Verghese Kurien
Kurien in 2009
Born(1921-11-26)26 November 1921
Calicut, Madras Presidency, British India (now Kozhikode, Kerala, India)
Died9 September 2012(2012-09-09) (aged 90)
Nadiad, Gujarat, India
NationalityIndian
Alma mater
Occupation(s)dairy engineer
social entrepeneur
EmployerAmul
Organisations
Known forWhite Revolution in India
AwardsRamon Magsaysay Award (1964)
Padma Shri (1965)
Padma Bhushan (1966)
World Food Prize (1989)
Order of Agricultural Merit (1997)
Padma Vibhushan (1999)
Websitewww.drkurien.com

Verghese Kurien (26 November 1921 – 9 September 2012) was an Indian dairy engineer and social entrepreneur who led initiatives that contributed to the extensive increase in milk production termed the White Revolution.

Kurian graduated in physics from University of Madras in 1940 and received his masters in mechanical engineering from University of Michigan in 1947. In 1949, Kurien was sent by the Government of India to its run a experimental creamery at Anand where he set up the Kaira District Cooperative Milk Producers' Union Limited in 1950 which later became Amul. Amul organised dairy farmers in the villages as a part of a cooperative and linked them to consumers directly. The dairy cooperative was successful in increasing milk production as consumers paid in cash to dairy farmers who controlled the marketing, procurement, and processing of milk and milk products as the owners of the cooperative.

In 1965, National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) was established with Kurian as the head to replicate the Anand co-operative scheme nationwide. In 1979, he founded the Institute of Rural Management Anand (IRMA) to groom managers for the cooperatives. Kurien helped set up similar cooperatives across India which made dairy farming one of the largest self-sustaining industries and employment generator in rural areas. This led to a multi-fold increased milk output over the next few decades which helped India become the world's largest milk producer in 1998. For his contributions in increasing the dairy output, Kurian is known as the "Father of the White Revolution" in India. The co-operative model was later applied successfully to other industries such as edible oils.

He was awarded Ramon Magsaysay Award in 1964 and World Food Prize in 1989. In 1999, he received Padma Vibhushan, India's second highest civilian honour. He was conferred the Order of Agricultural Merit by the French Government in 1997.

Early life and education

Kurien was born on 26 November 1921 in Calicut, Madras Presidency, British India (now Kozhikode, Kerala, India) to P. K. Kurien in a Malayali Anglican Christian family.[1] His father was a government civil surgeon.[2] Kurien did his schooling at Diamond Jubilee Higher Secondary School, Gobichettipalayam, Tamil Nadu when his father worked at the government hospital there.[3] He graduated in physics from Loyola College affiliated to University of Madras in 1940 and received bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from the College of Engineering, Guindy in 1943.[4][5]

His father died when he was 22 years old and he moved under the tutelage of his maternal grand-uncle Cherian Matthai in Trichur.[2] He wanted to join the Indian army as an engineer but joined Tata Steel Technical Institute, in Jamshedpur as per the wishes of his mother from where he graduated in 1946.[4][6]

Kurien applied for a scholarship provided by the Government of India and chose to study dairy engineering. He was sent to the Imperial Institute of Animal Husbandry in Bangalore where he spent nine months before being sent to United States on a government scholarship.[4] He graduated with a master's degree in mechanical engineering from University of Michigan in 1948.[7][8][9] Kurian had stated that he studied metallurgical and nuclear engineering, disciplines likely to be of far greater use to the soon-to-be independent India and to himself though he was sent on the only government scholarship left in dairy engineering.[10] He went to Australia later when he learnt dairying which would help him set up the Amul dairy later.[11]

Career

Early years

In 1949, Kurien was sent by the government of India to its experimental creamery at Anand in Bombay province (current Gujarat) on a five year term as an officer in the dairy division.[4] He spent the weekends in Bombay where he volunteered to help Tribhuvandas Patel with modifying the dairy equipments and processing of milk procured from local farmers.[12] Earlier in 1946, Patel had setup a cooperative established in 1946 at Kaira as a response to the exploitation of small dairy farmers by traders and agents who set arbitrary milk prices on behalf of Polson which had an effective monopoly in milk collection from Kaira.[13] Kurien wanted to quit the government job and leave Anand but was persuaded by Patel to stay with him and help with his dairy cooperative.[14][15]

