Dr. Verghese Kurien is called the 'Father of the White Revolution' in India. He is credited with architecting 'Operation Flood' - the largest dairy development programme in the world. Dr.Verghese Kurien, set up the Anand model of cooperative dairy development. He engineered the White Revolution in India, and made India the largest milk producer in the world.
Born on 26th November 1921, Dr.Kurien graduated with Physics from Loyola College, Madras in 1940, and then did B.E. (Mech) from the Madras University. After passing he joined the Tata Steel Technical Institute, Jamshedpur from where he graduated in 1946. He then went to USA on a government scholarship to do his Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering at Michigan State University.
When he returned 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 Cooperative Milk Producers' Union Limited (KDCMPUL), - now famous as AMUL - was fighting a battle with the Polson Dairy, which was privately owned. Young Kurien, fed up with monotonous 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 and the rest is history. Tribhuvandas Patel was assigned by Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel the task of "making the Kaira farmers happy and to organise them into a cooperative unit".
Dr.Kurien was the main architect of "Operation Flood," the largest dairy development programme in the world, which has helped usher a "White Revolution" in India. Popularly known as the Anand Model, the prograrnme succeeded in setting up a large chain of milk producers' co-operatives in the villages of Gujarat State to increase milk production and to augment rural income. Dr. Kurien's untiring and dedicated efforts in this mission have assured a better economic future and sustenance for nine million farm households in 75,000 villages in India.
Dr. Kurien has helped laying the foundation of democratic enterprise, and has shown the way to ensure economic justice with people's participation by placing technology and professional management in the hands of village folks. By successfully involving the people in their own development he has proved that true development, is the development of man. His innovative mind and dynamic leadership has helped the country progress rapidly towards reaching near self- sufficiency in sectors like dairy, edible oils, fruits and vegetables. Through linking the producers directly to the consumers by eliminating the middlemen and traders, he has provided an incentive to produce more and at higher productivity.
Dr. Kurien has been the driving force in establishing the Institute of Rural Management (IRMA) at Anand, Gujarat, India. This is a pioneering institution to provide management training and, research support to rural cooperatives. He has also been instrumental in setting up the Tribhuvandas Foundation, a charitable trust, which extends preventive, maternal and infant health care facilities to villages.
Dr. Kurien has since then built this organisation into one of the largest and most successful institutions in India. The Amul pattern of cooperatives had been so successful that Dr. Kurien setup NDDB (National Dairy Development Board) to replicate it across India. He 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. Dr. Kurien's credits his success to the farmers of Gujarat.
Dr.Kurien has received countless honorary degrees and awards from and around the globe. For his contribution to the dairy industry, he has received numerous awards like Padmashri (1965), Padmabhushan (1966), Krishi Ratna Award (1986) by the President of India, Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership (1963), Wateler Peace Prize Award of Carnegie Foundation (1986), World Food Prize Award (1989), International Person of the Year (1993) by the World Dairy Expo, Madison, Wisconsin, USA, Padma Vibhushan (1999), the Regional Award, from the Asian Productivity Organization, Japan (2000) and the first 'Rochdale Pioneers Prize' by the International Co-operative Alliance (ICA), Seoul, Korea in 2001.
Currently, Dr. Kurien is the Chairman of the National Cooperative Dairy Federation of India, Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation, Tribhuvandas Foundation, Kiriya Milk Industries of Lanka Indian Dairy Machinery Company, and the Institute of Rural Management.
