Verghese Kurien - The father of white revolution
Read the story 'Verghese Kurien - The father of white revolution'. Know more about Dr Padmavibhushan Verghese Kurien from Kerala, the story of dairy development in India or vice versa. It is the story of a highly qualified engineer doing the milk business. He brought the country from the scarce milk commodity, rickety cattle, and milk starving children to a white revolution or operation flood of milk. India is now exporting milk.
Dr Verghese Kurien's early life
Verghese Kurien is born to civil Surgeon in Cochin on the 26th of November, 1921 at Kozhikode (then Calicut), Kerala in Syrian Christian (Nazrani) family. He took graduation in physics from the Loyola College of Madras (now Chennai) and completed B E (Mech) from Madras University. After education in Madras Kurien joined Tata Steel Technical Institute, Jamshedpur and graduated from there in 1946. He got a scholarship from Government to study further. With the scholarship he went to Michigan University of U S A and obtained Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering. He got distinction and fully justified the scholarship of the Government with a condition that after completion of studies he should come back and join Government service.
Services of Dr Kurien
On May 13th of 1949 at the age of 28 Verghese Kurien though educated and trained in metallurgy and nuclear physics, was appointed in the Government creamery at Anand. This was a small Government factory for making milk powder started in1914. The Government wanted him to make milk powder from buffalo milk only in small quantities as the demand was not much. It was like wasting his talent, study, training and aspirations. His monthly salary was Rs 350/-. Since the young engineer has nothing much to do his hobby was to play cards. He was staying in a garage where food will be served by his valet. He used to go to the Hotel Taj Mahal in Bombay whenever he gets a chance and his salary allows. With this background his life appeared to be purposeless. But he made the creamery an enterprise full of success. Kurien with his team succeeded in processing the buffalo milk to make milk powder and condensed milk. Up to that time, throughout the world, milk powder and skimmed milk used to be prepared from cow milk only. There was a feeling and opinion that skimmed milk and powder can be made only from cow milk. Because of the feat of converting buffalo milk into powder and skimmed milk, the scheme succeeded as India is a country with fewer cows and more of buffalos. A part of the creamery factory premises was given on rent by the Government to the Kaira District Cooperative Milk Producers Union Limited (KDCMPUL) with the 46-year-old Tribhuvandas Patel as its Chairman.
Co-operative movement or magic of Manthan
During the independent movements, Gandhiji had a sathyagraha in 1918 at Kheda. This has spurred the peasants' movements in the area. Gandhiji's follower Sardar Patel had affinity to this place where his community people dominated. Kheda had lot of cattle and was supplying large quantity of milk and the arrangement was known as the Bombay Milk Scheme (BMS). Kheda is a town and headquarters of Kheda District which also known as Kaira district neat to Ahmadabad. The Kheda's Bombay Milk Scheme (BMS) arranged from a dairy by name Polson owned by Pestonjee Edulji since 1926. Polson had the monopoly milk procurement from Kheda for BMS. Since Anand is on the rail route between Ahmadabad and Bombay, it was ideal place to supply the milk to Bombay by rail.
Sardar Patel and Morarji Desai wanted to break the monopoly of Polson in Kheda. For that they picked up a sathyagrahi Thribhuvandas Patel to start a co-operative movement in Kheda District. In 1946 a meeting of the peasants was called in the Village of Chaklasi and after discussions adopted 2 resolutions one to stop milk supply to Polson and the other to form a co-operative society in each village and form an establishment of Association of these village co-operative units at Anand. As per the co-operative movement the procurement of milk was taken over by this establishment at Anand through the units. Since the procurement of milk is canalised the processing and marketing is also done by the Association. The establishment under Thribhuvandas Patel waged strike against Polson and stopped the supply of milk to it for 15 days. In 1946 itself Thribhuvandas had formed 5 village cooperatives under the Anand Kaira District Cooperative Milk Producers Union Limited (KDCMPUL). By this time Mr Verghese Kurien was also thoroughly disillusioned with his job and resigned from the Government job. Thribhuvandas persuaded Kurien to join the co-operative movement. The two together planned to establish a new dairy plant. Within the next 11 months they put up a most advanced dairy plant in the country at that time owned by the farmers. The management was jointly by Thribhuvandas as Chairman and Kurien as General Manager. The plant was dedicated to the nation by the Then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru on the 31st of October 1955. Kurien could persuade one of his fellow students at Michigan, USA Mr H M Dalaya who was a dairy technologist to join the exciting experiment. In 1957 the farmers registered the Amul Trade mark. This movement became a thumping success of a democratic process especially the co-operative movement. Thribhuvandas and Kurien were a perfect harmonious team and together they made a pioneering movement – a cooperative movement. While Thribhuvandas concentrated on the political, social and communal aspects, Kurien was a technocrat manager.
