Ahmedabad, Dec. 7 -- Union home minister and minister of cooperation Amit Shah on Saturday said the Centre will use the cooperative model pioneered in Banaskantha to build a national circular dairy economy that will raise farmers' incomes by at least 20% in next five years. He was speaking in Vav-Tharad in Gujarat after inaugurating Banas Dairy's new Bio-CNG and fertiliser plant and laying the foundation stone for a 150-tonne milk powder facility. Shah said the tradition started by Galbabhai Nanjibhai Patel, who founded Banas Dairy in Banaskantha, had grown into a Rs.24,000-crore enterprise built by women and farmers of the district. "Our cooperative dairies have achieved tremendous success in procuring milk from farmers and returning the income generated through milk product sales. Now is the time to embrace the circular economy model. Farmers will receive their share of the income generated by the dairy through the sale of biogas and fertilizer produced from cattle dung procured from them," Shah told the gathering today. "The entire endeavour of milk collection has been accomplished through the dedicated efforts of the sisters, daughters, and mothers of Banaskantha. These women have set forth the most powerful living example before all the NGOs across the world that advocate for women's empowerment," Shah said....