Verghese Kurien facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Verghese Kurien
Kurien in 2009
Born	(1921-11-26)26 November 1921 Calicut, Madras Presidency, British India (now Kozhikode, Kerala, India)
Died	9 September 2012(2012-09-09) (aged 90) Nadiad, Gujarat, India
Nationality	Indian
Alma mater	University of Madras Michigan State University
Occupation	dairy engineer social entrepreneur
Employer	Amul
Organisation	National Dairy Development Board Institute of Rural Management Anand National Cooperative Dairy Federation of India
Known for	White Revolution in India
Awards	Ramon Magsaysay Award (1964) Padma Shri (1965) Padma Bhushan (1966) World Food Prize (1989) Order of Agricultural Merit (1997) Padma Vibhushan (1999)

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

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

In 1965, Kurien as appointed as the head of the newly formed National Dairy Development Board (NDDB), which was established to replicate the Anand co-operative scheme nationwide. In 1979, he established a management institute at Anand, which was aimed at training managers involved in managing the milk cooperatives. Kurien helped set up similar cooperatives across India which made dairy farming one of the largest self-sustaining industries and employment generators in rural areas. This led to a multi-fold increase in milk output over the next few decades and 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 agricultural industries such as the production of edible oils.

He was awarded the Ramon Magsaysay Award in 1964 and the World Food Prize in 1989. In 1999, he received the 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) in a Malayali Anglican Christian family. His father P. K. Kurien was a government civil surgeon. Kurien did his schooling at Diamond Jubilee Higher Secondary School at Gobichettipalayam, where his father worked at the government hospital there. He graduated in physics from Loyola College affiliated to the University of Madras in 1940 and received a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from the College of Engineering, Guindy in 1943.

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

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 the United States on a government scholarship. He graduated with a master's degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Michigan in 1948. Kurien had stated that though he was sent on a government scholarship to study dairy engineering, he studied metallurgical and nuclear engineering, disciplines which were likely to be of far greater use to the soon-to-be independent India and to himself. He went to Australia, where he learnt dairying, which would help him set up the Amul dairy later.

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. He spent the weekends in Bombay, where he volunteered to help Tribhuvandas Patel with modifying the dairy equipment used for processing the milk procured from the local farmers. Earlier in 1946, Patel had setup a cooperative at Kaira. It was formed 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. 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.

Developing Amul

Kurien (left) with Tribhuvandas Patel (centre) and H. M. Dalaya at Anand

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

In 1956, Kurien visited Nestle in Switzerland at their invitation but with special instructions from then commerce and industries minister. Nestle was importing milk powder, sugar and other materials required to produce condensed milk in India. Kurien asked Nestle to reduce the imports to India, to try manufacturing condensed milk with buffalo milk procured locally and to engage more Indians in the production process. He was met with a refusal stating that the natives would not be able to handle the technology involved in the condensed milk production. 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 studied dairy engineering with Kurien at the US, was persuaded by Kurien to work with him at Anand. He helped develop an indigenous process of making skimmed milk powder and condensed milk from buffalo milk, which had a higher proportion of milk solids and increased its economic value. In India, buffalo milk was plentiful while cow milk was in short supply. With the production of condensed milk and baby food from Buffalo milk, Amul competed successfully against Nestle and later against Glaxo.

Then Prime minister of India Jawaharlal Nehru 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. During the Sino-Indian War in 1962, production had to be diverted to the Indian armed forces which led Polson to gain market share. Kurien lobbied with the government to freeze Polson's production lines, as part of the war effort. Later research by G. H. Wilster led to cheese production from buffalo milk at Amul.

Nationwide expansion

Kurien with then Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri in 1964

When then Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri visited Anand to inaugurate Amul's cattle feed factory in October 1964, he interacted with the dairy 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. 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 capital cities and closer to farmers. Kurien negotiated with donors like the UNICEF for aid to develop the cooperatives. He opposed countries which lobbied against him stating that he wanted to "convert aid into trade" as contrary to his idea of making India self-sufficient in milk production.

Kurien 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. The Anand model was replicated across Gujarat and Kurien 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. Other states emulated setting up similar federations based on this scheme. In 1979, he established the Institute of Rural Management at Anand, which is engaged in training managers involved in the milk cooperatives.

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. 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. In 1998, he persuaded 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. Later, he had differences with her on the policies of Amul. While she was focused on production and yield targets with certain functions such as marketing handed over to private, Kurien felt that the arrangement would weaken the cooperative institutions of the country. He resigned from the position of chairman of GCMMF in 2006 after limited support from the governing board.

Other work

Kurien replicated the co-operative model in other agricultural industries like the production of fruits and vegetables, oil seeds and edible oil. In 1979, then Premier of Soviet Union Alexei Kosygin visited Anand and invited Kurien to the Soviet Union. In 1982, 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. Later, 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.

Death

Kurien died from an illness at the age of 90 on 9 September 2012 at Nadiad near Anand. He had a wife Molly and a daughter, Nirmala. Kurien was brought up as a Christian before becoming an atheist.

Awards and honours

Kurien was bestowed with multiple honorary degrees including degrees by the Michigan State University and the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. Kurien either headed or was on the boards of several public institutions and received honorary doctorate degrees from universities worldwide. Kurien was also awarded the Godfrey Phillips Bravery Award for social bravery.

Books and publications

• Kurien, Verghese (2005) I Too Had a Dream. APH Publishing Corp. ISBN: 978-8-17436-407-4
• Kurien, Verghese (1997) An Unfinished Dream. Tata-McGraw-Hill. ISBN: 978-0-07462-214-8
• Kurien, Verghese (2012) The Man Who Made The Elephant Dance ISBN: 978-9-38229-924-0