Dr. Verghese Kurien: India’s Milkman no More
(26 November, 1921 - 9 September, 2012)
D r. Verghese Kurien did not like drinking milk, but as father of the White Revolution, he made India into a nation of milk drinkers. Often called India’s best known milkman, Kurien, 90, passed away at a hospital in Nadiad town because of complications arriving out of kidney ailments at 1.15 am on Sunday, 9 September. In the six decades duration he spent in Anand, he ensured India is transformed from a milk-deficient country into one of the world’s biggest milk producers. He is survived by wife Molly, daughter Nirmala and grandson Siddhartha. After his death, his body was brought back to Anand, which had been his home since 1949. As news of his death spread, scores of visitors trooped in to pay their tributes. President Pranab Mukherjee, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and chief minister Narendra Modi, among many other dignitaries sent their condolences. Later, his body was shifted to Amul Dairy’s Sardar Patel Hall where it was kept in an open glass coffin for visitors, before it was cremated as per his wishes. It was under Kurien’s leadership that small-town Anand became the milk capital of India with establishment of institutions like the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF), the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) and the Institute of Rural Management, Anand (IRMA). The beginnings, however, were humble. After returning from the US with a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from the Michigan State University in 1949, he was assigned to the government creamery at Anand to serve his bond period for a scholarship he had taken for his studies. His only intention then was to obtain a release from the bond and get out of Anand. He was all set to leave Anand by the end of 1949 for Mumbai, but the then chairman of Amul Dairy, Tribhuvandas Patel, requested him to help install machinery at the dairy. Kurien agreed, and then never left. The first dairy cooperative union in Gujarat was formed in 1946 with just two villages as members. Today, the co-operative has 16,100 member unions, with 3.2 million members pouring milk into GCMMF twice a day. He was NDDB chairman from 1965 to 1998 and was the architect of ‘Operation Flood’ - the largest dairy development programme in the world. India’s milk procurement has graduated from 20 million metric tonnes annually in 1960s to 122 million metric tonnes in 2011. Kurien, however, had a painful exit from all the institutions he founded. While he made way for his protege Dr Amrita Patel to succeed him as chairman of NDDB in 1998, in 2006 he stepped down as founder-chairman of both GCMMF and IRMA. His detractors felt he was unduly clinging on to power. Later, he had told TOI that
he was thrown out. “They (directors of GCMMF) did not want me any longer. I had to resign, I was not given a choice,” he had remarked.
The Bharat Ratna eluded him
For the past three years, close associates of Dr Verghese Kurien had started a campaign to have India’s highest civilian honour - the Bharat Ratna - conferred on him. But they failed, at least in his lifetime. Only on September 6, Infosys chairman emeritus N R Narayana Murthy had said, “A civilized society must show gratitude when people can sense it, or it is no gratitude at all and if our country does not stand and salute Dr Verghese Kurien with a Bharat Ratna, I don’t know who else deserves it.” After Kurien’s death, P A Joseph, his former executive assistant, told TOI, “We don’t want it now even if it is conferred.” In his lifetime, Kurien had received the Padma Shri, Padma Bhushan and Padma Vibhushan.
Sonia Gandhi Condoles Demise of Verghese Kurien
Congress President and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi condoled the death of Verghese Kurien, the architect of the largest dairy development programme in the world. “I am deeply grieved to learn of the passing away of Dr Verghese Kurien. Dr Kurien was a man of extraordinary vision, whose achievements in the dairy industry empowered hundreds of thousands of farmers, created a model for milk cooperatives that has inspired millions of others,” Gandhi said in her message. The Congress President said ‘Operation Flood’, launched by Kurien, remains a proud landmark in the history of modern India and is admired and emulated the world over. “In the passing away of Dr Kurien, India has lost a towering figure who contributed immeasurably to our progress and development. We will always honour his memory and draw inspiration from his life work,”
Gandhi said.
PM, Vice President condole Verghese Kurien death
Vice President M Hamid Ansari and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh condoled the death of Verghese Kurien, the founder of Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation. In his condolence message, Ansari said Kurien is credited with being the architect of the largest diary development programme in the worldOperation Flood. “He engineered the white revolution in India and made India the largest milk producer of the world. He is recognised as the man behind the success of the Amul brand,” the Vice President said. Condoling the sad demise of Kurien, Singh described him as an icon of India’s cooperative movement and the dairy industry. In his condolence message to Kurien’s wife, Molly Kurien, the Prime Minister said, Kurien was an outstanding and innovative manager and an exceptional human being. “His contribution to the welfare of the farmer and agricultural production and development of the country is immeasurable. Kurien was an icon of India’s cooperative movement and the dairy industry,” Singh said. In his long and illustrious career, Kurien set up the Anand model of cooperative dairy development, engineered the White Revolution, and made India the largest milk producer in the world, the Prime Minister said. “His greatest contribution was to give a position of pre-eminence to the farmer and his or her interests rather than those of middlemen,” Singh said. The Prime Minister said he personally had a rewarding association with Kurien and benefited from his sagacity and vision. “He has left behind a void that would be very difficult to fill. Kurien will always be widely respected and admired for his ability to inspire and bring out the best from ordinary people,” he said.