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Verghese Kurien

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This article is about the Father of White Revolution in India (dairy).

Verghese Kurien (born November 26, 1921 at Kozhikode, Kerala) is called the father of the White Revolution in India. He is also known as the Milkman of India.

He was the chairman of the Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd.(GCMMF). GCMMF is an apex cooperative organization that manages the Amul food brand. He is recognised as the man behind the success of the Amul brand. Amul had a revenue of $1b USD in 2006-07. In addition to Kurien, people like Shri Dalaya, VH Shah, Madhukar Shah, Dr.AR Seth, Dr.Shabnis and Shri Tribhuvandas Patel have also played a significant role in the progress and development of Amul.

He is credited with being the architect of Operation Flood -- the largest dairy development program in the world. Kurien helped modernise Anand model of cooperative dairy development and thus engineered the White Revolution in India, and made India the largest milk producer in the world. Milk co-operatives were already extant when Kurien came to Anand and were managed by Tribhuvandas Patel. His uncle, John Mathai, was an economist who served as India's first Railway Minister and subsequently as India's Finance Minister.

Education

Kurien graduated in Physics from Loyola College, Madras in 1940 and then did B.E. (Mech) from the University of Madras. After completing his degree, he joined the Tata Steel Technical Institute, Jamshedpur from where he graduated in 1946. He then went to USA on a government scholarship to earn his Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering (with distinction) from Michigan State University.

Career

When he came back to India, he was posted as a dairy engineer at the government creamery, Anand, in May 1949. Around the same time, the infant cooperative dairy, Kaira District Co-operative Milk Producers' Union (KDCMPUL), now famous as Amul -- was fighting a battle with the Polson Dairy, which was privately owned. Young Kurien, fed up with being at the government creamery, which held no challenge, volunteered to help Shri Tribhuvandas Patel, the Chairman of KDCMPUL, to set up a processing plant. This marked the birth of AMUL.

Personal life

Dr. Kurien belonged to Syrian Christian community of India. He married his neighbor's daughter Molly. Molly was a gracious host and Dr Kurien's house used to serve as a guest house in Anand for the visiting dignitaries[citation needed]. He has one daughter Nirmala Kurien and a grandson, Siddharth.

The White Revolution

Kurien has since then built this organization into one of the largest and most successful institutions in India. The Amul pattern of cooperatives had been so successful, in 1965, then Prime Minister of India, Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri, created the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) (NDDB) to replicate the program on a nationwide basis citing Kurien's "extraordinary and dynamic leadership" upon naming him chairman.

Kurien also set up GCMMF (Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation) in 1973 to sell the products produced by the dairies. Today GCMMF sells AMUL brand products not only in India but also overseas. He quit the post of GCMMF Chairman in 2006 following disagreements with GCMMF management.[1]

Kurien, plays a key role in many other organizations, ranging from chairing the Viksit Bharat Foundation, a body set up by the President of India to chairman of the Institute of Rural Management, Anand's Board of Governors in India. Dr. Kurien was mentioned by the Ashoka foundation (www.ashoka.ca) as one of the eminent present Day Social Entrepreneurs.

Kurien's life story is chronicled in his memoirs 'I too had a dream'.[2]

Dr. Kurien and his team were pioneers in inventing the process of making milk powder and condensed milk from buffalo's milk instead of cow's milk. This was the reason Amul became so successful and competed well against Nestle who only used cow milk to make powder and condensed milk. In India buffalo milk was the main raw material unlike Europe where cow milk is abundant.

India's first Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru visited Anand to inaugrate AMUL "factory" and he embraced Dr. Kurien for his groundbreaking work.

Awards

For his contribution to the dairy industry, Kurien has received top awards not only in India but also overseas.

See also

References

  1. ^ "Kurien quits as GCMMF chairman". 20 March 2006.
  2. ^ "I too had a dream - on Amazon.com".
  3. ^ Ramon Magsaysay Award Citation Ramon Magsaysay Award Official website.
Resignations
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