Dr.

Verghese Kurien
(1921 – 2012)
THE MAN BEHIND THE REVOLUTION

Dr. Kurien’s ‘billion-litre-idea’ gave birth to the world’s largest agricultural dairy
development program – Operation Flood – that made dairy farming India’s largest self-
sustaining industry. Fondly known as the Milkman Of India, Dr. Kurien is the man
responsible for India’s flourishing dairy industry.

It is in his honour that the date of his birth anniversary, 26th November, is recognized
and celebrated as the National Milk Day in India.

The Route

A journey that began in Kozhikode changed the face of the Indian dairy Industry upon
touching Anand. Join us as we find inspiration on the same routes.

The Riders

Inspired by Dr. Kurien`s vision, bikes set out on an epic journey, from Kozhikode to Anand,
to learn more about the man behind India`s Milk Revolution.

Dr. Verghese Kurien was born on November 26, 1921 to an affluent Syrian Christian family
in Calicut (now Kozhikode), Kerala. His father Puthenparakkal Kurien was a civil surgeon in
British Cochin and his mother was a highly educated woman as well an exceptional piano
player. He was named after his uncle Rao Sahib P.K Verghese. Dr Kurien joined Loyola
College in Madras and attained his degree in B.Sc in Physics. He was also very active in
sports and represented the college in cricket, badminton, boxing and tennis. He went to the
United States of America on government scholarship where he pursued his degree in Master
of Science in Mechanical Engineering (Distinction). 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 was supposed to spend five years as an officer of the Dairy division in return for
the scholarship paid by the government. On arriving at 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.

Looking at the struggle of these people to survive and mesmerized by the personality of
their leader Tribhuvandas Patel who was trying to unite the farmers and form a cooperative
movement against the exploitation, Dr. Kurien left his government job and joined forces
with Tribhuvandas Patel and the farmers to start 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". He worked towards bringing
a White Revolution in India and executed the much needed programme of "Operation
Flood". Dr. Verghese Kurien married Susan Molly Peter on June 15, 1953 and they had one
daughter Nirmala Kurien and a grandson, Siddharth. Dr. Kurein was the man responsible
for turning India from a milk deficient country to the largest producer of milk in the world
today. Under his inspiring leadership many important institutions were established namely
the GCMMF (Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd) and NDDB (National Dairy
Development board which played a significant role in shaping the Dairy Cooperative
movement across the country and led the replication of Anand model of cooperative dairy
practiced all over the country.

Dr. Kurien always regarded himself as an employee of the farmers who would do anything
to bring prosperity in their favor.In his service of over fifty years he attained 15 honorary
degrees from different institutions of the world as he believed that learning should never
stop. His enduring personality, spirit, undying charisma and conviction of turning the
impossible into possible won him many accolades such as the Ramon Magsaysay Award for
Community Leadership (1963), Padma Shri (1965), Padma Bhushan (1966), Krishi Ratna
Award (1986), World Food prize (1989), Padma Vibhushan (1999), Economic Times award
for Corporate Excellence (2001) and several other awards, but the best award that the
people of the country gave him was the title "Milkman of India". After a lifetime of struggle
and conviction towards serving the nation Dr. Verghese Kurien breathe his last on 9
September 2012 due to brief illness at Anand. Dr. Verghese Kurien will always be
remembered as the person who redefined the meaning of milk as a powerful tool for
economic development.

It all began at Anand, a place in Kaira district, Gujarat famous for its Dairy Industry. It was
ruled by some old players who started their dairy in 1890s and 1910s. However during the
1920s a new entrant called as “Polson”, which was led by a shrewd but clever Parsi
businessman known as “Pestonjee Edulji” entered the market. He started supplying Polson
butter to the British Army and its milk products soon became a household name. He built a
large dairy in Anand in the year 1930. Once he was asked by the Bombay milk scheme
whether it was possible for him to supply milk from Anand to Bombay – some 350
kilometers away. Never before had liquid milk travelled such long distances, but Pestonjee
was not the man who would let the opportunity go.

He pasteurized milk and transported it to Bombay in a rather primitive fashion in milk cans
wrapped up in gunny bags with chilled water poured on the cans. The experiment worked
and very soon Bombay became an important market for Polson. With this Pestonjee started
developing good relations with the government officials and he would persuade them to
make arrangement so that he could get benefit out of it. Pestonjee knew that the main
source of milk is the Kaira district so he persuaded the government officials to make
arrangements that only Polson dairy could procure milk from the district. His wish was
granted and Pestonjee started monopolizing the market; he started selling products to the
people at higher prices and started exploiting farmers by paying them less for their produce
and since Pestonjee monopolized the market, the milk producers had no option but become
the victim of exploitation.
By 1945, the Polson dairy was flourishing and the farmers were getting more and more
exploited, leading to animosity among the farmers and hence the seeds of the movements
were sown.

1946s
It was Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel’s vision that led to the growth of the cooperative movement.
After fighting for and winning the freedom he recognized that independence was more than
a political task. He knew that the rural people could never become completely free until
they were liberated from the exploitation of money lenders, burdens of the social ills and
the caste and class discrimination. He addressed the problems of building rural institutions
and educating rural people for their development.

Sardar Patel urged the dairy farmers to organize milk cooperatives, which would give them
control over the resources they generated. He assigned Morarji Desai, his deputy, to
coordinate this effort. Morarji Desai organized a meeting where he asked people to become
the chairman of the cooperative and take the work ahead. A few people volunteered, but
Morarjibhai chose Tribhuvandas Patel who was a committed freedom fighter and the
elected vice president of the Kaira district congress committee. Tribhuvandas was a man of
integrity and honour and he started the cooperative by organizing the dairy farmers and he
soon managed to form a couple of cooperative societies. Although the farmers were ready
to take their leader’s advice but since milk was such a perishable commodity, farmers had
to accept the price that the contractor offered and also Polson would use every trick in the
book to procure milk at lower prices by accusing the milk producers that their milk lacks
quality. Farmers got fed up of the daily exploitation and Tribhuvandas met Sardar Patel to
seeka solution. Patel gave him a simple solution that if they wanted to stop exploitation then
they need to remove Polson from the market by capturing the Bombay market for which
they need to gather the masses and the cooperative needs to own the dairy. Only, then they
could pressurize the Bombay Milk scheme (BMS) to buy milk from them and not Polson.
However, Pestonjee’s reach was stronger than the cooperative’s and Tribhuvandas and
company’s plea was rejected. In protest of the BMS, the cooperative society went on a 15
day strike, famously recalled in history as the Kaira strike. The farmers collected the milk
and poured it on the streets but not even a single drop was given to Polson. Finally the BMS
realized the strength of the union and kneeled to their demands. For Tribhuvandas Patel
this was morale boosting incident as he travelled mile after mile, village after village trying
to convince the famers to form the cooperative society. Finally in December 1946, Kaira
District Cooperative Milk Producers Union Limited (KDCMPUL) was registered. By
procuring the old dairy of World War I from the government they began their process.

Arrival of Dr.Verghese Kurien at Anand

It was Friday, 13 May, 1949 when Dr. Verghese Kurien first arrived at Anand to serve his
bond in return of the scholarship he received from the government. Although he had no
plans of working in the village but soon he started noticing the movement of the farmers in
the village and admired the qualities of their leader, Tribhuvandas Patel. He started giving
ideas to the cooperative, shared his views on how to go ahead and advised them in the
selection of machinery for manufacturing milk. Tribhuvandas Patel recognized the potential
of Dr. Verghese Kurien and just on the day when Dr. Verghese Kurien resigned from his job
and packed his bags to leave, Tribhuvandas asked him to help him in setting the new dairy
in the village, since no one in the village was able to run the new machinery. Dr. Kurien
agreed and stayed back to help them.
Increasing production of the cooperative
Although, Kurien stopped for a few days but looking at the struggle of the farmers he stayed
back. He worked for the farmers in creating a better life for them by taking the cooperative
movement ahead. He started working day and night for the dairy along with Tribhuvandas
and hundreds of farmers. On the advice of Dr. Kurien, Tribhuvandas left the old machinery
of manufacturing milk and collected money from the cooperative and bought new
machinery from Larsen and Toubro in 1951. Dr. Kurien joined the cooperative as General
Manager in 1950. With the new machinery in place, the procurement capacity of the
cooperative rose from 200 litres of milk in 1948 to 20,000 litres in 1952. Slowly and
gradually the name of Kaira reached till Delhi and the Anand model of cooperative started
growing.

World’s First Buffalo Milk Powder plant

After returning from New Zealand, Dr. Kurien started his experiment of obtaining milk
powder from buffalo milk. Through a series of experiments under the guidance of Dalaya
and other cooperative members, Dr. Kurien became successful in making milk powder from
buffalo milk and planned to build a plant where they could manufacture the buffalo milk
powder.

On November 15, 1954, the first president of India, Dr. Rajendra Prasad laid the foundation
for the world’s first dairy to manufacture milk powder from buffalo milkat Anand . Dr.
Kurien was confident that the plant could be erected in a period of one year and when
Maniben asked him who he wants to inaugurate the plant, he said Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru.
When contacted, Pandit Nehru gracefully accepted the invitation and informed that he
would inaugurate the plant on October 31, 1955, the birth anniversary of Sarder
Vallabhbhai Patel, which gave them exactly 11 months to build the plant. The work started
and experts from foreign countries were called to erect the plant and finally on the day of
the inauguration all the preparations were done.

Pandit Nehru inaugurated the plant and gave an inspiring speech which boosted the morale
of the cooperative. This is how the world’s first buffalo milk powder manufacturing plant
came to life.

Birth of Amul
With the increasing production capacity of the plant and the progressive nature of the
cooperative, it was time to take the competition under consideration and there was a need
to understand the finer points of marketing Kaira Cooperative’s products. At a
brainstorming session to come up with a good name for the products, a chemist at the
laboratory suggested the name “Amul”. It comes from a Sanskrit word “Amoolya” which
means priceless. Also it stood as an acronym for Anand Milk Union Limited. Advertising and
Sales Promotion (ASP) did a fine job by crafting the Amul polka dotted girl and the best
baseline a brand has ever had “Utterly Butterly Delicious”. the credit for the work goes to
Eustace Fernandez, Slyvester Da cunha and his team.

