Rajiv Gandhi's cheese makers fall on hard times

When the late PM Rajiv Gandhi and his wife Sonia toured Kalimpong in Darjeeling district in 1975, they bought a block of cheese from Larks' Provision, which sold products produced by the Swiss Welfare Dairy (SWD). The dairy was a non-profit centre set up in 1945. ''Rajiv Gandhi liked the cheese so much that he ordered 30 kg,'' says Pran Nath Sood, proprietor of Larks' Provision.
For decades, the dairy was known for its delectable offerings. It became so famous, that this 'boutique' dairy's delicacies were dispatched on demand to embassies in New Delhi, shops in Puducherry, Kolkata, Mumbai, Bangalore and even Nepal.
Today, though SWD is no longer around, its legacy lives on - just about - in people like Soma Tamang, 65, who makes Kalimpong's famous milk-candy. Boutique dairies, incidentally, are a niche industry whose products are a tad more expensive and of superior quality than everyday products. For example, Larks' Provision exclusively sells 'Cheddar' cheese, which is harder than normal cheese. It originated in Cheddar in Somerset, UK. Sood says milk and a processing powder called rennit is used, which is made in Holland and Switzerland.
Tamang has been rolling lollypops, brown-sugary treats on small sticks and selling them for 30 years. But competition and lack of modern technology is eating into the business. This, despite a 25-stick packet costing just Rs 25.
Obviously, the profit margins are small. Tamang earns between Rs 1,000 to Rs 1,500 a week selling lollypops and cottage cheese. But it's a losing battle. ''The price of raw materials like milk and sugar has increased. I was even asked to pay a tax of Rs 5,000; we don't own a factory,'' she says. Lack of proper marketing, packaging and lollypops' exceedingly short shelf-life has turned it into a struggling 'boutique' business.
Tamang is one among more than 50 families in and around Kalimpong, which make and sell lollypops and cottage cheese. It was a skill handed down by Father Andreas Butty, a Swiss priest, who started an orphanage in Pedong near Kalimpong in 1938, later setting up the dairy to provide jobs for locals. The dairy shifted to Kalimpong in 1947.
In the true spirit of a non-profit dairy, it employed nearly 60 people even though only 30 were needed, says Peter Rai, ex- dairy manager. Fr Butty also bought two acres of land. He left India in 1986. Rai took over the farm, renaming it Celina Dairy after his wife. But personal reasons and the 1986 Gorkhaland agitation closed it. ''It's due to Fr Butty selfless service that today, nearly 50 families are able to earn their livelihood,'' says Rai. But that's now threatened.
Darjeeling district magistrate Surendra Gupta says, ''A survey has been conducted about the needs of these people and we're trying to fit them into various schemes.'' But it is not clear how, if ever, the authorities plan to implement their slated good intentions. No project has been set up so far for these people.
Gupta says he has proposed to the director of West Bengal Cottage Industry, H Mohan, that the local products receive a Geographical Indication certificate. But all of that is yet to happen.