC and all the faculty members of the Institute of Agricultural Sciences, BHU for their untiring support!