The name was registered in the year 1957 and till today it is the most recalled household
name.
It was also a special year for Dr. Kurien as her daughter Nirmala was born in 1957.

War against China

In 1962, the clouds of war against China darkened the nation. The Prime Minister’s office
called the Amul cooperative to help the government as the army needed milk powder
during the war; the requirement was 2750 tons within six months. Although that was
outside the reach of the Amul cooperative but in collaboration with the Rajkot dairy they
fulfilled the demand of the government by completely seizing the consumer market. The
integrity of the cooperative and its leaders was such that when asked what they want in
return of this favour, they said “nothing” and proved that in real sense it is serving the
nation. Minoo Polson (son of Pestonjee Edulji) tried to increase the prices of its butter and
take undue advantage of the scenario. When it came to the notice of Amul cooperative, they
froze the manufacturing of Polson with the help of the government.

1964

Lal Bahadur Shastri visits Anand

On the birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, the then Prime Minister of India, Lal
Bahadur Shastri , who had heard a lot about the development process going in Anand, he
called the then Chief Minister of Gujarat, Balwantrai Mehta and made an unusual request.
He mentioned that he would like to visit Anand but a day earlier and spend a night at a
small farmer’s house with no police protection where he can move freely and talk with the
villagers. His main objective was to understand the life of the farmer and the way they
perform functions at the cooperative. Balwantrai Mehta immediately conveyed the message
to Dr. Kurien and raised the security issues related to the Prime Minister’s request. But, like
always Dr. Kurien found a way out and planned to take Shastriji secretly to a village 10 kms
away from Anand called “Ajarpura” where he spent a night at a farmer’s house named
Ramanbhai. The security cars were taken straight to Anand.

During his night stay in Ajarpura the Prime Minister moved freely in the village and asked
several questions to the villagers regarding their life, Amul and how the cooperative
brought prosperity to their life. When the next day he arrived at Anand, he was most
attentive to understand the working of the cooperative and applauded the work of the
cooperative by giving an inspiring speech.

The Prime Minister stayed at Dr. Kurien’s home and in the evening had a detailed
conversation where he mentioned his experience of having spent a night at a village and
talking to the farmers. He said that he thought something special about Anand but he found
nothing special. He added that the soil of Anand is not as good as the Indo-Gangetic plains,
the climate is cold in winter and very hot in summer, rainfall is more or less similar to other
places. He remarked that he expected greenery but it was all dusty and brown and the
buffalos give less milk than the one in his home state of Uttar Pradesh and lastly the farmers
here are good people but less hard working than the ones of Punjab. He was curious that
what has then made this cooperative as the Centre of attraction of the world? Dr. Kurien
agreed to all the observations of the Prime Minister but he mentioned one very important
thing that it is the farmer’s cooperative union, they are the owners of the dairy and he was
just an employee of the farmer. Being a dairy which is owned by the farmers gives them the
will power and the energy to face every challenge and overcome it.
The Prime Minister was convinced by his explanation asked him to replicate the Anand
model in other parts of the country, which made Dr. Kurien imagine about the social and
economic prosperity they could bring about if the model is replicated. He knew that it is
going to be a tedious task but it was not impossible as the man with the stature and class of
Dr. Kurien will always grow strong with the challenge. He started thinking and planning
how this big dream can be brought to life and be replicated throughout the country.

1965

Mr Kurien becomes Dr. Kurien and Quest for Operation Flood

The year of 1965 was fairly momentous for the cooperative society and also for Dr. Kurien.
Michigan State University conferred an honorary degree of "Doctor of Science" thereby
promoting him from Mr. Kurien to "Dr. Kurien".

In September 1965, the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) was registered under
the Societies Registration Act, 1860. With this the dream of replicating the Amul model
throughout the country and bringing it to reality became stronger.

Dr. Kurien started thinking on the plan and he worked in coordination with Micheal Hales
who was Food and Agriculture expert and a Harvard trained visiting faculty at the Indian
Institute of Management (IIM) and H.M Dalaya. Michael Hales noted down all the points to
be taken into consideration to replicate the plan and helped the cooperative to draft their
plan to be presented to the government seeking their support for the programme. The
amount that was required for replicating the Anand Model all over the country was over
650 crore rupees as estimated by the cooperative team. When the plan was presented to the
state government and the other authorities, it was rejected as the government had the
control over the dairy industry in India and they never wished to give that power to the
villagers. It also led to a lot of corruption and soon the cooperative realized that they need
to do something different. It was very easy to drop the plan but the conviction of the leader
and the cooperative was not going to shy away from the challenge.

1968

Seizing the opportunity

There was a surplus production of milk in the European countries. So much so, that they
had no clue what to do with the surplus milk. At that time, the Home Secretary, L.P Singh
recommended Dr. Kurien to present their proposal to these European countries at the
event, which happened in Rome called as the World Food Programme (WFP). Dr. Kurien
realized that this opportunity will never come again as these nations will never commit this
mistake again of over producing. Dr. Kurien visited Rome in October 1968 to present
NDDB's project proposal to a twenty four nation executive committee of the WFP. The
Agriculture Secretary of the Government of India at that time was B.R Patel who introduced
Dr. Kurien to the WFP committee to present India's point of view. Dr. Kurien was waiting
for this opportunity and was all set to go. He started by elaborating on the importance of
milk in India. With a huge population there is a big space for dairy development in India and
his intention was to replicate the Anand model in various parts of the country. He simply
explained how he intended to use the donated milk to sell at a regular price in India in order
to capture the markets of Delhi, Bangalore and other metros and milk rich cities and then
generate the money out of it to fund the Operation Flood programme where his major goal
was to make India a self-sufficient country in milk and milk products. He also added that if a
country donates milk worth $100 million then it can expect 10% return on investment
hence the donation is in fact an investment. He continued that he is not asking for such
donations to sell them at a lower rate and make money out of it as many countries do it but
to use it to raise money for Operation Flood to make India self-sufficient.

The elaborate and passionate presentation was liked and more importantly very well
received by the committee. Hence in March 1970, the proposal to award India the food aid
donation was signed between the Government of India and the WFP.

The cooperative won the major battle here which kick started the Operation Flood.

1970-1980

Phase 1 of Operational Flood/Billion Liter Idea

In a nutshell the approach was very simple. The first step was that the donated milk
products would be reconstituted to provide the Bombay, Delhi, Calcutta and Madras liquid
schemes with enough milk to obtain a commanding share of the markets. Next, the funds
realized from this reconstitution and sale of donated products were used to resettle city-
kept cattle and help them to breed and to increase organized milk production, its
procurement and processing. Finally this entire operation would be directed towards
stabilizing the position of major liquid milk schemes in their markets.

1981 - 1985

Phase 2 of Operational Flood/Billion Liter Idea

The second phase of the operation flood, which lasted from 1981 to 1985, was implemented
with the seed capital raised from the sale of European Economic Committee's (EEC) gifts as
well as a World Bank loan of Rs 200 crore. With this phase, the number of milk sheds
increased the outlets for milk produced. By the end of this phase more than 43,000 village
cooperatives covering 4.25 million milk producers were established.

1985 - 1996

Phase 3 of Operational Flood/Billion Liter Idea

The third phase of the operation added 30,000 new dairy cooperatives to the 42,000
existing societies. Member education was intensified, and significantly, the number of
women members and women's Dairy cooperative societies increased considerably. This
phase focused on assisting unions to expand and strengthen their procurement and
marketing infrastructure to manage the increasing volumes of milk (by 1989 the number of
milk sheds had grown to 173). Veterinary healthcare services, feed and artificial
insemination services for cooperative members were extended. During this decade the
increased emphasis was on research and development on animal health and animal
nutrition.

Dr. V. Kurien`s Speeches:

  December 16, 1972 : Rajmitra A. D. Amin Memorial Lecture Series
 December 20, 1975 : National Investment and Finance anniversary
 March 7, 1978 : Dr. Vikram Sarabhai Memorial Lecture
 October 17, 1981 : All India Women’s Conference
 August 28th, 1982 : Breed improvement and milk production
 November 2, 1982 : Mohan Kumaramangalam Memorial Lecture
 January 29th, 1982 : 1st Sardar Patel Memorial Lecture

Operation Flood

Operation Flood: one of the world's largest rural development programmes Launched
in 1970, Operation Flood has helped dairy farmers direct their own development,
placing control of the resources they create in their own hands. A National Milk Grid
links milk producers throughout India with consumers in over 700 towns and cities,
reducing seasonal and regional price variations while ensuring that the producer gets
fair market prices in a transparent manner on a regular basis.

The bedrock of Operation Flood has been village milk producers’ cooperatives, which
procure milk and provide inputs and services, making modern management and
technology available to members. Operation Flood's objectives included:

 Increase milk production ("a flood of milk")

 Augment rural incomes
 Reasonable prices for consumers

Programme Implementation
Operation Flood was implemented in three phases.

Phase I

Phase I (1970-1980) was financed by the sale of skimmed milk powder and butter oil
gifted by the European Union then EEC through the World Food Programme. NDDB
planned the programme and negotiated the details of EEC assistance.

During its first phase, Operation Flood linked 18 of India's premier milksheds with
consumers in India's four major metropolitan cities: Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and
Chennai.

Phase II

Operation Flood's Phase II (1981-85) increased the milksheds from 18 to 136; 290
urban markets expanded the outlets for milk. By the end of 1985, a self-sustaining
system of 43,000 village cooperatives covering 4.25 million milk producers had become
a reality. Domestic milk powder production increased from 22,000 tons in the pre-
project year to 140,000 tons by 1989, all of the increase coming from dairies set up
under Operation Flood. In this way EEC gifts and World Bank loan helped to promote
self-reliance. Direct marketing of milk by producers' cooperatives increased by several
million litres a day.

Phase III

Phase III (1985-1996) enabled dairy cooperatives to expand and strengthen the
infrastructure required to procure and market increasing volumes of milk. Veterinary
first-aid health care services, feed and artificial insemination services for cooperative
members were extended, along with intensified member education.

Operation Flood's Phase III consolidated India's dairy cooperative movement, adding
30,000 new dairy cooperatives to the 42,000 existing societies organised during Phase
II. Milksheds peaked to 173 in 1988-89 with the numbers of women members and
Women's Dairy Cooperative Societies increasing significantly.

