National Milk Day: Recalling Verghese Kurien’s role in pioneering the white revolution

Honoring Dr. Verghese Kurien, the visionary Father of the White Revolution, who transformed India into the largest beverage shaper successful the world. Let’s observe his bequest and the powerfulness of dairy successful nourishing the nation!#NationalMilkDay #WhiteRevolution #DrKurien #DairyPride pic.twitter.com/ZcitCxuTpB

— Dept of Animal Husbandry & Dairying, Min of FAH&D (@Dept_of_AHD) November 26, 2024

Who was Dr Verghese Kurien?

Born successful Kozhikode, Kerala connected November 26, 1921, Kurien obtained degrees successful physics successful 1940 and mechanical engineering successful 1943, intending to articulation the Indian Army arsenic an engineer.

However, helium past secured a assistance from the Government of India to prosecute dairy engineering and trained astatine the Imperial Institute of Animal Husbandry (now the National Dairy Research Institute) successful Bengaluru. He completed his master’s successful Mechanical Engineering with a insignificant successful dairy engineering from Michigan State University successful 1948.

In May 1949, Kurien began his government-mandated duty astatine an experimental authorities creamery successful Anand, Gujarat, hoping to permission aft his enslaved play ended. While there, helium developed a relationship with Tribhuvandas Patel, past the Chairman of the Kaira District Cooperative Milk Producers Union. From 1945-46, Patel led the effort for dairy farmers successful the portion to unionise and combat the exploitation by Polson, a dairy institution that monopolised beverage collection.

At Patel’s insistence, Kurien took complaint arsenic an technologist to look aft the cooperative’s machines. With time, helium took an progressive involvement successful the regular operations of the national and the farmers, yet becoming its wide manager.

Under Kurien’s leadership, the cooperative expanded its capableness and acquired instrumentality to process and store dairy products. Thus, it was capable to grow its beverage proviso to antecedently underserved areas of the country, which relied connected imported beverage powder. More importantly, the corporate established a nonstop nexus betwixt the producers and consumers.

The cooperative would beryllium renamed the Anand Milk Union Limited oregon Amul, and began selling its products nether the Amul brand. This exemplary of dairy beverage cooperatives proved to beryllium wildly palmy and others soon followed suit. Kurien and Patel, on with Dara Khurody – who had established the Aarey Milk Colony successful Bombay, which provided pasteurising and organisation facilities for the beverage from Anand – were awarded the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership successful 1963.

From Amul to Operation Flood

Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri’s 1964 sojourn to Anand to inaugurate Amul’s cattle provender works acceptable the shot rolling with his endorsement of the Amul model. A twelvemonth later, Kurien became the inaugural seat of the National Dairy Development Board based successful Anand.

As NDDB head, Kurien oversaw the motorboat of Operation Flood successful January 1970. The programme aimed astatine expanding beverage production, portion minimising terms fluctuations and empowering dairy farmers by expanding the cooperative movement. The programme achieved this successful 3 phases and saw India’s beverage accumulation astir triple, from astir 21.2 cardinal tonnes successful 1968–69 to much than 55.6 cardinal tonnes successful 1991–92.

Kurien besides oversaw the constitution of the Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation Limited successful 1973, which owns the Amul brand, and founded the Institute of Rural Management Anand (IRMA) successful 1979.