Verghese Kurien An engineer who became India s most favourite milkman

AHMEDABAD: Way back in 1949, a US-trained metallurgical engineer - a nephew of the then finance minister John Mathai --decided to quit government job to join a nascent dairy cooperative at a third of salary. Milk procurement of the cooperative has grown from a few hundred litre a day in early 1950s to over 90 lakh litre a day now under one of India's most popular brands 'Amul'.

Today, the turnover of Amul-led cooperatives stands at Rs 10,000 crore as against less than Rs 1,000 crore in early 1990s. The Amul group now consists of 15 district unions with 30 lakh farmer members in close to 16,000 villages of Gujarat producing over 90 lakh litre milk a day. A majority of its farmer members are women.

These dairy cooperatives produce and process a range of products such as liquid milk, cheese, curd, milk powder, milk drink, sweets, ice cream, chocolates and butter among others.

Verghese Kurien, Amul founder and the father of White Revolution, turned 90 on Saturday. For the first time after 2006, the Kurien family witnessed a huge turnout of people at their residence 'Kurien Enclave' as named by the civic body of Anand.

In 2006, Kurien was compelled to resign by his board members from the chairman's post of Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF), the apex milk marketing cooperative body of the group.

"In early 1970s, the concept for selfsustenance in animal husbandry was believed could only be achieved by large ranches with hundreds of cattle. At that time, I used to tell people at FAO that we have this man (Kurien) who is getting marginal farmers with only one or two cattle together to make India largest milk producer. Kurien went against the tide and made Amul a very successful model," former Planning Commission member and union minister YK Alagh told ET.

He finds the Amul model even more relevant in present situation.

Now, the Amul model has been replicated in several states where brands like Verka, Nandini, Sudha, Mahananda and Saras are dominating the market. The World Bank has identified the Amul model as one of the key tools to fight poverty. GCMMF receives frequent requests from African countries to assist them in replicating the model. Kurien introduced some of the best international technology and practices in Amul that even rivals tried to copy.

"Kurien got the industry moving and put the Indian dairy industry on world map. During Kurien's stint in the sector, India developed best technology and practices during Operation Flood. However, there is a huge vacuum in the dairy sector since Dr Kurien left some five years ago," said Devendra Shah of Parag Milk Foods that markets Govardhan Ghee and Go Cheese among other premium dairy products.

Source: Economic Times (http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/cons-products/food/verghese-kurien-an-engineer-who-became-indias-most-favourite-milkman/articleshow/10899423.cms)