Developing Amul

Kurien with Tribhuvandas Patel and H. M. Dalaya at Anand in 1970

Kurien developed the Kaira District Cooperative Milk Producers' Union Limited (KDCMPUL) further which later became known as Amul.[16] Milk collection was decentralised and was directly procured from farmers at villages as a part of cooperatives.[17] Kurien and Patel were supported by then Home minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel who sent Morarji Desai to help organise the farmers.[18] Kurian and Tribhuvandas Patel 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.[19] The cooperative dairying venture became popular and started attracting interest nationally.[20][21]

In 1956, Kurien visited Nestle in Switzerland at the invitation of the commerce and industries minister to ask them to reduce imports to India and involve more Indians in processing local milk but was met with a refusal stating that condensed milk production could not be left to the natives.[22] On returning, he increased the production of condensed milk at Amul, the import of which was banned by Government of India two years later. H. M. Dalaya, who Kurien persuaded to stay back at Anand after a visit from United States helped develop a process of making skim milk powder and condensed milk from buffalo milk instead of from cow milk.[23] In India, buffalo milk was plentiful, while cow milk was in short supply and Amul competed successfully against Nestle and later against Glaxo for baby food.[24]

Jawaharlal Nehru, then Prime minister also cut imports of butter in steps with Kurien promising and delivering an incremental increase of his production to eliminate the dependency on imported butter, especially from New Zealand.[25] During the Sino-Indian War in 1962, production had to be diverted to the Indian armed forces which led Polson to gain market share and Kurien lobbied with the government to freeze Polson's production lines, as part of the war effort.[26] Later research by G. H. Wilster led to cheese production from buffalo milk at Amul.[27]

Nationwide expansion

Kurien with then Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri in 1964

Then-Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri visited Anand to inaugurate Amul's cattle feed factory in October 1964 when he also interacted with the farmers about their cooperative. In 1965, Shastri tasked Kurien to replicate the dairy's Anand scheme nationwide for which, the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) was founded.[28] The board was led by Kurien on conditions that it be independent of governmental control and that it be set up at Anand, away from the capitals and closer to farmers.[29] Kurien negotiated with donors like the UNICEF for aid to develop the cooperatives and opposed countries which lobbied against him stating that he wanted to "convert aid into trade" contrary to his idea of making India self-sufficient in milk production.[30] He used the proceeds to encourage the movement of high-yield native cattle to urban areas and set up milk sheds and dairy farms nationwide to stabilize the dairy markets of big cities.[31][32] Anand model was replicated across Gujarat and he brought all of them under the Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF) in 1973 to sell their products under a single Amul brand on the 25th anniversary of establishment.[33] Other states emulated setting up similar federations based on this scheme. In 1979, he founded the Institute of Rural Management Anand (IRMA) to groom managers for the cooperatives.[4]

Consolidation and self-sufficiency

In the 1990s, he lobbied and fought hard to keep multinational companies from entering the dairy business even as the country opened up due to liberalisation in 1991.[34] 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.[35] In 1998, he persuaded former then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to appoint Amrita Patel as his successor at NDDB, whom he had groomed under him to protect NDDB's independence from the government.[36] Later, he had differences with her on the policies of Amul as she was focused on production and yield targets with certain functions such as marketing handed over to private and Kurien felt that it would weaken the cooperative institutions of the country.[37] He resigned from the position of chairman of GCMMF in 2006 after limited support from the governing board.[38][39]

Other work

Kurien replicated the setting up on co-operatives in other markets like fruits and vegetables, oilseeds and edible oil markets.[40][41][42] In 1979, then Premier of Soviet Union Alexei Kosygin invited Kurien to the Soviet Union for advice on its cooperatives. In 1982, Government of Pakistan invited him to set up dairy cooperatives, where he led a World Bank mission. In 1989, China implemented a similar programme with the help of Kurien and the World Food Programme. In 1997, he helped set up dairy cooperatives in Sri Lanka in collaboration with NDDB. He also served as the chairman of Tribhuvandas Foundation, a NGO which worked on women and child health in Kheda district.[43]

Death

Kurien died from an illness at the age of 90 on 9 September 2012 at a Nadiad near Anand.[44][45][46] He had a wife Molly and a daughter, Nirmala.[7][47] Kurien was brought up as a Christian before becoming an atheist.[48][49]