Phase III gave increased emphasis to research and development in animal health and
animal nutrition. Innovations like vaccine for Theileriosis , bypass protein feed and
urea-molasses mineral blocks, all contributed to the enhanced productivity of milch
animals.

From the outset, Operation Flood was conceived and implemented as much more than a
dairy programme. Rather, dairying was seen as an instrument of development,
generating employment and regular incomes for millions of rural people. "Operation
Flood can be viewed as a twenty years experiment confirming the Rural
Development Vision" (World Bank Report 1997c.)

Awards
National Awards by President of India

 Padmashri (1965)
 Padmabhushan (1966)
 Krishi Ratna (1986)
 Padma Vibhushan (1999)

International Awards

 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership (1963)

 "Wateler Peace Prize" Award of Carnegie Foundation for the year 1986 by His
Royal Highness Prince Claus of The Netherlands
 World Food Prize award for the year 1989
 "International Person of the Year" by the World Dairy Expo, Wisconsin, USA
(1993)
 "Ordre du Merite Agricole" by the Government of France (in March 1997)
 Regional Award 2000 from the Asian Productivity Organization, Japan
  The first `Rochdale Pioneers Prize’ by the international Co-operative Alliance
(ICA), Seoul, Korea 2001

Other Awards (Partial list)

 NIF-Escorts Man of the Year Award (1975)

 Business Leadership Award of Madras Management Association, Madras (1978)
 Viswa Gurjari Award for outstanding contribution for Dairy Development in
Gujarat (1980)
 Prof V Subramanyan Industrial Achievement Award (1983)
 Shri Mathurdas Vissanji Endowment Award (1984)
 Hari-Om-Ashram Prerit Prof JP Trivedi Award (1987)
 Prof JG Kane Memorial Award from Oil Technologists Association of India,
(1987)
 Silver Jubilee Award of the Indian Society of Agricultural Engineers (1987)
 Shiromani Award, Delhi (1988)
 National Integration Award, Indian Chamber of Commerce, Calcutta (1989)
 Samanvaya Puraskar, Haridwar (1990)
 Peace & Unity Award, National Peace Conference, New Delhi (1991)
 Rajiv Gandhi Memorial Gold Medal, New Delhi (1991)
 Sir Jehangir Ghandy Award for Industrial Peace, Jamshedpur, (1992)
 Lal Bahadur Shastri Desh Gaurav Samman (1992)
 A & M (Advertising & Marketing) 'Hall of Fame' Award (1993)
 Dr. Y. Nayudamma Memorial Award for 1993
 Dr. B.P. Pal Medal - 1994 from the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences
 National Fellowship Award (1994-95) by Association of Indian Management
Schools, Calcutta
 Rathindra Puraskar for 1993 by Visva-Bharati University, Santiniketan
 Dadabhai Naoroji Memorial Award for the year 1995
 The Gujarat Gaurav Award by Vishwa Gujarati Parishad, Bombay (1996)
 Udyog Rattan Award by The Institute of Economic Studies, New Delhi (1996)
 Bharat Vikas Award by the Institute of Business Council, New Delhi (1996)
 'Best Corporate Manager of the year - 1997' by National Foundation of Indian
Engineers, New Delhi (1997)
 'The Vocational Excellence Award' by the Rotary International Dist. 3140 (1998),
Kalyan, Mumbai
 ‘Bharat Ratna Dr. M. Visvesvaraya Memorial Award’ by the Engineers’
Foundation, Kolhapur (1998)
 ‘Archbishop Benedict Mar Gregorios Award 1998’ by the Association of Mar
Ivanios College Old Students, Trivandrum.
 ‘Charotar Ratna Puraskar (1998) by Rotary Club Anand Round Town, Anand
 ‘Hall of Fame’ Award (1999) by the Advertising Club Calcutta
 “Giants International” Award (1999), by the Giants International, Mumbai
 Dr. Paulos Mar Gregorios Award 1999, New Delhi.
 Felicitation by People’s Arts Centre, Mumbai, as distinguished Malayali on the
occasion of Kerala Foundation Day (Kerala Piravi), 2000
 The Economic Times Lifetime Achievement Award for Corporate Excellence,
Mumbai 2001
  `Life Time Achievement Award for Translating Excellence in Corporate
Governance into Reality’, from the Institute of Company Secretaries of India, New
Delhi (November 2001)
 `Certificate of Appreciation’ from the Jesuit Alumni Association of India, Mumbai
(November 2001)
 Lifetime Achievement Award for Social Service for the Tenth Red & White
awards, New Delhi (January 2002).
 `Yashwantrao Chavan National Award for National Integration, Democratic
Values, Social and Economic Development for the year 2001’. (Mumbai).
 “Lokmanya Tilak Award” by the Lokmanya Tilak Smarak Trust, Pune (August
2002)
 “Lifetime Achievement Award” by the Bombay Management Association,
Mumbai (Jan. 2003)
 “Rotary Lifetime Achievement Award” by the Rotary Club of Palghat East (Feb.
2003)
 Ernst & Young - Lifetime Achievement Award 2003, New Delhi (Oct. 2003)
 Sri Chandrasekarendra Saraswathi National Eminence Award for Community
Services with emphasis on rural development / Non-Government Service,
Mumbai (Nov. 2003)
 India Brand Summit Lifetime Achievement Award, Mumbai (Nov. 2003)
 “4-Way Test – Man of the year Award” 2002-03, by the Rotary Club of Belur (R.I.
Dist. 3290) Kolkata (Jan. 2004)
 “BHARATI SAMMAN AWARD”, Bharati Foundation Trust, Bhubaneswar (January
2004)
 “Corporate Role Model and Lifetime Achievement Award” from the Centre of
International Business, Amity Business School, NOIDA, (Feb. 2004)
 “Smruti Padma”, from Shree Swaminarayan Gadi Sansthan Maninagar,
Ahmedabad (Feb. 2004)
 “Lifetime Achievement Award”, from the Vishwabharathy Foundation,
Hyderabad (Mar.2004).
 “Lakshya Business Visionary Award” by the National Institute of Industrial
Engineering (NITIE), Mumbai (Oct. 15, 2004)
 “Sahakar Ratna Puraskar”, Awarded by the Kalupur Commercial Cooperative
Bank Ltd., Ahmedabad, on the eve of Cooperative Centenary Year Celebration at
the Nirma University, Ahmedabad (Jan. 17, 2005)
 IMC Juran Quality Medal – 2004 : A life time achievement award, from the Indian
Merchant Chamber’s, Mumbai (March 4, 2005)

Dr. Kurien has published following books;

 The Man who the made Elephant Dance

 An Unfinished Dream

 I too had a Dream

Tweets
Srinidhi Boray Kurain created a successful cooperative society, removing middle tier and enabling
thousands of milkmen and farmers

Shravanti @richgal593Thank You Verghese Sir for changing so many lives #Salute to you !!
#Amul#WhiteRevolution #India#TweetToFarmer 🙌🙌🙌🙌

CGG @CGG14Father of White Revolution..Now we get 24 hrs Milk thro out India & AMUL is an Intl. Brand
Clocking 25,000 Crores ! https://t.co/bIN7XIatrE

Riya Mukherjee @riyalovezuOn the birth anniversary of #VergheseKurien Hope there are more co-
operative like Anand Milk Union Limited or AMUL #FatherOfWhiteRevolution

Greed Goddess Media @Greed_GoddessDrKurien lesson- goodfood is always a possibility,need to make

it happen #MilkManofIndia@Amul_Coop @Ruchishrihttps://t.co/EoLZx23hpD

Bilal nazki @bilalnazkiIf u go to a remote village, u may not find even a match box in village shop but u
will find amul butter.long live kurian

sandeep bamzai @sandeep_bamzaiToday is also the nation's doodhwala v kurien's bday, salut -
remember making a documentary on him for star plus in 1998 - man of substance

Ashok Lalla @ashoklallaAfter years of Amul doodling about current affairs, a Google doodle about its
founder Dr. Kurien on his birth anniv https://t.co/803pPhQzvJ

HarperCollins India @HarperCollinsINCelebrating #Amul 's India on #VergheseKurien 's

birthday https://t.co/8N7nXW7mVt#WhiteRevolutionhttps://t.co/CLFM6qIMI0

Rajmitra A. D. Amin Memorial Lecture Series

Rajmitra A. D. Amin Memorial Lecture Series
Indian Chemical Manufacturers' Association
December 16, 1972

DAIRYING AS AN INSTRUMENT OF CHANGE

DR. V. KURIEN

National Dairy Development Board

Anand – 388001

RAJMITRA B.D. AMIN MEMORIAL LECTURE SERIES

DAIRYING AS AN INSTRUMENT OF CHANGE

I am deeply honoured that the Indian Chemical Manufacturers’ Association has nvited me to
give the fourth lecture in the Rajmitra B. D. Amin Memorial Lecture Series. The topic which I
shall try to cover today is; "Dairying as an instrument of change." I note that in addressing
you here today, follow three distinguished predecessors, each of whom covered aspects of
industrial development which may appear at first sight to be, so to speak, "closer to home"
for people in the chemical industries than in dairying. However, I hope that this brief
address will serve to show that dairying is closer to all our homes than it may previously
have been thought to be, because it is, I believe, an instrument of change with significance
for all of us - and not only of technical change, but also (and perhaps especially) of economic
and social change.

I feel that it is particularly fitting that this subject should be taken up at this time in his
series of lectures, which commemorates the memory of Shri Bhailalbhai Amin. e did so
much to demonstrate how our people can, with determination, adapt and build upon the
common approaches to modernisation, in order to set up the dynamic and viable industries
which our country needs, to serve the interests of all our people.

In order to explore fully the potentiality of dairying as an instrument of change, it is best to

look first into the practicabilities of the national dairy development t programme, which is
popularly known as "Operation Flood." But, before speak about "Operation Flood," I feel I
should put our dairy industry, as we conduct it, in its proper perspective before you. And
I would quote as an example the Kaira Cooperative, of which I even today have the honour of
being the General Manager.

