The man who ushered in white revolution and made India a force to reckon with in dairy products was born today. Dr. Verghese Kurien, the doyen of dairy cooperative movement was born on November 26, 1921 in Kozhikode, Kerala,
Amul as it is known today is his brain child. Organizing small farmers he conceived an idea which saw the emergence of world-class brand in Amul. Fittingly, Amul has released an advertisement on his birth day in which it has thanked Kurien for taking it so far and so high.
There is hardly a cooperative meeting taking place in nation’s capital Delhi when Amul and Kurien are not mentioned. On the eve of Iffco cooperative award held recently in Delhi, Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar has glowing words for it when she said that Amul is a living example of a successful cooperative model.
A strong votary of cooperatives he fought till end of his active life against governmental interference. His unflinching faith in cooperative model of growth also won him many adversaries and, according to some, he fell out with one of his protégés on the issue of cooperative vs corporation.
Now in nineties he shuffles his residency between Chennai and Anand.
Dr. Verghese Kurien returned from America in 1948 and joined the Dairy Department of the Government of India. In May 1949, he was posted as Dairy Engineer at the Government Research Creamery, a small milk-powder factory, in Anand, Gujarat. Around this time, the newly formed cooperative dairy, Kaira District Cooperative Milk Producers’ Union Limited ((KDCMPUL), was engaged in battle of survival with the privately owned Polson Dairy, which was a giant in its field. Enthused by the challenge, Dr. Verghese Kurien left his government job and volunteered to help Shri Tribhuvandas Patel, the Chairman of KDCMPUL, to set up a processing plant. This led to the birth of AMUL and the rest is history.
Today again India is faced with acute milk crisis as the growing population seems to have offset the benefits of operation flood. Even Amul had to convert its produce more towards white liquid by cutting down on dairy products such as cheese and butter.
Persons like Kurien are needed once again to usher in next white revolution. The man is truly magical!
Happy birth day to him from team of Indian Cooperative.com.
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