Verghese Kurien (26 November 1921 – 9 September 2012) was an Indian dairy engineer and social entrepreneur. He led initiatives that contributed to the extensive increase in milk production in India termed as the White Revolution.
Kurien graduated in physics from the University of Madras in 1940 and received his masters in mechanical engineering from the Michigan State University in 1947. In 1949, Kurien was sent by the Government of India to run its experimental creamery at Anand, where he set up the Kaira District Cooperative Milk Producers' Union in 1950 which later became Amul. Amul organised the dairy farmers in the villages as a part of cooperatives and linked them to the milk consumers directly, eliminating the need for middlemen.
In 1965, Kurien was appointed as the head of the newly formed National Dairy Development Board (NDDB), which helped to set up similar cooperatives across India and made dairy farming one of the largest self-sustaining industries and employment generators in rural areas. The dairy cooperatives were successful in increasing the milk production as the dairy farmers controlled the procurement, processing, and marketing as the owners of the cooperative. This led to a multi-fold increase in milk output over the next few decades and helped India become the world's largest milk producer in 1998. The co-operative model was later applied to other agricultural industries in India such as the production of edible oils and replicated in other countries.
For his contributions in increasing the dairy output, Kurien is known as the "Father of the White Revolution" in India. He was awarded the Ramon Magsaysay Award in 1964 and the World Food Prize in 1989. In 1999, he received the Padma Vibhushan, India's second highest civilian honour. He was conferred the Order of Agricultural Merit by the French Government in 1997.
Kurien was born on 26 November 1921 in Calicut, Madras Presidency, British India (now Kozhikode, Kerala, India) in a Malayali Syrian Christian family. His father was a government civil surgeon and Kurien did his schooling at Diamond Jubilee Higher Secondary School at Gobichettipalayam, where his father worked at the government hospital there. He graduated in physics from Loyola College in 1940 and received a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from the College of Engineering, Guindy, affiliated to the University of Madras, in 1943.
Kurien wanted to join the Indian army as an engineer but instead he worked with Tata Steel Technical Institute in Jamshedpur. Kurien applied for a scholarship provided by the Government of India to study metallurgical engineering but instead received a scholarship to study dairy engineering. He was sent to train at the Imperial Institute of Animal Husbandry in Bangalore before being sent to the United States on a government scholarship. He graduated with a master's degree in mechanical engineering from the Michigan State University in 1948. Kurien had stated that though he was sent on a government scholarship to study dairy engineering, he studied metallurgical and nuclear engineering, disciplines which were likely to be of far greater use to the soon-to-be independent India and to himself.
In 1949, Kurien was sent by the government of India to its experimental creamery at Anand in Bombay province (currently in Gujarat). He spent the evenings helping Tribhuvandas Patel with fixing the dairy equipment used for processing the milk procured from the local farmers. Earlier in 1946, Patel had set up a cooperative at Kaira. It was formed as a response to the exploitation of small dairy farmers by traders and agents, who set arbitrary milk prices on behalf of Polson, which had a near-total monopoly in milk collection from Kaira. Kurien wanted to quit the government job and leave Anand but was persuaded by Patel to stay with him to help with his dairy cooperative.
Kurien developed the Kaira District Cooperative Milk Producers' Union Limited (KDCMPUL) further which later became Amul. Milk collection was decentralised and was directly procured from the farmers at villages as a part of the cooperatives. Kurien and Tribhuvandas Patel were supported by Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and Morarji Desai to help organise the dairy farmers. Kurien worked on the belief that economic self-interest of all sections of the village-society would make them align together to grow their cooperative and remove caste or class conflicts. The cooperative dairying venture was expanded to the nearby districts and was involved in the training of dairy students. By 1952, the daily milk procurement reached 20,000 litres from a mere 200 litres per day in 1948.
In 1956, Kurien visited Nestle in Switzerland at their invitation but with special instructions from the commerce and industries minister. Nestle was importing milk powder, sugar and other materials required to produce condensed milk in India. Kurien asked Nestle to reduce the imports to India, to try manufacturing condensed milk with buffalo milk procured locally and to engage more Indians in the production process. He was met with a refusal stating that the natives would not be able to handle the technology involved in the condensed milk production. On returning, he increased the production of condensed milk at Amul, the import of which was banned by Government of India two years later. H. M. Dalaya, who studied dairy engineering with Kurien at the US, was persuaded by Kurien to work with him at Anand. He helped develop an indigenous process of making skimmed milk powder and condensed milk from buffalo milk, which had a higher proportion of milk solids and increased its economic value. In India, buffalo milk was plentiful while cow milk was in short supply. With the production of condensed milk and baby food from Buffalo milk, Amul competed successfully against Nestle and Glaxo.
The then Commerce minister T T Krishnamachari also cut imports of butter in steps with Kurien promising and delivering an incremental increase of his production to substitute imported butter, especially from New Zealand. During the Sino-Indian War in 1962, production had to be diverted to the Indian armed forces which allowed Polson to gain market share. Kurien lobbied with the government to freeze Polson's production lines, as part of the war effort. Later research by G. H. Wilster led to cheese production from buffalo milk at Amul.
When then Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri visited Anand to inaugurate Amul's cattle feed factory in October 1964, he interacted with the dairy farmers about their cooperative. In 1965, Shastri tasked Kurien to replicate the dairy's Anand scheme nationwide, for which the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) was founded. It was established as a society based at Anand and was led by Kurien.
Kurien negotiated with FAO and UNICEF of the United Nations, and the World Bank for aid to develop the cooperatives as a part of "Operation Flood". In the first phase between 1970 and 1979, he focused on choosing the 18 best milk sheds across the country, setting up dairy cooperatives and linking them with nearby major cities, to capture the market there. The Anand model was replicated across Gujarat and Kurien brought all of them under the Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF) to sell their products under a single Amul brand on the 25th anniversary of establishment. In the second phase between 1979 and 1985, the plan was extended to cover more than 290 towns. In 1979, he established the Institute of Rural Management at Anand for training the managers involved in the milk cooperatives. By 1985, there were about 4.25 million milk producers attached to 43,000 village cooperatives and milk powder production scaled up more than six times.
Consolidation and self-sufficiency
In the last phase of the Operation Flood between 1985 and 1996, Kurien focused on making the cooperatives independent and self-sustaining. It involved scaling up infrastructure to increase procurement and production, establishment dairy processing facilities, focus on marketing and training management professionals. In the 1990s, he lobbied and fought hard to keep multinational companies from entering the dairy business even as the country opened up due to liberalisation in 1991. India became the world's largest milk producer by 1998, surpassing the United States and contributed to about 17 percent of global output in 2010–11.