In the Kaira Cooperative today, we have a membership of 185,000 farmers who with their
families total one million people. Each farmer of these 185,000 produces 1 litre, 2 Iitres may
be 5 litres a day. He owns one buffalo, two buffaloes or three
buffaloes; so we collect milk every morning and every evening from 185,000 people
situated in an area of 2,500 square miles, located in about 710 villages.

You might consider this an impossible task: to collect milk twice a day in this manner, but
we happen to be doing it. It has its problem undoubtedly, but I hope to indicate some of the
advantages it may have also.

The total collection at the Kaira Cooperative's plant at this moment is approximately
500,000 Iitres of milk daily. The average fat content of this milk is eight per cent because it
is all buffalo milk. Now, before collecting the milk from these farmers, we had of course to
form the organization that would achieve this
and our system is a cooperative one. We have in this area of 2,500 square miles,
approximately 710 villages, as I mentioned, and in each village we have established a village
milk producer cooperative. It is run by an elected managing committee of the farming
members of that village. These 710 village cooperative
societies are federated in the Kaira district cooperative union, which owns the plant. The
farmers in each village bring their milk to the village milk collecting centre where it is
received, measured and tested for fat, and cash payment is made for the previous evening's
milk.

What this implies is that we do 185,000 fat tests every morning and every evening. We
make 185,000 payments every morning and every evening. Some 85 trucks move the milk,
according to a carefully made out schedule, from the villages to the plant and when it comes
to the plant, it totals today approximately 500,000 litres. When we started in 1947-48 it was
500 litres. The rather large rural organisation that has .been inevitably built up, in the process of
setting up the collecting arrangement, is also used to feed, back to the farmer the inputs he
requires to increase his production. The first input is the cattlefeed. We have India's largest
cattlefeed plant in our system. We distribute approximately 250 tonnes of balanced
cattlefeed a day.
We then have a veterinary service; we guarantee our farmers that within four hours of
being asked we will send a veterinarian to any farmer in this whole area, day or night. We
maintain 39 graduate veterinarians, a larger number of stockmen
and veterinary dispensaries for this purpose. We treat approximately 200,000 cases every
year.

The next input we provide is semen from selected bulls from our own artificial insemination
centre. We have 70 bulls, who are the progeny of the best milk-producing buffaloes in the
district, and their mothers have given as much as 20 litres of milk containing eight per cent
fat. We do approximately 200,000 inseminations each year and this, too, is the largest
number of inseminations done by any organisation in India. We also have extension
schemes for increasing fodder production. We have our own agricultural department for
this purpose and we also
have other technical inputs like newsletters, circulated to the farmers and dealing with
better methods of animal husbandry. So altogether, the Kaira Cooperative Union has
become a very large organization and the total value of milk and milk products sold per
annum exceeds Rs. 30 crores. I have explained this only to set the stage for you to better
appreciate what we mean by "Operation Flood." Now I will speak about "Operation Flood"
itself.

Today, India is going through her agricultural revolution. Despite temporary set-backs, food
production in India is reaching levels at which all imports of food grains will stop. No one
would have believed this was possible, even as short a while as four or five years ago,
because India was so heavily dependent on imports of food grains from abroad. This has
become possible because of the evolution that is asking place in agriculture, because we
have moved in tractors, we have moved in better working management, because we have
built enormous fertilizer factories, because we have pesticides, insecticides and because of
modernization of agriculture generally.

There was no point in talking about quality of nutrition until there 'was some reasonable
quantity of nutrition. There was no point in talking about protein until there was enough
rice to eat. We are now reaching the stage when we have the grains. It will become possible
to spare a portion of our land's produce for cattle. This then is the time when animal
husbandry and dairies in particular can make a big impact in India. This is the time when
"Operation Flood" becomes possible.

The big success in agriculture has brought with it a very serious problem; there are many
problems but the most serious is the fact that we no longer need 75 per cent of our
population to be engaged in producing the food of the nation. In America
I am told it is hardly 5 per cent of the population that produces the food. But in India it was
75 per cent. Thanks to the revolution we no longer need 75 per cent to be producing the
food of the nation. Let us assume that we need only 65 per cent what will the other 10 per
cent do? 10 per cent means 55 million people; that is, 11 million adults who need jobs.
Normally one would assume that as an agricultural revolution proceeds there is also an
industrial revolution and men released from the land will be absorbed by industry. But
what an investment is needed to create 11 million jobs in industry? - an investment clearly
far beyond our immediate capabilities.

What then shall we do with the 11 million surplus people on the farms who will migrate to
cities looking for jobs? The resources of our cities are already overstrained, there won't be
housing, there won't be water. So today is not only the time when we can make massive
investments in animal husbandry, today is the time when we must make massive
investments in animal husbandry because dairying as we practise it is highly labour
intensive. An economic survey in some of Kaira's villages has shown that, of the total
income of the village, 50 per cent
comes from milk. Dairying can double the income of our farmer, our small farmer - and all
our farms, with few exceptions, are small.

So this is the time when investment in dairying would to some extent, hopefully, arrest the
drift of population from the rural areas to the cities.

A farmer and his wife can take care of the farm. The farmer takes care of the fields, he has 3
acres of land (that is the average farmer of Kaira) and his wife takes care of 1 or 2 buffaloes.
The farmer gets his return from his crops when they are marketed once or twice a year;
with it he buys his clothes, repairs his hut and looks after his plough - the annual
expenditures- and his wife sells the milk and gets 2; 3, 4 or 5 rupees a day with which she
buys the daily necessities for her
family, whether they be salt, sugar or kerosene. Dairying, therefore, as we practise it,
supplements agriculture. The buffalo is fed the low grade surplus, the by-products of the
farm, and milk is produced as a by-product. But the point is that it is no longer a by-product
because 50 per cent of the income of the village is from milk.

One other point to be made, before going on to "Operation Flood" itself is: the investment in
our factory, the Kaira Coop., which amounts to some Rs. 3 crores. Sales total over Rs. 30
crores. Where else, except in animal husbandry, can you get
this capital output ratio of 1:10 ?

So now we come to what is "Operation Flood"? I will take the example of a city like Bombay
to illustrate "Operation Flood". Bombay City has a population of approximately million
people. The total market for milk in Bombay is 1 million litres at the present time. Out of
this 1 million litres, when "Operation Flood" was conceived, the Bombay Milk Scheme (run
by the State Government of Maharashtra) was distributing 400,000 litres a day as
pasteurised bottled milk. The other 600,000 litres were produced by 100,000 buffaloes kept
within the city limits. The Bombay Milk Scheme's price was 1.70 rupees per litre for a full
bottle of milk with 7 per cent fat.
This is for pasteurised bottled milk. The other 600,000 litres unpasteurised, unbottled, and
frequently adulterated milk, was sold at Rupees 2.20 per litre, going up to Rupees 3.50 a
litre during festivals and the dry season. The price and quality of the organised sector, the
Bombay MIlk Scheme, did not influence the price and the quality of the unorganised sector
because the organised sector had a minority of the market.. The only thing that happened
was that, because the price was low and the
quality was good, the Scheme was under demand from the entire city, a demand that the
Bombay Milk Scheme was unable to satisfy, because it couldn't get the milk.

Faced with this situation, we looked at the 100,000 buffaloes kept in the city - they were
kept in the most awful conditions, they were cesspools of dirt and filth and squalor in the
city, all the cow dung was washed into the city drains, choking them,
the cow urine was washed into the ocean. There is not enough room for people to live, but
there are 100,000 buffaloes living there. There were a lot of problems connected with
keeping these city cattle, but let us look at points which are even more relevant to us. Each
year, 100,000 buffaloes were brought into the city of Bombay as soon as they have calved in
the rural hinterland and the distance over which they were brought may be as far away as
the Punjab.

So cattle, as soon as they calve, are taken to the city along with their calves. Then the first
thing they do to the buffalo which it reaches the city is to teach it to let down milk without
the calf. This takes 15 days. No sooner has this been done than
the calf is allowed to die. Sometimes they help it to die. The calf mortality is 100 percent in
15-20 days from arrival in the city of Bombay. No cattle keeper in the city brings anything
but the finest buffaloes from the rural areas, because under the adverse economic
conditions of that city, the fodder and feeds also have
to be brought from the rural areas. Nothing but the most economic animal will produce
enough money for the owner. So he goes to the rural areas and buys the finest buffalo and
brings it along with its calf-and kills 100,000 calves (the
progeny of the finest buffaloes of India) in Bombay city alone each year. Then the buffalo
becomes dry after 7-8 months. But she has not met a bull in Bombay. This is also intentional
because, in the process of conceiving; I am informed that milk
production will fall slightly and therefore the cattle owners are not interested in letting
these animals conceive. So at the end of the 8 or 9 months they become dry and they are not
pregnant. What to do with such an animal in the city of Bombay? If it should meet a bull, you
will have to wait 10 months before it will come into milk again and who is going to feed it
for 10 months when it is producing no milk? So 50 per cent of the time they are sent to the
slaughter house. There are enough people in our cities who eat meat. So 50 per cent, or
50,000 buffaloes, are killed at the slaughter houses in Bombay. The other 50 per cent who
may be younger, are sent back to the rural area, 300-400 miles away, so they can be
salvaged and produce milk
after having calved again. So Bombay City alone destroys 50,000 of the finest buffaloes of
India each year.

Calcutta is no better. The people of Calcutta prefer cows' milk : they have a liking for certain
sweets which can best be made from cow's milk. They have decimated the finest of the cow
population in Punjab, by taking the cows from there along with the calf, killing the calf and
ultimately making the cows dry; And these cows cannot he then killed-because under the
laws of the land you cannot kill a useful cow; therefore they break its leg - now it is a useless
cow - then they kill it.

What is the solution to this problem? This type of decimation of the finest of our cattle is
what has brought Indian milk production and Indian animal husbandry to its present level,
particularly when we have done nothing to remove the useless.
We seem to specialise in killing the best.

The National Dairy Development Board took stock of this situation and tried to find a
solution. Two or three solutions have already been tried out but they have failed. The first
solution was the famous Aarey Milk Colony. This is a milk colony which houses 15,000
animals and when it was built in 1950 there were 45,000 buffaloes in the city of Bombay. A
milk colony, at the cost of Rs. 4.5 -crores, was built to house 15,000 animals in the most
exquisite conditions. Having moved 15,000 buffaloes from the town, there should have been
30,000 left, but the mathematics went wrong-there are 100,000 left instead. More quickly
than we could move the cattle, additional cattle came in. The cost of production in the milk
colony was high, as one might expect. Therefore, under the protective umbrella of high price
that the Aarey Colony type of production meant, the cattle owners could operate with the
cattle coming in, being milked dry and, then killed, and so on.

