November 26th was Varghese Kurien's birthday and I read some really inspiring articles on him so wanted to share them with you all too. Kurien moved to Anand in Gujarat, at the age 28, in the year 1949 and India could produce only 27 million tons of milk, while 74 percent of demand was met through, imports around that time. In 2012 when he was passed away, India was producing, 127 million tons of milk. In the past 100 years, a handful of men and women, individually catalysed the transformation, of India diary industry. Indisputably Kurien was one of the pioneers of the milk revolution in India. Yet successive governments have shied away from bestowing the nation’s highest honour, The Bharat Ratna on that true nationalist .
Kurien stayed back at Anand, stuck by the passion of Tribhovandas Patel, who was chosen by Vallabhai Patel to unite the farmers against exploitation, by unscrupulous players, and lead the Kaira cooperative. He found the cause worthy of his rebellious nature and decided to stay back to help people who are helpless.
The problem of milk scarcity was identified in 1928, in a report by Lord Linlithgow who recommend series of steps from upgrading livestock to improving quality of feed, to funding, and organising under a collective. Another surprising fact I found was that New Zealand was the first one to organise farmers, into cooperatives, then building dairy under these cooperatives, to emerge as world’s largest players in the year 1871 .
In 1950s it seems India was facing severe milk scarcity and we were dependent on global charity for milk, baby feed, and other dairy products. Kurien saw it as a national crisis and decided to address the issue to enable better income for farmers. He had invented a different model, wherein instead of cattle being ferried to outskirts of cities, to be housed and milked in unhygienic sheds, milk was collected and processed to be delivered wherever it was needed.
This model had been seen by all and had the full support from, Vallabhai Patel, Jawaharlal Nehru. Lal Bahadur, Morarji Desai, and even Indira Gandhi too. By early 1960s Kurien had created brand Amul, which even challenged multinationals and made waves.
But he had to struggle a lot for funds and in 1968 it seems the European Economic Commission offered its 'excess production' as aid. Using the proceeds from sales of milk products as funding, Kurien could setup a national grid, and triggered Operation Flood in 1970s. In 2015-16 India produced,155 million tons of milk.Today the Amul model, has enabled India, emerge as largest milk producer, enabling a better future, for members of 1.44 lakh cooperatives, and farmers, empowering millions of women.
Keeping all this in view there is every reason to confer Bharat Ratna, on Varghese Kurien, as he played very important role in the transformation of millions of lives.
Kurien stayed back at Anand, stuck by the passion of Tribhovandas Patel, who was chosen by Vallabhai Patel to unite the farmers against exploitation, by unscrupulous players, and lead the Kaira cooperative. He found the cause worthy of his rebellious nature and decided to stay back to help people who are helpless.
The problem of milk scarcity was identified in 1928, in a report by Lord Linlithgow who recommend series of steps from upgrading livestock to improving quality of feed, to funding, and organising under a collective. Another surprising fact I found was that New Zealand was the first one to organise farmers, into cooperatives, then building dairy under these cooperatives, to emerge as world’s largest players in the year 1871 .
In 1950s it seems India was facing severe milk scarcity and we were dependent on global charity for milk, baby feed, and other dairy products. Kurien saw it as a national crisis and decided to address the issue to enable better income for farmers. He had invented a different model, wherein instead of cattle being ferried to outskirts of cities, to be housed and milked in unhygienic sheds, milk was collected and processed to be delivered wherever it was needed.
This model had been seen by all and had the full support from, Vallabhai Patel, Jawaharlal Nehru. Lal Bahadur, Morarji Desai, and even Indira Gandhi too. By early 1960s Kurien had created brand Amul, which even challenged multinationals and made waves.
But he had to struggle a lot for funds and in 1968 it seems the European Economic Commission offered its 'excess production' as aid. Using the proceeds from sales of milk products as funding, Kurien could setup a national grid, and triggered Operation Flood in 1970s. In 2015-16 India produced,155 million tons of milk.Today the Amul model, has enabled India, emerge as largest milk producer, enabling a better future, for members of 1.44 lakh cooperatives, and farmers, empowering millions of women.
Keeping all this in view there is every reason to confer Bharat Ratna, on Varghese Kurien, as he played very important role in the transformation of millions of lives.
