Verghese Kurien (26 November 1921 – 9 September 2012) was an Indiandairy engineer andsocial entrepreneur. He led initiatives that contributed to the extensive increase in milk production in India termed as theWhite Revolution.
Kurien graduated inphysics from theUniversity of Madras in 1940 and received his masters inmechanical engineering from theMichigan State University in 1947. In 1949, Kurien was sent by theGovernment of India to run its experimental creamery atAnand, where he set up the Kaira District Cooperative Milk Producers' Union in 1950 which later becameAmul. Amul organised the dairy farmers in the villages as a part ofcooperatives and linked them to the milk consumers directly, eliminating the need for middlemen.
In 1965, Kurien was appointed as the head of the newly formedNational Dairy Development Board (NDDB), which helped to set up similar cooperatives across India and madedairy farming one of the largest self-sustaining industries and employment generators in rural areas. The dairy cooperatives were successful in increasing the milk production as the dairy farmers controlled the procurement, processing, and marketing as the owners of the cooperative. This led to a multi-fold increase in milk output over the next few decades and helped India become the world's largest milk producer in 1998. The co-operative model was later applied to other agricultural industries in India such as the production ofedible oils and replicated in other countries.
In 1949, Kurien was sent by the government of India to its experimentalcreamery atAnand inBombay province (currently inGujarat).[2][8] He spent the evenings helpingTribhuvandas Patel with fixing the dairy equipment used for processing the milk procured from the local farmers.[14][15] Earlier in 1946, Patel had set up acooperative atKaira. It was formed as a response to the exploitation of small dairy farmers by traders and agents, who set arbitrary milk prices on behalf ofPolson, which had an near-total monopoly in milk collection from Kaira.[16] Kurien wanted to quit the government job and leave Anand but was persuaded by Patel to stay with him to help with his dairy cooperative.[17][18]
Kurien developed the Kaira District Cooperative Milk Producers' Union Limited (KDCMPUL) further which later becameAmul.[19] Milk collection was decentralised and was directly procured from the farmers at villages as a part of the cooperatives.[2][20][21] Kurien and Tribhuvandas Patel were supported bySardar Vallabhbhai Patel andMorarji Desai to help organise the dairy farmers.[22] Kurien worked on the belief that economic self-interest of all sections of the village-society would make them align together to grow their cooperative and remove caste or class conflicts.[23] The cooperative dairying venture was expanded to the nearby districts and was involved in the training of dairy students.[24][25][26] By 1952, the daily milk procurement reached 20,000 litres from a mere 200 litres per day in 1948.[27]
In 1956, Kurien visitedNestle in Switzerland at their invitation but with special instructions from thecommerce and industries minister. Nestle was importingmilk powder,sugar and other materials required to producecondensed milk in India. Kurien asked Nestle to reduce the imports to India, to try manufacturing condensed milk withbuffalo milk procured locally and to engage more Indians in the production process. He was met with a refusal stating that the natives would not be able to handle the technology involved in the condensed milk production.[28][29] On returning, he increased the production of condensed milk at Amul, the import of which was banned by Government of India two years later.[30]H. M. Dalaya, who studied dairy engineering with Kurien at the US, was persuaded by Kurien to work with him at Anand.[31][32] He helped develop an indigenous process of makingskimmed milk powder and condensed milk from buffalo milk, which had a higher proportion of milk solids and increased its economic value.[33] In India, buffalo milk was plentiful while cow milk was in short supply.[34] With the production of condensed milk and baby food from Buffalo milk, Amul competed successfully against Nestle andGlaxo.[35][36]
The thenCommerce ministerT T Krishnamachari also cut imports ofbutter in steps with Kurien promising and delivering an incremental increase of his production to substitute imported butter, especially fromNew Zealand.[37] During theSino-Indian War in 1962, production had to be diverted to theIndian armed forces which allowed Polson to gain market share. Kurien lobbied with the government to freeze Polson's production lines, as part of thewar effort.[38][27] Later research by G. H. Wilster led to cheese production from buffalo milk at Amul.[39][40]
When then Prime MinisterLal Bahadur Shastri visited Anand to inaugurate Amul's cattle feed factory in October 1964, he interacted with the dairy farmers about their cooperative. In 1965, Shastri tasked Kurien to replicate the dairy's Anand scheme nationwide, for which theNational Dairy Development Board (NDDB) was founded.[41][27] It was established as a society based at Anand and was led by Kurien.[42][43]
