A Tribute To The Man Who Revolutionized The Milk Industry In India, But Never Received Bharat Ratna
Late Dr. Verghese Kurien the man who came to Anand almost 60 years ago after completing his graduation in the US, had decided to leave soon in search of better opportunities. But something made him stay back forever – the “billion-litre” idea – to transform the life of millions of milk producers in the country — and he stayed on to become the “Milkman of India”, the Father of the White Revolution.
Kurien was only 28 when he came to Anand in Gujarat in 1949, and was soon working relentlessly to help a budding co-operative grow. For him the dairy farmers were the rightful owners of the milk business. By 1955, the co-operative owned Asia’s largest dairy and was producing more than 20,000 litres of milk a day. This is when AMUL, Asia’s top milk-distributing brand today, was born. Soon Anand had been transformed from a small village in the country to the Milk Capital of India.
Kurien replicated the Anand model throughout India as Operation Flood, making India the world’s largest producer of milk. Not only did Gujarat’s farmers benefit immensely from Kurien’s work, the other milk producing states such as Bihar, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh also started flourishing under Kurien’s guidance. Today over 10 million farmers across the country at 200 dairies produce over 20 million litres of milk a day. It was due to success of the Operation Flood model that India achieved the laurel of becoming the largest milk producing nation globally.
Kurien was an excellent marketing person. He marketed the “Anand Success Story” as a management model for rural institutional development. He set up a milk intervention programme, a national milk grid, under the Operation Flood programme. Through the milk grid he ensured that surpluses from higher milk produce areas reached deficit areas. He not only established around 30 institutions of excellence including AMUL, GCMMF, IRMA, NDDB but also created several grassroots institutions especially to provide skill-oriented training and encourage socio-economic development of the rural masses.
Winner of Padma Vibhushan (India’s second-highest civilian honour), the World Food Prize and the Magsaysay Award for community leadership, Dr. Kurien played an instrumental role in the marketing of award-winning director Shyam Benegal’s greatest work ‘Manthan’ featuring Kurien himself on the silver screen for his path-breaking initiatives in the milk co-operative movement.
Hardly would one find a young graduate with a lucrative career ahead settling to improve the lives of the poor, but Dr. Kurien was an extraordinary man who cherished a dream for the dairy industry of India.
Late Dr. Verghese Kurien the man who came to Anand almost 60 years ago after completing his graduation in the US, had decided to leave soon in search of better opportunities. But something made him stay back forever – the “billion-litre” idea – to transform the life of millions of milk producers in the country — and he stayed on to become the “Milkman of India”, the Father of the White Revolution.
Kurien was only 28 when he came to Anand in Gujarat in 1949, and was soon working relentlessly to help a budding co-operative grow. For him the dairy farmers were the rightful owners of the milk business. By 1955, the co-operative owned Asia’s largest dairy and was producing more than 20,000 litres of milk a day. This is when AMUL, Asia’s top milk-distributing brand today, was born. Soon Anand had been transformed from a small village in the country to the Milk Capital of India.
Kurien replicated the Anand model throughout India as Operation Flood, making India the world’s largest producer of milk. Not only did Gujarat’s farmers benefit immensely from Kurien’s work, the other milk producing states such as Bihar, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh also started flourishing under Kurien’s guidance. Today over 10 million farmers across the country at 200 dairies produce over 20 million litres of milk a day. It was due to success of the Operation Flood model that India achieved the laurel of becoming the largest milk producing nation globally.
Kurien was an excellent marketing person. He marketed the “Anand Success Story” as a management model for rural institutional development. He set up a milk intervention programme, a national milk grid, under the Operation Flood programme. Through the milk grid he ensured that surpluses from higher milk produce areas reached deficit areas. He not only established around 30 institutions of excellence including AMUL, GCMMF, IRMA, NDDB but also created several grassroots institutions especially to provide skill-oriented training and encourage socio-economic development of the rural masses.
Winner of Padma Vibhushan (India’s second-highest civilian honour), the World Food Prize and the Magsaysay Award for community leadership, Dr. Kurien played an instrumental role in the marketing of award-winning director Shyam Benegal’s greatest work ‘Manthan’ featuring Kurien himself on the silver screen for his path-breaking initiatives in the milk co-operative movement.
Hardly would one find a young graduate with a lucrative career ahead settling to improve the lives of the poor, but Dr. Kurien was an extraordinary man who cherished a dream for the dairy industry of India.
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