Faulty Lactometers

World Food Programme, World Bank and Jha Committee Evaluations of Operation Flood Shanti George In this second of two papers that critically analyse a number of evaluations of the Operation Flood dairy development programme, we move on from village-level evaluations to those conducted by international agencies that sponsor the programme and by the national committee appointed by the Government of India. The three evaluations discussed here have similar defects of sketchy coverage, contradictory and misleading data, and questionable conclusions. However, the three evaluations also differ significantly as a result of the various interests that impinge upon them as well as those interests that they represent IN the first of these two papers, we noted that the lactometer and other instruments that evaluate and monitor the quality of milk are essential not only at the basic level of the village producer and the co-operative society that (s)he supplies, but also at wider levels: the local chilling plant, the district cooperative dairy, the state milk marketing federation, the bulk vending units, the plastic sachets of milk that travel to urban households... Similarly, it is not sufficient for us only to examine village level evaluation and monitoring of dairy development programmes like Operation Flood. Evaluations at wider levels are available and are often quoted to discount criticisms of Operation Flood: we must therefore critically examine these larger lactometers to ascertain how reliable and valid their readings are.