From the wasteful activity of the job at the creamery in Anand he reached the status of a colossus in milk processing and marketing cooperative movement. These cooperatives were autonomous, transparent and democratic movement which had a commitment to quality and honesty. Each member was being paid on the basis of the fat content of the milk brought by them. It brought a revolutionary change in the whole milk processing industry from the hybrid milk cattle, the artificial insemination, the animal health system and to the scientific manufacture of the animal feeds. It was the best in the country at that time and was the pioneer for other interested states. When Nehru came to Anand to inaugurate the AMUL factory he embraced Kurien for his outstanding achievements. He is the founder of the Gujarat co-operative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF). GCMMF is the apex co-operative establishment that manages the Amul brand. He is considered as the man and brain behind the success of the Amul brand. By 2006 – 07 Amul reached the scale of 1 billion USD. It is no mean achievement by any standard. He brought this organisation into the largest and most successful organisation or enterprise in India. To make this program extend to all other states also the then P M of India Lal Bahadur Sastry created the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) in 1965 and made Kurien as Chairman of NDDB citing Verghese Kurien's exemplary leadership in the field.
Padmavibhushan Dr Kurien was the father or the founder of the while revolution. All of us in India are familiar with the Palazhi (ocean of milk) Manthan (churning) story of mythology. From that Manthan we got the goddess of prosperity, the physician god, the kamadhenu (cow that gives plenty) and the nectar or elixir of life etc. Similarly the Manthan of the Amul cooperative movement brought out the milk revolution from the malnutrition of children due to non availability of milk to self sufficiency and surplus to export of milk and dairy products. The opposite points or the anti climax
During the last few years things started changing for the worst in every field of activities. So is the case in Amul movement. The GCMMF management started creating problem for Mr Kurien and he resigned his post in 2006. The new person who came in his place started finding fault in his work and there was open discussion about the movement. After the death of Mr Thribhuvandas Patel and the elimination of the effectiveness of the Congress party in Gujarat the co-operative movement had set back in that state. Of course the entire cooperative movement throughout the country came into disrepute due to the mismanagement and the misappropriations in several cooperative societies throughout the country. Therefore it was easy to create problem for the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation also especially he being an outsider to the state people when the whole country is in the grip of the parochial sentiments of language, region, religion, caste and communities etc. The values in life and society has changed from the joint family, co-operation, mutual understanding and consideration for others etc to that of selfishness, non consideration for others, denigrating the successful and creating hurdle for those who work etc. There was attempt to denigrate him and his success. However, the negative campaign will not be accepted fully by others as the whole world knows the success of Amul and Amul success means Thribhuvandas Patel and Verghese Kurien. It is quite possible that there might be some minor lapses but the same if any has to be considered against the achievements, benefits and the advantages. The White Revolution
Before the Amul dairy cooperative movement milk was scarce in urban areas but the rural areas the place where milk is produced the people could not have their daily necessities. Milk being a perishable item collection, transportation and distribution in urban areas was a problem. As in every case in milk distribution also there used to be middlemen, misinformation and lack of infrastructure. The Kaira Milk Co-operative movement showed the way to solve these problem superbly. This movement started in one district in Gujarat spread to the entire Gujarat state and then to the entire country. Today the country is self sufficient and even able to export milk and milk products to foreign countries. The credit of the success goes to the enlightening the peasants, use of quality equipments, professional management, professionalization of farmers in converting the cattle to hybrid verities which yield milk 5 -6 times more than the earlier one, the artificial insemination, best cattle feed etc. It was nothing short of empowerment of the masses for constructive social changes in rural areas the real India.
Amul competed with Nestle the international monopoly dairy product cartel. Verghese Kurien is the architect of the operation flood the gigantic dairy of the world owned by the farmers. With the help the most modern co-operative dairy development, Mr Kurien an engineer by qualification engineered a totally different Revolution - the white Revolution in India. 
Verghese Kurien is the Chairman of Viksit Bharath (developing India) Foundation an institution set up by the President of India. And he is also the Chairman of Institute of Rural Management, Anand (IRMA) Board of Governors in India. The Asoka Foundation mentioned him as an eminent present Day Social Entrepreneurs. It can be said that it is due to the credit of Mr Kurien that this is the only one instance where a co-operative movement is where a National body (NDDB) was created in the whole of the country. He had the vision to make India self sufficient in milk and milk products. In the beginning of the movement when the cooperative movement has not yet picked up, He made arrangements to develop the dairy cooperative movement from 1970 to 1996 through the sale of surpluses of Europe in milk powder and butter oil.
Awards and Honours for Verghese Kurien
2010 Doctor of Science (Honoris Causa) from Karunya University
2010 Doctor of Science (Honoris Causa) from Maharaja Sayajirao University, Baroda
2007 Karmaveer Puraskar from iCongo – Confederation of NGOs
2007 Godfrey Phillips National Bravery Award from Godfrey Phillips India Ltd
1999 Padma Vibhushan by Government of India
1989 World Food Prize from World Dairy Expo, USA
1986 Wateler Peace Prize Award from Carnegie Foundation, USA
1986 Krishi Ratna Award, from President of India
1966 Padma Bhushan from Government of India
1965 Padmashri from Government of India
1963 Ramon Magsaysay Award from Ramaon Magsaysay Award Foundation.
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