Dr. Kurien was the Architect of “Operation Flood”, the largest dairy development programme in the world. He is also known as “Father of White Revolution” or “Dudhwala of India”. India Today recently wrote on him under the title ‘White Knight’.
Early life
Dr. Verghese Kurien was born on November 26, 1921, at Kozhikode (Calicut) in the district headquarter of Malabar, son of a well-to-do doctor Puthen Parakkal Kurien, a Civil Surgeon. He graduated in Science from Loyola College in 1940 and obtained his degree in Engineering from the Guindy College of Engineering in Chennai. He was very active in sports and represented the college in cricket, badminton, boxing, and tennis. Kurien had to fend for himself, as he was young for his age in every class. According to him, this taught him to be independent.
Entry into the dairy world
He went to the United States of America on a government scholarship for his degree in Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering (Distinction). When he returned to India after completion of his studies and on May 13, 1949, he headed for Anand, a place in Kaira district of Gujarat where he had to spend five years as an officer of the Dairy division in return for the scholarship paid by the government. When he reached Anand, he found that the farmers were being exploited by the distributors of milk, and the entire region was controlled by a shrewd but clever businessman called as “Pestonjee Edulji” who marketed Polson butter. In order to improve the lives of these people, he left the comforts of his government job and joined forces with Tribhuvandas Patel in order to join these farmers into a cooperative that was devoid of exploitation. He started the Milk Cooperative movement in the region registered under the name of Kaira District Cooperative Milk Producers Union Ltd (KDCMPUL), which was later renamed to now popular “Amul”.
Operation Flood
The co-operative movement he helped to create has become a model not only for India but also for other developing countries and international agencies concerned with dairy development. In the late 60s, Dr. Kurien drew up a project called Operation Flood, meant to create a flood of milk in India’s villages with funds mobilized from foreign food donations. Producers’ co-operatives were the central plank of the project that sought to link dairy development with milk marketing.
Through an investment of Rs. 1700 crores spread across 25 years; Operation Flood helped to raise India’s milk production in value terms to Rs. 55000 crores per annum an output ratio unmatched by any other development programme in the world. Operation Flood has emerged as India’s largest rural employment programme and unleashed the larger dimension of dairy development institutional, techno-economic, industrial, and social. He was also closely associated with the making of internationally acclaimed feature films like ‘Manthan’ and ‘Sardar’. Many management institutions have conducted case studies on his management style.
Awards
He has won numerous National Awards (including Padma Shree, Padma Bhushan, and Padma Vibhushan) and International Awards which include World Food Prize in 1989, Carnegie Foundation’s Wateler Peace Prize in 1986, International Person of the Year Award by the World Dairy Expo in 1993, Ordre duMerite Agricole by the Government of France in 1997, the Regional Award from the Asian Productivity Organization of Japan in 2000, Dr Kurien has received around 15 honorary Doctorates and more than 10 ‘Fellowships’ from leading foreign and Indian Universities / Academic Institutions.
On 9 September 2012, he breathed his last due to a brief illness at Anand. He is an inspiration to millions of Indians and is still remembered for his passion to do good, determination to empower others, and sheer brilliance.
References
https://www.amul.com/m/dr-v-kurien
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verghese_Kurien
http://www.dudhsagardairy.coop/about-us/our-mentors/late-dr-verghese-kurien/
https://amul.com/m/10-reasons-why-dr-verghese-kurien-deserved-a-bharat-ratna
Entrepreneurship Development Cell 
‘The Man WHo MAde The Elephant Dance’ – enjoy this audio autobiography of Dr. Verghese Kurien in the voice of Tom Alter, free online on Dr. Kurien’s website
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