The second solution was attempted by the Government of Gujarat, which watched with
horror the decimation of its finest cattle-and so, not more than 17,500 cattle from the Kaira
District are allowed to be exported each year by law. Not more than 45,000 from the
neighbouring District of Mehsana will be permitted to be exported. And before .an animal
can be exported a receipt must be produced to show that one dry animal has come back to
the District. These laws were passed hoping that they would reduce the depletion of our
finest breeding material. But the cattIe merchants just bought the cattle, walked them over
the border, which is just a bridge over a river, and exported the cows from the neighbouring
District. It didn't
work.

Punjab, whose entire cattle wealth has' been seriously damaged by this practice, passed a
law saying that no buffalo or cow can be exported until it has reached the age of eight. In
making this law they thought the buffalo or cow would have produced two or three calves
before reaching this age. The only difficulty was that it bred corruption in the sense that
false papers stating the creature's age were not very difficult to obtain and many people got
false documents and exported the cattle.

All the Dairy Board said was that the problem we have been discussing was. really not an
administrative one. It is not a legal problem. It is really a milk marketing problem and if you
want to find. a solution to it, there is only one solution that will work - put milk in the city.
Then cattle will not go to the city. And this is the. basis of "Operation Flood:"

Just for a moment imagine if the 100,000 buffaloes in Bombay by magic can be wished away
to a rural area. How much milk would they produce there, and what about the fodder and
feed that go into the city? The answer is, they will produce exactly the same, 600,000 litres.
So in shifting the cattle you lose no milk. What would be the situation in the second year, if
the rural area is not required to supply 50,000 freshly calved animals to replace the 50,000
that have been killed: then the answer is not 600,000 but 900;000 litres, provided you
increase the fodder and feed available in the area to support the extra' production. What
about the' third year? It was calculated that it will be anything up to 1.2 million Iitres. The
fourth year, 1.5 million Iitres. Now the young females have come into milk, as it takes four
years for a buffalo to come into milk. So we plotted this..assuming certain-mortality-rates
and engaging the help of economists, and we found that the milk 'production
in the rural area, starting with 600,000 litres a day, would rise to 3.3 million litres a day in
the eighth year. There is, in fact, a tremendous multiplying factor involved in keeping the
cattle in the rural area and not allowing them to be taken to the cities.
Taking milk to the cities on four legs is a most uneconomic and wasteful way of getting milk
from the rural areas. Thus, having come to this concept, the title "Operation Flood" implied
not flooding the cities with milk but a stop to the taking of cattle from the rural areas to the
cities, so that a flood of milk will be
generated in the rural areas and flow from there into the cities, satisfying demands and
needs more economically than taking cattle to the cities. But to shift the cattle, to dismantle
these factories that produce milk - namely, these buffaloes - and
re-erect them, takes time and production must be kept going. Therefore we have asked the
World Food Program of the United Nations for 42,000 tonnes of butter fat and 126,000
tonnes of skim milk powder, to be recombined into milk in our four cities of Bombay,
Calcutta, Delhi and Madras, covering a population of 20 million people.

And while we put this milk in, we believe that what will happen is that the flow of cattle will
be arrested, as we capture the milk market of Bombay for the organised sector. Capturing
should be very easy, as we have a better product of reliable
quality at a lower price. So we will capture the market of Bombay for the organized sector
with the milk we have, with the donations of milk powder and butter oil we will get, and
having captured it there will be no cattle left in the city because
they will have no market to serve. "Operation Flood" is a marketing exercise and I think
therein lies its strength, and therein lies also some of its problems.

Now the exact mechanism of the scheme is very simple. We receive these donations and in
order to handle this scheme the Government of India has set up a Corporation, called the
Indian Dairy Corporation. This Corporation, which is registered as a Company, will receive
on behalf of Bombay, Delhi, Madras and Calcutta, butter oil and milk powder donated by the
World Food Program. It will then give this butter oil and milk powder to the milk scheme in
Bombay, Calcutta, Madras and New Delhi at a price at which the incentive to produce milk
in the rural areas is maintained. And as we calculated that time if the world market price at
the start of "Operation Flood" for these commodities was X, we would give them to these
schemes at 2.5 X. Therefore 42 million dollars worth of these commodities which the World
Food Program donates to us will generate 127 million dollars. The rest of it - say, Rs. 60
crores - constitutes a tax which we apply to mop up the consumer rupees for investment in
rural animal husbandry. (I am told that economists call it anti-inflationary). Now this total
of some Rs. 96 crores is used for building additional
processing and marketing capacities for milk in the cities, adequate to capture the total milk
market.

The present capacity of the dairies in these four cities is I million Iitres a day. This is being
extended to 2.75 million litres a day. This would take up approximately Rs. 40 crores. We
are generating some Rs. 96 crores, so we invest the rest of that amount in creating replicas
of the coop, at Anand in other States. In all these States, we shall endeavour to help them
create a feeder balancing plant like Anand. A plant that will be sensitive to the needs of
farmers, a plant that hopefully will be owned by them and certainly a plant that, apart from
being sensitive to their needs, would be responsive to their demands. In "Operation Flood"
the main problem is to create these farmer organizations to run these plants. It took us
about 25 years to create Anand, we duplicated Anand in Mehsana, 100 miles to the North,
and this took 10 years. We did a third organization in our neighbouring District, Baroda,
and that took us four years. We built another in Surat, 100 miles South, which took us three
years. Now we are creating, two 'hlorein Gujarat and we think
that will take up two years. '\Ve e m to be getting better as the years pass in building up
these organizations, but I would admit that we have created these in the State of Gujarat,
where Anand is in the centre and in other States it is not going to be so easy.

Think of the significance of these milk producers' organizations. The Kaira Coop', for
example, organises 185,000 fat tests morning and evening in 710 villages. Based on these
tests, the producers receive payment for their morning milk in the evening and for their
evening milk next morning. Inevitably, to manage such a task, the coop' has built up a
considerable organisation of its own.
But, apart from the organisational capacity which is implied, think what it means in a
village, when the people stand in line twice daily to sell their milk, they take their place in
the queue, regardless of caste or traditional authority. The highest
may find himself following the humblest - and each knows that the coop' (his own coop')
will treat them as equals and with fairness.

Moreover, each village coop is not only a milk collecting centre. It is a pucca building - often
in a village which has no other such building - and it is washed down twice daily
after each milk collection. The measures used in collecting the milk are thoroughly scrubbed
and insecticides are used to keep down the flies. Thus, each of the 710 coop's is not only a
milk collection centre - it may well also be the first example
of modern sanitation in its village.

Think also of the women who, in Kaira District keep the buffalo. Previously, when the
buffalo fell seriously sick, they would tie a black thread on its left horn - and wait for it to
die. Now their cooperative union has some 39 veterinary doctors- all of them employed by
the farmers and paid by them. Within four hours, a mobile animal clinic - with a veterinary
doctor - and an assistant - can answer a call for veterinary care from any of the 710 villages.
Thus, the milk producers see the wonders of modern science (in this case, veterinary
science) applied to their own needs.

Inevitably, curiosity is aroused in the villages as to the source of these modern benefits.
Many of the milk producers may never have seen Anand, the Headquarters of their
cooperative union, although it is not more than 40~50 miles away from their village. So we
bring them to Anand. Some 100,000 women - all of them milk producer-members of the co-
operative union - have so far been brought to Anand by the Union. They have a picnic and
see the city - and most importantly, they see their own dairy plant, their cattle-feed plant
and the artificial insemination centre, where some 50 bulls are kept to produce semen for
the cooperative's artificial
insemination system.

At the cattle-feed plant, we explain to them why the cattle feed has 16 per cent protein in
winter, when other feedstuffs are available-and 19 per cent protein in summer, when
quality feed - stuffs are in short supply. The technical staff at the cattle-feed plant also
explain to them why it is necessary to give good feed
to the pregnant buffalo in the last three months of her pregnancy, even though she is not
producing any milk, because it is necessary to see that the foetus receives adequate
nutrition, in order that it will ultimately mature to its full genetic potential. When we
explain these matters, are we talking of only animal nutrition?

Similarly, when they go to the artificial insemination centre, they are shown live semen
under the microscope and they are told how artificial insemination actually works. But
when we talk to them this way, are we only talking of artificial insemination for the buffalo -
or are we not rather talking of the reproductive process itself and its control?

We should remember also that these milk producers are by no means confined to those
with three acres of land or more. They include even widows with virtually no land and a
family to feed. By applying her and her family's labour to the task of
keeping one or two buffaloes, the widow is enabled to live. And this applies also to many
who are today classified as "landless labourers".
What, then, is the real significance this approach to dairying ? I t is an instrument of change
in three ways :-

i. It is a means whereby the villagers organise themselves for their betterment,

building for themselves a means of creating the change that they want;

ii. It is an instrument which can benefit not only the "have's" in the village, but also the
"have not's." In fact, of course, the benefit which the sub-marginal farmer and
landless labourer can obtain from dairying is proportionately greater, because they
start from such a pitifully low basic income;

iii. And finally, perhaps most important of all, it is a means of demonstrating, within the
village itself and even to its poorest members, what is meant by "modernisation",
what is meant by "science" - and how even the
poorest villager can himself use these means of modernisation for bettering his own
lot now and giving his family a hopeful future.

As I said, there are difficulties in helping the villages to create these organisations: there are
vested interest who stand to benefit from the lack of change: a new approach is needed to
the teaching of skills in the villages in order to make such. an organisation work - and above
all, some extra resources have to be deployed, in order to make the sub-marginal farmer
viable and to give the landless labourer a year-round means of living.

But, surely, this is what "development" is about. It is not a matter of Gross National Product
- it is not even simply a matter of so many millions of litres of milk for our cities, important
though that may be.