Awards and honours

YearAward or honorAwarding organization
1999 Padma Vibhushan[4][50] Government of India
1997 Order of Agricultural Merit Ministry of Agriculture, France
1993 International Person of the Year World Dairy Expo
1989 World Food Prize[4][51] World Food Prize Foundation
1986 Wateler Peace Prize[51] Carnegie Foundation (Netherlands)
1986 Krishi Ratna Government of India
1966 Padma Bhushan[4][52] Government of India
1965 Padma Shri[4][53] Government of India
1963 Ramon Magsaysay Award[4][43][54] Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation

Kurien was bestowed with honorary degrees by the Michigan State University and the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences.[4] Kurien either headed or was on the boards of several public institutions and received honorary doctorate degrees from universities worldwide.[55][56] Kurien was also awarded the Red & White Lifetime Achievements National Award in 2011.[57]

Books and publications

  • Kurien, Verghese (2005) I Too Had a Dream. APH Publishing Corp. ISBN 9788174364074
  • Kurien, Verghese (1997) An Unfinished Dream. Tata-McGraw-Hill. ISBN 9780074622148
  • Kurien, Verghese (2012) The Man Who Made The Elephant Dance ISBN 9789382299240

Kurien's birthday, 26 November is celebrated as National Milk Day in India.[58][59] The model pioneered by Kurien is included in academia and memorial lectures are often held.[60][61]

Filmmaker Shyam Benegal wanted to make Manthan, a film story based on Amul but had no financial backing. The movie was later made from financial contribution made from member-farmers of co-operatives who contributed two rupees each and was released in 1976.[4][62] 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 with UNDP using the movie to start similar cooperatives in Latin America.[63] and screened it in Africa.[64]

Kurien's supported the "Amul girl" advertisement campaign which is one of the longest running campaigns in India and Surabhi, a television series on Indian culture.[65][66][67]

In 2013, Amar Chitra Katha published the comic book Verghese Kurien: The Man with the Billion Litre idea.[4][68][47]

