Steps and Strides (05.00 Mins.)
Channel: Indian Diplomacy
Date: 2011-05-30

Vadodara is well known as the centre of the dairy industry in India, run entirely by cooperatives of the surrounding villages. The film provides glimpses of some such dairy cooperatives, but with a difference. The 120 member dairy cooperative in Sakariapura village has no male members. It is headed by Lalita Behn who was once an illiterate woman. Today she not only supervises the daily milk collection, she monitors the fat content of each milk sample and maintains the daily accounts. After women took over the dairy business from the men, the Sakariapura cooperative has an annual return of over Rs. 800,000. Their unprecedented success inspired many such women's cooperatives in the area.