True development must be such that it brings the modernisation process to the service of
our majority: namely the rural poor. It must bring to these people not only the pittance
which they need for their humble diet, but also the means whereby
they can act together to obtain for themselves the benefits of modern science and
organisation - and, in that process, the means whereby they can build for themselves, in
every village; a society which is at peace with itself, concerned with its neighbours - and
able to see a bright future for all its children.

In its own way - and, I hope, in a humble way - dairying is such an instrument of change: an
instrument not only of technical change, but also of economic and social change. And it is to
such instruments that we must look to build the India of
tomorrow.

National Investment and Finance anniversary

National Investment and Finance Weekly 34th anniversary, New Delhi

Presentation of NIF Man of the Year Award, 1974,

 By the President of India Shri Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed

Address by

V Kurien, Chairman

National Dairy Development Board, Anand

20th December 1975

I suppose that there are a few who would have the courage, when honoured as man of
the Year, to say “Thank you very much for this Honour. I agree that I deserve it” – and
then sit down. Frankly, however, I lack such courage – and, if I were to speak purely
personally today, I would have to say that I certainly do not deserve this Honour.

On the contrary, there is only one stand-point from which I could accept it – and that is
the fact that I have, for over twentyfive years, enjoyed what must be considered an even
greater honour: namely, that of being in the service of the small farmers, the landless
labours and the resourceless widows, who are the majority of our country’s rural milk
producers. Therefore, I have accepted this honour as the representative of the small milk
producer – because he, surely, is the Man of this Year.

Indeed, if you live in Bombay, or Delhi, or Calcutta – or as far away as Madras – I need
hardly tell you that this is the year of the small milk producer. You must all have noted
how your supplies of fresh milk have improved – by an extra three hundred thousand
litres a day in Bombay alone, for example – and how babyfood, cheese, milk powder,
ghee and butter – how the supplies of these important products have improved; how
their prices have stabilised – and, in some cases, even declined of late.

To a large extent, these changes have come about because the programmes entrusted
by the Government of India to the National Dairy Development Board and the Indian
Dairy Corporation – of which I am joint Chairman—are beginning to succeed in the
helping the small milk producer in the efficient production and marketing of his milk. Of
all these programmes, I suppose the programme popularly known “Operation ‘Flood” is
the best known. Certainly, it is the largest; the largest of its kind in the world, in fact. And
Operation Flood is without doubt now making its impact.

Twentyfive years ago, we had one Anand Pattern milk producers’ cooperative (which is
now best known by its brand name “Amul”). By the late 1960’s, we had five of these
Anand Pattern milk co-operatives – all of them in Gujarat, where the milk producers had
come to place their full faith in this pattern of co-operation. Then the National Dairy
Development Board was formed, under the aegis of the Government of India, and it
promulgated Operation Flood, as part of the assignment given to it by Government, to
replicate the Anand pattern in all the milksheds of India. Subsequently, the Government
of India formed the Indian Dairy Corporation as its financing and promoting body for
such ventures in dairying – and now, jointly, the Indian Dairy Corporation and the
National Dairy Development Board are helping to get Operation Flood implemented.

In 1976, one new Anand Pattern dairy will be commissioned every three months. Anand
Pattern milk producers’ cooperatives are being established in the major milksheds of
altogether ten States – and the milk producers (especially, the poor majority, for whom
milk production is the major source and sometimes the only source of livelihood) are
being helped to increase their milk production – and, let us never forget, thereby
enabling people like you and me to improve our standard of living.

I must say that I do not think that we can be very self-congratulatory about this progress.
After all, our rural poor have been with us for centuries – and have been the
responsibility of those who are better-off in our country since 1947. Moreover, the
effectiveness of the Anand Pattern, in helping poor rural milk producers to increase their
milk production and to improve their income, has been well proved for many years. Yet it
is only now that, grudgingly (and still far more slowly than is necessary), the country is
mounting a genuinely effective programme to reach out to such people as our poor rural
milk producers, to help them without discrimination against creed, caste or community.
Only lately has the seriousness of this responsibility been recognised. Only now are we,
the privileged elite, admitting that we have for too long bowed to the power, the privilege
– and also the perquisites – commanded by those who have a vested interest in the
status quo.

It is still a fact that, for example, the majority of those who have even a little milk to sell
mortgage their milk for a year, even before it has been produced, for a petty loan at an
extortionate interest rate. It is still a fact that private interests can manoeuvre against
public policy, when it comes to the formation of socially aware bodies, such as milk
producers’ cooperatives – and that these vested interests often receive the covert
support of the bureaucracy, in defiance and derogation of the national objectives which
that bureaucracy is supposed to served.

These are unpalatable facts – and perhaps you would have preferred it, had I not
mentioned them on this happy occasion, when you have invited me here, Sir, to honour
me. But, I hope you will agree that this is a fitting occasion for us all to acknowledge that
now is the time for the System to change. The small farmer is the backbone of our
country; the longest-suffering, hardest working provider of our food. I suppose for the
first time in our history, he is coming into his own. He has for a long time been aware of
his responsibility to the community – and now, he is becoming aware of the community’s
responsibility to him.

Surely, we must welcome this change. It is good for our society that we should recognise
the value of honest labour and productivity. It is good for our social health that we should
not have to hide away, in the back of our minds, every time we eat a decent meal, the
fact that there are millions who would reach out for only a morsel of what we consume in
one meal without thought.

Yes, Mr. Chairman, it is in this sense, I feel, that it is good—indeed, it is to me heart-

warming – that your honouring me today is really a recognition of the small, rural milk
producer as the Man of the Year – and, in the sense that I can be said to represent the
small milk producer, I acknowledge this honour with true and humble gratitude.

Thank you.
Dr. Kurien with Mohammad Hidaytullah VP India (1984)
Dr. Kurien with Mr. James Callaghan British PM - 1978

Dr. Kurien with Mufti Mohammad Sayeed

Dr. Kueirn with Shei Devilal (1990)

Dr. Kurien with Mr. Rupul Jayakar (Advisor of the Govt. Of India 1985)
Shri Lalbahadur Shastri (1964)
With Former PM Mr. Rajiv Gandhi (1986)

With Ramakrishna Hedge

 Dr. Kurien with Charles Prince (1980)

The Birth of Amul

 It all began when milk became a symbol of protest

 Founded in 1946 to stop the exploitation by middlemen
 Inspired by the freedom movement

The seeds of this unusual saga were sown more than 65 years back in Anand, a small town in
the state of Gujarat in western India. The exploitative trade practices followed by the local trade
cartel triggered off the cooperative movement. Angered by unfair and manipulative practices
followed by the trade, the farmers of the district approached the great Indian patriot Sardar
Vallabhbhai Patel for a solution. He advised them to get rid of middlemen and form their own
co-operative, which would have procurement, processing and marketing under their control.

In 1946, the farmers of this area went on a milk strike refusing to be cowed down by the cartel.
Under the inspiration of Sardar Patel, and the guidance of leaders like Morarji Desai and
Tribhuvandas Patel, they formed their own cooperative in 1946.

This co-operative, the Kaira District Co-operative Milk Producers Union Ltd. began with just two
village dairy co-operative societies and 247 litres of milk and is today better known as Amul
Dairy. Amul grew from strength to strength thanks to the inspired leadership of Tribhuvandas
Patel, the founder Chairman and the committed professionalism of Dr Verghese Kurien,who was
entrusted the task of running the dairy from 1950.

The then Prime Minister of India, Lal Bahadur Shastri decided that the same approach should
become the basis of a National Dairy Development policy. He understood that the success of
Amul could be attributed to four important factors. The farmers owned the dairy, their elected
 representatives managed the village societies and the district union, they employed
professionals to operate the dairy and manage its business. Most importantly, the co-operatives
were sensitive to the needs of farmers and responsive to their demands.

At his instance in 1965 the National Dairy Development Board was set up with the basic
objective of replicating the Amul model. Dr. Kurien was chosen to head the institution as its
Chairman and asked to replicate this model throughout the country.

The Amul Model

The Amul Model of dairy development is a three-tiered structure with the dairy cooperative
societies at the village level federated under a milk union at the district level and a federation of
member unions at the state level.

 Establishment of a direct linkage

between milk producers and
consumers by eliminating
middlemen

 Milk Producers (farmers) control

procurement, processing and
marketing

 Professional management
 Organisation
GCMMF

Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd. (GCMMF), is India's largest food
product marketing organisation with annual turnover (2016-17) US$ 4.1 billion. Its daily milk
procurement is approx 18 million lit per day from 18,549 village milk cooperative
societies, 18 member unions covering 33 districts, and 3.6 million milk producer
members.
It is the Apex organisation of the Dairy Cooperatives of Gujarat, popularly known
as 'AMUL',which aims to provide remunerative returns to the farmers and also serve the
interest of consumers by providing quality products which are good value for money. Its success
has not only been emulated in India but serves as a model for rest of the World. It is exclusive
marketing organisation of 'Amul' and 'Sagar' branded products. It operates through 56 Sales
Offices and has a dealer network of 10000 dealers and 10 lakh retailers, one of the largest such
 networks in India. Its product range comprises milk, milk powder, health beverages, ghee,
butter, cheese, Pizza cheese,Ice-cream, Paneer, chocolates, and traditional Indian sweets, etc.
GCMMF is India's largest exporter of Dairy Products. It has been accorded a "Trading
House"status. Many of our products are available in USA, Gulf Countries,Singapore, The
Philippines, Japan, China and Australia. GCMMF has received the APEDA Award from
Government of India for Excellence in Dairy Product Exports for the last 16 years. For the year
2009-10, GCMMF has been awarded "Golden Trophy" for its outstanding export performance
and contribution in dairy products sector by APEDA. In 2013-14, GCMMF took giant strides in
expanding its presence in International markets. Amul’s presence on Global Dairy Trade (GDT)
platform in which only the top six dairy players of the world sell their products, has earned
respect and recognition across the world. By selling milk powders on GDT, GCMMF could not
only realize better prices as per market demand but it also firmly established Amul in the league
of top dairy players in world trade.