Kurien negotiated withFAO andUNICEF of theUnited Nations, and theWorld Bank for aid to develop the cooperatives as a part of "Operation Flood".[44][45] In the first phase between 1970 and 1979, he focused on choosing the 18 best milk sheds across the country, setting up dairy cooperatives and linking them with nearby major cities, to capture the market there.[45] The Anand model was replicated across Gujarat and Kurien brought all of them under the Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF) to sell their products under a singleAmul brand on the 25th anniversary of establishment.[46] In the second phase between 1979 and 1985, the plan was extended to cover more than 290 towns.[45] In 1979, he established theInstitute of Rural Management at Anand for training the managers involved in the milk cooperatives.[47] By 1985, there were about 4.25 million milk producers attached to 43,000 village cooperatives and milk powder production scaled up more than six times.[45]
In the last phase of the Operation Flood between 1985 and 1996, Kurien focused on making the cooperatives independent and self-sustaining. It involved scaling up infrastructure to increase procurement and production, establishment dairy processing facilities, focus on marketing and training management professionals.[45] In the 1990s, he lobbied and fought hard to keep multinational companies from entering the dairy business even as the country opened up due toliberalisation in 1991.[48] India became the world's largest milk producer by 1998, surpassing the United States and contributed to about 17 percent of global output in 2010–11.[49]
In 1998, he persuaded then Prime MinisterAtal Bihari Vajpayee to appointAmrita Patel as his successor at NDDB, whom he had groomed under him to protect NDDB's independence from the government.[50] Later, he had differences with her on the policies of Amul. While she was focused on production and yield targets with certain functions such as marketing handed over to private, Kurien felt that the arrangement would weaken the cooperative institutions of the country.[51] He resigned from the position of chairman of GCMMF in 2006 after limited support from the governing board.[52][53]
Kurien replicated the cooperative model in other agricultural industries like the production of fruits and vegetables, oil seeds and edible oil.[54][55][56] In 1979, he started the Oilseeds Growers’ Cooperative Project (OGCP) under "Operation Golden Flow". In the 1980s, more than 500,000 farmers were part of the cooperatives and "Dhara", a brand of edible oil launched by NDDB in 1988, became the country's top selling brand. In the 1990s, the project began to lose steam as the government allowed the import of edible oil from other countries after theeconomic liberalisation of India.[57][58]
In 1979, thePremier of Soviet UnionAlexei Kosygin visited Anand and invited Kurien to theSoviet Union.[59] In 1982, Kurien visited Pakistan as a part of a World Bank mission following the request of theGovernment of Pakistan for aid in setting up dairy cooperatives.[60] Kurien’s work registered interest from other countries like Sri Lanka and Philippines, who wanted him to replicate the cooperative model in their countries.[60][61] China planned a similar programme based on Kurien’s initiatives.[62][63] He also served as the chairman ofTribhuvandas Foundation, anon-governmental organization which worked on woman and child health in Kheda district in Gujarat.[64]
Kurien died from an illness at the age of 90 on 9 September 2012 atNadiad near Anand.[65][66][67] With his wife Molly, he had a daughter named Nirmala.[9] Kurien, who was brought up as aChristian became anatheist later.[68][69]
For his contributions in increasing the dairy output, Kurien is known as the "Father of the White Revolution" in India.[70][71] Kurien's birthday, 26 November is celebrated as the "National Milk Day" in India.[72][73]
Kurien was bestowed with an honorary degree by the Michigan State University in 1965.[81] During theWorld Dairy Expo in 1993, he was recognized as the International Person of the Year.[82] Kurien was also awarded the Godfrey Phillips Bravery Award for social bravery.[83]
Kurien either headed or was on the boards of several public institutions and received honorary doctorate degrees from universities worldwide.[84][2] The cooperative model pioneered by Kurien is studied in academia with lectures on the same.[85][86]
FilmmakerShyam Benegal wanted to makeManthan, a film story based on Amul but had no financial backing. The movie was later made from financial contribution from member-farmers of co-operatives, who contributed two rupees each and was released in 1976.[87] A veterinarian, a milk technician, and a fodder specialist toured the country along with the screening of the film to persuade farmers to form cooperatives of their own withUnited Nations using the movie to encourage similar cooperatives inLatin America andAfrica.[88][89]
^White revolution(PDF) (Report). Industrial Economist. 18 December 2021.Archived(PDF) from the original on 7 July 2024. Retrieved1 June 2024.
^Kurien, Verghese (2007)."India' s Milk Revolution: Investing in Rural Producer Organizations". In Narayan, Deepa; Glinskaya, Elena (eds.).Ending Poverty in South Asia: Ideas that work. Washington D.C., USA:The World Bank. p. 47.ISBN978-0-82136-876-3.Archived from the original on 9 March 2023. Retrieved13 January 2021.If there was one technological breakthrough that revolutionized India's organized dairy industry, it was the making of skim milk powder out of buffalo milk. The man who made this possible and who had the foresight to defy the prevailing technical wisdom was H. M. Dalaya.
^"Milkman's exit".Frontline. 7 April 2006. Archived from the original on 27 June 2024. Retrieved1 June 2024.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
Kotler, Neil G. (1990).Sharing Innovation: Global Perspectives on Food, Agriculture, and Rural Development. International Rice Research Institute.ISBN978-9-71104-221-9.
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