References

  1. ↑ Kamath, M. V. (1996). Milkman from Anand: The Story of Verghese Kurien. Konark Publishers. pp. 3–5. ISBN 978-81-220-0413-7.
  2. 1 2 Kurien, Verghese (27 December 2012). "1. Early Years". I Too Had a Dream. Roli Books Private Limited. p. 56. ISBN 978-81-7436-885-0.
  3. ↑ Madhavan, Dr. E. (1 May 2014). "Kurien visits Erode". Industrial Economist. Retrieved 26 November 2015.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 "Verghese Kurien: Father of the White Revolution". Hindustan Times. 16 December 2019. Retrieved 10 March 2021.
  5. ↑ "India's Oldest Engineering College Turns 225: 6 Alumni Who Have Made Guindy Proud!". The Better India. 31 July 2018. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
  6. ↑ Bhagat, Rasheeda (13 September 2012). "Doodh ka doodh... Kurien style". BusinessLine. The Hindu. Retrieved 29 August 2016.
  7. 1 2 Yardley, William (10 September 2012). "Verghese Kurien, Leader of India's Milk Cooperatives, Dies at 90". The New York Times. Retrieved 26 August 2016.
  8. ↑ "Dr Verghese Kurien – From mechanical engineer to milkman". DNA. Retrieved 26 October 2012.
  9. ↑ "The man who revolutionised white". The Hindu. Retrieved 26 October 2012.
  10. ↑ Obla, Vishvesh. "Twenty-Second Convocation of Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, May 23. 2000". Wings of Fire --> Responses. (Forum Hub). Retrieved 11 September 2012.
  11. ↑ Heredia, Ruth (1997). The Amul India Story. New Delhi: Tata Mc-Graw Hill. p. 105. ISBN 978-0-07-463160-7.
  12. ↑ "Amul remembers Tribhuvandas on his birth anniversary". Indian Cooperative. 23 October 2019. Retrieved 10 March 2021.
  13. ↑ George, Shanti (1985). Operation Flood: An Appraisal of Current Indian Dairy Policy. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-561679-8.
  14. ↑ Heredia, Ruth (1997). The Amul India Story. New Delhi: Tata Mc-Graw Hill. p. 65. ISBN 978-0-07-463160-7.
  15. ↑ Misra, Udit (10 September 2012). "V. Kurien: India's White Knight". Forbes India. Retrieved 11 September 2012.
  16. ↑ "Dr. V. Kurien". Amul. Retrieved 26 November 2023.
  17. ↑ Thapar, Romila (2001). "Seminar, Issues 497–508". Seminar.
  18. ↑ Suhrud, Tridip (8 April 2006). "The magic of manthan". Tehelka. Archived from the original on 11 November 2006. Retrieved 2 February 2011.
  19. ↑ Esmcn, Milton J.; Uphoff, Norman T. (1982). "Local Organization and Rural Development: The State of the Art (Cornell University), pp.65,47" (PDF). USAID. Retrieved 6 October 2017.
  20. ↑ Heredia, Ruth (1997). The Amul India Story. New Delhi: Tata Mc-Graw Hill. pp. 85–127. ISBN 978-0-07-463160-7.
  21. ↑ Report of the National Dairy Research Institute (Report No, 21) (PDF). 1961. p. 48.
  22. ↑ "Amul brand builder Verghese Kurien: The man who turned India into largest milk producer". Economic Times. 10 September 2021. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
  23. ↑ 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. ISBN 978-0-8213-6876-3. Archived from the original on 9 March 2023. Retrieved 13 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.
  24. ↑ Damodaran, Harish (13 September 2004). "Amul's tech wizard, Dalaya passes away". The Hindu. Retrieved 10 September 2012.
  25. ↑ Sharma, Arvind (15 September 2012) (15 September 2012). "A Few More Dr. Kuriens Please!". IndianTelevision. Retrieved 8 October 2017.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  26. ↑ Kurien, Verghese; Salve, Gouri (2012). I too had a Dream. (Roli Books). ISBN 9788174368850.
  27. ↑ Heredia, Ruth (1997). The Amul India Story. New Delhi: Tata Mc-Graw Hill. p. 168. ISBN 978-0-07-463160-7.
  28. ↑ Pandit, Shrinivas (2001). Thought Leaders. New Delhi: Tata Mc-Graw Hill. pp. 147–148. ISBN 978-0-07-049550-0.
  29. ↑ Dasgupta, Manas (9 September 2012). "Kurien strode like a titan across the bureaucratic barriers and obstacles". The Hindu. Retrieved 13 September 2012.
  30. ↑ "Civilization Follows the Cow" (PDF). UNICEF. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 June 2011. Retrieved 27 August 2016.
  31. ↑ Heredia, Ruth (1997). The Amul India Story. New Delhi: Tata Mc-Graw Hill. pp. 110–117. ISBN 978-0-07-463160-7.
  32. ↑ Heredia, Ruth (1997). The Amul India Story. New Delhi: Tata Mc-Graw Hill. pp. 106–108, 210–211. ISBN 978-0-07-463160-7.
  33. ↑ Gupta, Sharad. "Remembering Verghese Kurien – India's first milkman". businessline. Archived from the original on 21 October 2021. Retrieved 10 March 2021.
  34. ↑ Candler, Wilfred; Kumar, Nalini (1998). India: The Dairy Revolution : the Impact of Dairy Development in India and the World Bank's Contribution (pp. 57–60). World Bank (Operations Evaluation Department). ISBN 9780821342893.
  35. ↑ "India largest milk producing nation in 2010–11: NDDB". Hindustan Times. 20 December 2011. Archived from the original on 26 April 2013. Retrieved 9 September 2012.
