Wish you Many Happy Returns of the Day, Dr.Verghese Kurien! We need many more like you in this country of plenty where the plenitude is hardly channelised and exploited for the welfare of the country.
Dr.Verghese Kurien, dear readers, is the famous force behind “Operation Flood” and the engineer of the as famous White Revolution in India.
Dr. Kurien was born in Kozhikode, Kerala, on 26th November 1921.
Dr. Verghese Kurien
In 1940, he obtained his B.Sc.degree in Physics from the famous Loyola College, Madras. He completed his B.E. in Mechanical Engineering in the University of Madras. Thereafter, he joined the Tata Steel Technical Institute, Jamshedpur. Afterwards, he obtained his masters degree in Mechanical Engineering from Michigan State University (U.S.).
On the advice of Sardar Vallab Bhai Patel, the Kaira District Co-operative Milk Producers Union was established in Anand, Kaira District, Gujarat, on 14th December 1946 by the milk producers of Kaira District (led by Tribhuvan Das Patel) who were aggrieved by the lack of a proper market and a fair return for the milk produced by them. The cooperative society was further developed by Dr Kurien. The Kaira District Co-operative Milk Producers Union created and registered the soon-to-be-famous Amul brand name in 1956.
Thus were the seeds of the phenomenal success story of oppressed, exploited milk producers sown.
The success of the Kaira Cooperative inspired others in Mehsana, Banaskantha, Baroda, Sabarkantha and Surat; similar developments took place in those areas as well. To avoid unhealthy competition which could prove detrimental to them all, the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation was established in 1973 as a central marketing organisation for all the smaller cooperative milk societies in Gujarat.
The Kaira District Co-operative Milk Producers’ Union Ltd. transferred the brand name ‘Amul’ to the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation. GCMF is now the country’s largest marketer of milk and milk derivatives like Skimmed Milk Powder, Cheese, Butter, Ghee, Icecreams, etc under the brand name ‘Amul’.
It is perhaps pertinent to note that Dr.Kurien, the Kaira District Co-operative Milk Producers Union, or the GCMF did not need Foreign Direct Investment for the fabulous success that they had engineered.
Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri, then Prime Minister of India, visited Anand in 1964. He sought the services of Dr.Kurien to establish similar cooperatives all over the country. He created the National Dairy Development Board and made Dr.Kurien its Chairman. The famous “Operation Flood” was thus launched to harness the production and marketing of milk all over the country and ensure that the milk producers were not an exploited lot.
Dr. Kurien is the recipient of several prestigious awards for his yeoman services to the milk cooperatives – and, we might add, to the cooperative movement itself because the success of the milk cooperative movement in Gujarat is unparalleled in the history of cooperative movement in India.
He received the Ramson Magsaysay Award in 1963; he was awarded Padma Sri in 1963 and Padma Bhushan in 1966 by the President of India. In 1986, he was honoured with the Krishi Ratna Award and the Wateler Peace prize. In 1989, he received the World Food Prize from the World Dairy Expo of USA. In 1999, Dr.Kurien was awarded Padma Vibhushan by the President of India. In 2007, he was honoured with the Godfrey Phillips National Bravery Award and with the Karmaveer Puraskar from iCONGO. Dr.Kurien was awarded honorary doctorates by Maharaja Sayajirao University, Baroda, and by the Karunya Univesity, Coimbatore, in 2010.
It rankles in my heart, though, that Dr.Kurien has not been awarded the Bharat Ratna – an honour he very eminently deserves.
Perhaps the most outstanding honour he has received is the love, affection, and admiration showered upon him by the milk producers of Gujarat and elsewhere.
Dr.Kurien is the author of a book titled “I too had a Dream” (ISBN: 8174364072 and ISBN-13: 9788174364074, 978-8174364074) a very inspiring book which anyone pursuing a dream would do well to read; and if one has no dreams to pursue, the book may as well act as a stimulus to pursue one. Such is the inspiring life that Dr.Kurien has always led.
We once again wish Dr.Kurien a very long and healthy life ahead. This country needs him now more than ever.
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