For its consistent adherence to quality, customer focus and dependability, GCMMF has received
numerous awards and accolades over the years. It received the Rajiv Gandhi National Quality
Award in1999 in Best of All Category. In 2002 GCMMF bagged India's Most Respected Company
Award instituted by Business World. In 2003, it was awarded the The IMC Ramkrishna Bajaj
National Quality Award - 2003 - certificate of merit- for adopting noteworthy quality
management practices for logistics and procurement. GCMMF is the first and only Indian
organisation to win topmost International Dairy Federation Marketing Award for probiotic ice
cream launch in 2007. For the innovations, GCMMF has received AIMA-RK Swamy High
Performance brand award 2013 and CNN-IBN Innovating for better tomorrow award in 2014.
World Dairy Innovation Awards- 2014 for Best Marketing Campaign - "Eat Milk with Every
Meal". For the tree plantation activity GCMMF has received seven consecutive Good Green
Governance award from Srishti during 2007 to 2013.

The Amul brand is not only a product, but also a movement. It is in one way, the representation
of the economic freedom of farmers. It has given farmers the courage to dream. To hope. To live.

GCMMF - An Overview
Year of Establishment 1973

Members 18 District Cooperative Milk Producers' Unions

No. of Producer Members 3.6 Million

No. of Village Societies 18,549

Total Milk handling capacity per day 30 Million litres per day

Milk Collection (Total - 2016-17) 6.44 billion litres

Milk collection (Daily Average 2016-17) 17.65 million litres

Cattlefeed manufacturing Capacity 7800 Mts. per day

Sales Turnover -(2016-17) Rs. 27043 Crores (US $ 4.1 Billion)

Our Member Unions

1. Kaira District Cooperative Milk Producers' Union Ltd., Anand
2. Mehsana District Cooperative Milk Producers' Union Ltd, Mehsana
3. Sabarkantha District Cooperative Milk Producers' Union Ltd., Himatnagar
4. Banaskantha District Cooperative Milk Producers' Union Ltd., Palanpur
5. Surat District Cooperative Milk Producers' Union Ltd., Surat
6. Baroda District Cooperative Milk Producers' Union Ltd., Vadodara
7. Panchmahal District Cooperative Milk Producers' Union Ltd., Godhra
8. Valsad District Cooperative Milk Producers' Union Ltd., Valsad
9. Bharuch District Cooperative Milk Producers' Union Ltd., Bharuch
10.Ahmedabad District Cooperative Milk Producers' Union Ltd.,Ahmedabad
11. Rajkot District Cooperative Milk Producers' Union Ltd., Rajkot
12. Gandhinagar District Cooperative Milk Producers'Union Ltd., Gandhinagar
13. Surendranagar District Cooperative Milk Producers' Union Ltd., Surendranagar
14. Amreli District Cooperative Milk Producers Union Ltd., Amreli
15. Bhavnagar District Cooperative Milk Producers Union Ltd., Bhavnagar
16. Kutch District Cooperative Milk Producers' Union Ltd., Anjar
17. Junagadh District Cooperative Milk Producers' Union Limited,Junagadh
18. Porbandar District Cooperative Milk Producers’ Union Ltd, Porbandar

Chairman's Speech: 25th Annual Report 1998-99

Report of the Board of Directors adopted at their meeting held on 1st June 1999 for
presentation at the 25th Annual General Body Meeting to be held on 17th June 1999.

Madam and Gentlemen,

The seeds of your Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation were sown in November
1973 with the simple intention of ensuring a fair return to the producers. The intention was to
receive all the milk offered by them. The intention was to help Member Unions develop
adequate production and processing facilities. The intention was to process all the milk
received. The intention was to develop a product-mix that would promote sustained growth.
The intention was to offer consumers quality products at fair prices, and to do so by achieving
economies of scale and costs. The intention was to create and expand a milk grid to maximise
the availability of liquid milk. The intention was that Milk Co-operatives would play an ever
increasing role in the rural economy, providing gainful employment to large numbers of
producers. The intention was to raise producer awareness that they could manage their own
affairs through Co-operatives that they controlled. The intention was to create a structure,
owned by farmers, that would, with time, be the farmers' best friend. The intention was to
establish a marketing and distribution system that would reach every corner of the country
with your products. And the intention was that the highest levels of consumer confidence would
be reposed in the brands called Amul and Sagar.
Slowly but surely, like a sapling, your Federation grew in the rich soil of cooperation, its unique
strength. Our leaders, our managers and our employees worked together, shared a common
discipline and contributed to the decisions that have brought us to where we are. Mutual trust
and confidence were the firm foundation on which we grew.

The marketing of milk and milk products began from April 1, 1974. In August 1976, your
Federation began the supply of liquid milk to the Mother Dairy, Delhi, -- insulated rail tankers,
carrying fresh milk over a distance of 1,000 kms, an important step in establishing a National
Milk Grid.

When products with common brand names are manufactured at more than one location, a
shared commitment to quality standards is essential. Your Federation adopted standards and
specifications that conform to the most stringent standards the world over. And your Member
Unions showed that these could be met.

This sapling - our Federation -- grew rapidly. Milk collections grew, turnovers soared and
surplus, which is invested in building our future, increased. Amul Cheese Spread and Amul
Shrikhand were introduced in 1983 with all new flavours. Amulya, a dairy whitener, made its
appearance in 1986 and emerged as the leading brand in the segment. Dhara, launched in
August 1988, quickly captured the market as a pure, wholesome edible oil marketed at a fair
price. In 1996, the country got Amul Mithai Mate along with the million litre-per-day capacity
Gandhinagar Mother Dairy, even as Amul Lite, a low-fat, low-cholesterol spread entered the
calorie conscious market. A completely new product, Amul Ice Cream, also made its debut in
1996. Its success is now part of India's marketing folklore. Amul Butter, Amul Ghee, Amul
Cheese, Amulspray, Amulya, Amul Milk Powder and Sagar Skimmed Milk Powder all achieved
and sustained brand leader status in their respective categories. All this while, at the grass roots,
Operation Flood III extended and strengthened our co-operative base.

It was in the 1990s that your Federation reminded the nation of our roots with a new
advertising campaign: "Amul - The Taste of India". The campaign is the common thread in all
our product campaigns, enhancing our brand name and image in India and abroad.

Amul Pizza Cheese (Mozzarella), Amul Cheese Slice, Amul Cheese Powder, Amul Malai Paneer,
Amul Mithaee Gulab Jamun, Amul Buttermilk, Dhara Health, Safal Mango Drink, Safal Tomato
Ketchup, Safal Mixed Fruit Jam all have moved from the drawing board to the shop shelves and
rapidly on to family dining tables, all in the span of one short year!

Today, twenty-five years after we planted our sapling, much that we set out to achieve is a
reality. Our marketing successes - recognised as outstanding achievements in Independent India
-- have been achieved by a co-operative. This has come as a surprise to many in our country.
But, however fulfilling our journey may have been, we must never forget one thing - we work
for the farmers and our future is indelibly linked to theirs. The producer was, is and will be the
reason we exist.

I now present to you, your Federation's Annual Report and the Audited Accounts for the year
1998-99.

Review Of Operations
Milk Procurement

This year, our Member Unions increased their milk procurement by 4.5 percent, achieving an
average of 41.42 lac kilograms per day as compared to 39.65 lac kilograms per day in 1997-98.
Peak procurement during 1998-99, touched a high of 51.88 lac kilograms in a day.
Sales

During the year, your Federation's sales increased by 18 percent from Rs.1,883.58 crore to
Rs.2,219.23 crore, including consignment sales of Rs.407.93 crore. Dairy product turnover
registered a robust growth of 20 percent. In addition, your Federation co-ordinated Rs. 24.1
crore in product sales to the Defence services.

This year, Amul Butter registered record sales, with Rupee turnover growing by 15 percent. The
sales value of Amulya has registered impressive growth with an increase of 12 percent. Sale of
Amul Milk in Gujarat has increased by 21 percent in value terms. Amul Cheese sales value has
increased by a spectacular 15 percent over the previous year. Despite a decline in the milk
powder market due to adequate availability of liquid milk in most parts of the country, we
substantially increased sales value by 18 percent, a testimony to its quality.

Export

For the 5th consecutive year, we have received the Government of India's APEDA award as the
nation's largest exporter of dairy products. During the year, Amul Butter, Ghee, Shrikhand and
Gulabjamuns were launched in the USA. Our products also made a debut in New Zealand,
Singapore, Thailand and Iraq, during the year, and received a very encouraging consumer
response.

Dhara Oil

During the year under review, Dhara sales value has increased by more than 13 percent
demonstrating the consumer confidence in a volatile market situation. Dhara remains the
undisputed market leader among all consumer-packed edible oils. This would not have been
possible without our strong consumer franchise and Dhara's brand equity, among all oil brands
in the country.

Distribution Network

Your Federation's distribution network has been strengthened with the addition of 1,007 more
Wholesale Dealers, during the year. GCMMF's total number of Wholesale Dealers now stands at
3,700 extending our reach to more than 5 lac retailers. These statistics, impressive as they are,
do not tell the most important part of the story: the staunch support, brand loyalty and
commitment of our Wholesale Dealers and Retailers, that makes it possible for our products to
reach consumers in the remotest parts of our country.

Co-Operative Development Programme

Our Co-operative Development Programme aims at building greater member understanding

and loyalty, orienting our farmer-owners to their role, rights and responsibilities while
promoting the highest level of member participation in their co-operative. During the past six
years, our Member Unions have taken the member education programme to 5,138 village dairy
co-operative societies, reaching 4,64,700 men and 5,32,496 women milk producers.

I am glad to inform you that during 1998-99, as planned, our Member Unions continued to
increase the participation of women milk producers in the dairy co-operative societies. Our
Member Unions have organised 35 women's leadership development programmes and trained
794 women milk producers, during the past three years. The benefits under the Co-operative
Development Programme, during the year, were extended to 1,227 village dairy co-operative
societies with 84,586 men, 1,09,601women and 9,905 Members of Management Committee of
DCSs participating. We must not forget that just as the future of your Federation rests on your
unions, your strength depends on each dairy co-operative society becoming and remaining a
vibrant, growing local enterprise, important to its members and its community.

Progress Of Dairy Co-Operative Organisations

During the year, your Member Unions continued their infrastructure investments. They
upgraded and strengthened the dairy co-operative structure by adding new village dairy co-
operative societies: the number of DCSs increased from 10,183 to 10,364 during the year.
Membership grew from 19.51 to 20.83 lacs, an increase of 6.8 percent. The total milk processing
capacity of the Member Unions now stands at 60 LLPD.