  36. ↑ Pandit, Shrinivas (1 August 2007). The Missionary: Amrita Patel. Tata McGraw-Hill Education. ISBN 9780070656789.
  37. ↑ Katakam, Anupama (15 March 2003). "Dairy war". Frontline. Retrieved 13 September 2017.
  38. ↑ Katakam, Anupama (7 April 2006). "Controversy: Milkman's exit". Frontline (Volume 23 – Issue 06). Retrieved 11 September 2012.
  39. ↑ Mahurkar, Uday (17 April 2006). "A White Evolution: Verghese Kurien quits Gujarat co-operative, diary [sic] body faces politicking risk". India Today. Retrieved 13 September 2012.
  40. ↑ Aneja, R. P. (11 September 2012). "Life and times of Verghese Kurien". The Hindu Business Line. Retrieved 11 September 2012.
  41. ↑ Singh, Chamder Uday (15 January 1982). "Gujarat: Taking on the oil kings". India Today. Retrieved 1 September 2016.
  42. ↑ Jones, Clayton (30 July 1982). "Farming co-ops poised to come of age in the '80s". Christian Science Monitor. ISSN 0882-7729. Retrieved 1 September 2016.
  43. 1 2 "Amul remembers Tribhuvandas on his birth anniversary". Indian Cooperative. 23 October 2019. Retrieved 10 March 2021.
  44. ↑ "Kurien didn't drink milk, he lived it". The Telegraph. 10 September 2012. Archived from the original on 15 September 2012. Retrieved 29 August 2016.
  45. ↑ "Modi had soured relations with the milkman of India". Times of India. 11 September 2012. Archived from the original on 14 September 2012. Retrieved 11 September 2012.
  46. ↑ Thakkar, Mitul; Sally, Madhvi (15 September 2012). "Gujarat Elections 2012: Narendra Modi wastes no time in tapping over 1/3 of Gujarat's 3.5 crore Amul voters". Economic Times. Retrieved 29 August 2016.
  47. 1 2 Pandit, Virendra (26 November 2013). "Amar Chitra Katha unveils comics on Kurien; plans on Dhyanchand, KD Jadhav". Business Line. Retrieved 29 August 2016.
  48. ↑ "He was an atheist, religion played no part in his life, says Kurien's daughter". 27 November 2018.
  49. ↑ "He Was An Atheist, Says Verghese Kurien's Daughter On Conversion Charge".
  50. ↑ "Padma Awards" (PDF). Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 October 2015. Retrieved 21 July 2015.
  51. 1 2 "Dr. Verghese Kurien – The World Food Prize". World Food Prize. Retrieved 12 August 2016.
  52. ↑ "Padma Awards" (PDF). Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 October 2015. Retrieved 21 July 2015.
  53. ↑ "Padma Awards" (PDF). Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 October 2015. Retrieved 21 July 2015.
  54. ↑ The Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation. "Kurien, Verghese • Community Leadership – India – 1963". rmaward.asia. Archived from the original on 23 August 2017. Retrieved 10 September 2017.
  55. ↑ Indian Dairy Association. "The Legend Lives On" (PDF). Retrieved 6 May 2020.
  56. ↑ Verghese Kurien. "Dr. Verghese Kurien: Honorary Degrees". Archived from the original on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 3 July 2014.
  57. ↑ "Godfrey Phillips Bravery Award (Social Bravery) for KIIT & KISS Founder". Achyuta Samanta. 21 September 2011. Retrieved 7 January 2020.
  58. ↑ "National Milk Day on Kurien's birth anniversary". The Times of India. 25 November 2014.
  59. ↑ "Verghese Kurien's birth anniv to be held as National Milk Day". www.dailypioneer.com. 25 November 2014. Retrieved 28 August 2016.
  60. ↑ Institute of Rural management, Anand. "Second Dr. Verghese Kurien Memorial Lecture – 2013" (PDF).
  61. ↑ "Arvind Subramanian moots 'Amul model' for pulses". Business Standard. 21 November 2015. Retrieved 25 November 2015.
  62. ↑ Benegal, Shyam (As told to Mugdha Variyar) (9 September 2012). "How a farmers' servant painted the nation white". Hindustan Times. Retrieved 28 August 2016.
  63. ↑ "Amul's Verghese Kurien never suffered fools: Shyam Benegal". The Economic Times. 10 September 2012. Retrieved 11 September 2012.
  64. ↑ Rodrigo, Nihal (6 January 2002). "Cinema, Benegal and Reality". The Island. Retrieved 29 August 2016.
  65. ↑ Hazra, Indrajit (1 July 2012). "Jest like that: Girl with the Amul tattoo". The Hindustan Times. Retrieved 28 August 2016.
  66. ↑ Sreenivas (1 November 2013). "The Moppet Show". Creative Brands. Archived from the original on 18 September 2016. Retrieved 28 August 2016.
  67. ↑ Bhatt, Shephali (2 September 2017). "The unplanned glory of Surabhi". Economic Times. Retrieved 10 September 2017.
  68. ↑ Ramnath, Nandini (30 November 2013). "Lounge Loves | Amar Chitra Katha". Live Mint. Retrieved 29 August 2016.

Further reading

  • Kotler, Neil G. (1990). Sharing Innovation: Global Perspectives on Food, Agriculture, and Rural Development. Int. Rice Res. Inst. ISBN 9789711042219.
  • Kachru, Upendra (2011). India, Land of a Billion Entrepreneurs. Pearson Education India. ISBN 9788131758618.
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