The Road Ahead

Today, co-operatives are a force to be reckoned with. We laud the co-operatives that have
succeeded. And we recognise that these are the co-operatives that have ably and courageously
defended their birthright - AUTONOMY. Autonomy is more than a word; it is the right of co-
operatives to do what they believe they must do for their members. Sugar co-operatives,
employee thrift co-operatives, urban co-operative banks and, of course, some of our own dairy
co-operatives have succeeded not because of some mythical protection, but because they kept
the needs of their members uppermost. If they have been successful, it is because they have
served their members with honesty, integrity and perseverance. This dedication to a cause is
the envy of many a corporate that tries to purchase loyalty with fancy advertising and other
gimmicks.

Co-operatives are grounded in the values of self-help, self-responsibility, democracy, equality,

equity and solidarity. We believe in our Principles -- not because they are there, in our bye-laws,
but, because, they are ingrained in our spirit. The unique structure, that we have created, is
largely a result of the first principle - that of Voluntary and Open Membership. Co-operatives do
not discriminate on the basis of gender, or on the basis of social, political and religious beliefs.
Democratic Member Control provides for decentralised decision-making reflected in policies by
and for the member. The men and women who serve as elected representatives are accountable
to the membership. The basic capital of the co-operative is Member Economic Participation.
Equitable distribution of Surplus by investing in the co-operative, contributing to reserves and
benefiting the members in their way of life, are all a healthy sign of the functioning of a co-
operative. Autonomy and Independence are essential to the co-operative remaining faithful to
its values and principles. We strengthen those values and principles by investing in Education,
Training and Information, enriching our members' and the general public's understanding of
the principles and techniques of co-operation. Co-operation among Co-operatives is reflected in
everything we do - whether as GCMMF, its constituent unions or the co-operatives that own us.
Each of us must continually seek opportunities for local, national, regional and international co-
operation. Last, but not least, is Concern for Community. For what use is co-operation if there is
no common good for the community.

There are few structures in which the most marginal or the weakest gets his say. This is unique
to the co-operative. We know that the strength of a chain depends on its weakest link. We know
that only the co-operative will put the farmer's interests first. It is only the co-operative that
protects the farmer from the vagaries of nature -- as witnessed from the recent downturns,
when Onion, Potato, Cotton and Sugar prices skyrocketed. Sadly it was the trader - not the
farmer - who profited from this vicious exploitation of the hapless housewife.

The Freedom struggle may be over. Independence may be 50 years old now. But the struggle for
the well being of the have-nots is far from over. Only when the 40 percent of our people below
the poverty line rise above it, can India be truly free. Only when there are no hungry mouths to
feed can we be truly free. Only when each soul born in this land has the opportunity to achieve
her full potential will India have achieved real Independence. Are we prepared for this freedom
struggle that lies ahead? I fear that only co-operatives are prepared to wage the real fight for
Independence.

Despite our commitment, co-operatives face a very uncertain future. We still cannot say
whether they will survive, bloom or wither away. We must bear it in mind, that it is co-
operatives that have made dairying and, indeed, much of our agriculture, a sustainable
economic activity in our country. To a large extent, an industry depends on the leaders: it is
therefore essential that we commit ourselves to excellence in all that we do. This includes
ensuring that the milk and milk products sold in India meet the highest standards of hygiene,
sanitation and quality. As in any other country of the world, regulation is one way to move in
this direction and it was to regulate the country's milk industry, that the Government of India
issued the Milk and Milk Products Order (MMPO) in 1992. The objective was to regulate the
production, supply and distribution of milk and milk products in order to maintain and increase
the supply of good quality liquid milk to the general public.

However, regrettably, while the intention in promulgating the MMPO was exemplary,
implementation has left much to be desired. As a consequence, much of the milk and milk
products manufactured and sold in the country also leave much to be desired.

Co-operatives are committed to quality and will not compromise for the sake of easy money, or
for the sake of higher realisation. Despite our commitment to quality and to meeting consumer
demand for low margin products, co-operatives pay their taxes and the full cost of their utilities.
Yet, there are those who claim that co-operatives are highly subsidised! In what way, may we
ask?

For us, Quality Management means more than the details of product manufacture -- it means
keeping the customer at the centre of all that we do. Quality Management, for us, means an
unceasing effort to achieve quality leadership in everything that we do. For us, it is not just the
gizmos of calculations within controllable limits of variations; it means setting standards by
which others benchmark themselves. For us, Quality Management symbolises sincerity and
trust as the basis of all our dealings. It means building in continuous learning and improvement.
It means satisfying your customers better than your competitors can today and tomorrow. It
means empowering your employees, so that their growth is our growth. It means encouraging
people to perform the most mundane and routine activities with a focus on achieving quality. It
is the shaping of people's ideas and attitudes so that they are always motivated to give their
best.

As you are aware, all our Member Unions have helped producers to organise dairy co-operatives
wherever there is potential. The task before us now is to transform each of these co-operatives
into a self-reliant, growing business - for in the end, their growth is our growth. Just as your
Federation and Union boards have become the equals of their peers in other forms of
enterprise, so we must encourage managing committees to plan and direct the growth of the
DCS. Just as we have built professionalism in the Unions and Federation, so too our societies
must become increasingly professional in their operations. To achieve this, we would like to
encourage Union field staff to become consultants, rather than supervisors; facilitators rather
than decision-makers; trainers rather than doers. We are prepared to encourage this shift in
roles by training field staff in institutional development, consulting and facilitation skills. We
envision this field force serving as your own professional consultants for Dairy Co-operative
Society management, encouraging them to plan and to undertake programmes in productivity
enhancement, member education and quality assurance.

The milk producers of our Member Unions have a commitment to achieve Total Quality in six
priority areas - Cleanliness of the Dairy Co-operative Societies, Planning and Budgeting of the
Dairy Co-operative Society, Artificial Insemination Service, Quality Testing and Milk
Measurement at Dairy Co-operative Societies, Animal Feeding and Management Practices and
Self-Leadership Development.

It is hoped that this intervention will be implemented in all the Dairy Co-operative Societies of
our Member Unions. The Total Quality Movement in the village is the essential first step to
achieving sustained improvements in product quality, reductions in the cost of production and
improvements in the efficiency and effectiveness of milk procurement.

Today people speak of Quality as a tool of appreciation. The demand for quality is on the rise the
world over. The customer is silent no more. The day is not far off when quality will become a
core competence. Making quality the basis of daily life, we can transform society itself. But this
requires sacrifice. This means, quality has to enter the realms of our own lives before we can
take it to our work tables. This means we need to think and act as Leaders. And as Leaders we
share a vision -- we need to create ISO Standards not for our factories but for our own lives!
There is no governing body for this; it is each one unto himself. A task that is difficult, but not
impossible. It is only then that our society will get transformed. The prescription is there but are
we willing to try out the remedy?

We, at AMUL have cascaded the TQM movement to our Wholesale Dealers by organising them
into Quality Circles that work in tandem with our sales force. We have reason to believe that this
"quality domino" works wonders. We expect our efforts to result in a structure that works
relentlessly for the betterment of the entire chain -- from producer, processor, and marketer to
consumer. The quality imperative is nothing short of a way of life for our farmers. But one brand
does not guarantee an industry's commitment to quality. It is only when the last brand in the
industry achieves what we have striven for thus far, that we can claim to be truly quality
conscious. Are we then, ready, to live by quality? Or will "Quality" become just another launch,
just another brand -- one that sinks without a trace? The badge of quality is there. The calling is
there. The path is there. The choice is there. There is nothing to stop us. We must embrace
quality because we owe it -- not to anybody or any brand -- but to ourselves and to the farmers
we serve.

Our efforts to develop Indian agriculture have often faced attacks from self-styled critics. The
common refrain has been that Indian agriculture lacks "comparative advantage" in this or in
that. But ask "what is this comparative advantage" and there are not very many convincing
explanations. Agriculture is our prime engine of growth; there is no reason why it should not
remain so. But giving subsidies, on one hand, and deliberately keeping minimum support prices
low, on the other, is like equivocation when your right hand takes away what your left hand
provides! Agriculture cannot ignore producers and agriculture cannot ignore consumers. The
Government can do its bit by taking steps that favour both the producers and consumers. The
more effective approach is for Government to hand over the instruments of development to
farmers themselves. Let farmers handle their own affairs. Let Government restrict itself to the
policies - particularly those governing trade - that create a fertile field in which our producers
can thrive.

We have traversed a path that few have dared to. We are continuing on a path that still fewer
have the courage to follow. We must pursue a path that even fewer can dream to pursue. Yet, we
must, because we hold in trust the aims and aspirations of millions of our countrymen. I am
confident - as I know you are -- that with the nation's dairy farmers by our side we cannot fail!
Let us therefore resolve that however fulfilling our first twenty-five years have been, in the next
twenty-five years we will transform the lives of millions more, opening for them the door to an
India that is the land of our dreams.

Acknowledgements
Before closing, I would like to thank all those who have helped to make our Federation's
operations successful.

We are thankful to the National Co-operative Dairy Federation of India for their support during
the year.

The National Dairy Development Board, with its Operation Flood Programme, has played a
shining role in our growth and development, in more ways than one. We thank them.

The Institute of Rural Management, Anand, as always, has contributed to the manpower
development of the co-operative sector. We express deep gratitude for their support.

Our advertising agencies, bankers, insurers, management consultants, suppliers and transport
contractors have been of great help to us in managing our growth and are partners in our
success. We acknowledge their contributions and hope this fruitful alliance will continue and
strengthen in the times to come.

We depend on the efficiency of our distributors, retailers and most important of all the
patronage of our consumers, who have come to regard our brands as synonymous with quality
and value. While thanking them for their support, we assure them that we shall strive endlessly
to delight them.

Our Member Unions have been our greatest source of strength. We thank their elected leaders
and officers for their guidance, support and co-operation.

The Government of India and the Government of Gujarat have continued to offer support and
encouragement, for which we are extremely grateful.

Lastly, we thank the officers and staff of your Federation for their continued perseverance,
loyalty and unflinching efforts devoted to our cause.

Thank you.

For and on Behalf of Board of Directors

V. Kurien
Chairman