The White Revolution. The Story of Amul | Dr. Varghese Kurien

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Operation Flood
The name Operation Flood may sound like disaster management but in reality it is nothing but the revolution brought about in the dairy industry.
Here we look at theperson behind this revolution and the lesser known facts about it.
Dr. Varghese Kurien fondly referred as the milkman of India is the brain behind this.
Born in a Syrian Christian family in Kerala he pursued his education in Chennai and then in the Michigan State University. Interestingly he did not pursue dairy engineering but his passion which was metallurgy and physics.
He had obtained a scholarship for his stint at the US University and so had signed a bond to serve for two years in India. The government insisted that he serve at Anand a village in Gujarat. Much against his wishes he went there and was not happy in his job.
The turning point came when Mr. Thribhuvandas Patel the then chairman of the Kaira Disrtict Cooperative Milk Producers union coerced him to stay back and do something for the milk producers.
The journey had begun and the reluctant engineer now turned the savior of all the milkmen in Anand and the nearby villages. He got so involved in his work that he said eight hours for work, eight hours for family and eight hours of sleep.
There is no evidence to say he stuck to eight hours but considering the phenomenal change he brought about one can be sure he lived and breathed for the farmers.
He talked to the villagers all the time and learnt their hardships and it was not long before he loved what he was doing and forgot that he had even wanted to quit from Anand.
He wanted to set up a cooperative in Anand and he went about this with the precision of an engineer. Lal Bahadur Shastri visited Anand and he realized that here was a Prime Minister who understood the need of the farmers and he smartly sold the idea to him. The PM who was to leave in few hours stayed overnight to talk to the farmers and the launch of Operation Flood nationwide had its birth.
He successfully set up AMUL and when people wanted a foreign name he refused. He was one who would not bog down to authority.
He made sure the middlemen were no longer ruling the roost and the milk from the farms went directly to the cooperatives and was sold at decent prices so that the farmers profited.
When he wanted to launch a brand of confectioneries under the Amul brand name some in the Planning Commission did not like the idea. He shut them up by saying what are you talking about you don’t even know how to milk a cow.
He was responsible for the first crowd funded movie Manthan by Shyam Benegal. Benegal had run out of funds and was wondering how to continue production and his encounter with Dr. Kurien changed all that. He told the farmers to donate rupees two towards funding the movie and lo behold the filmmaker had enough money to continue. The movie was a super hit as it focused on the farmers problems and they went in hordes to watch it. The film bagged several awards.
His other important innovation was the milk powder from buffalo’s milk. In this he was helped by his friend Dalaya who went on to make skimmed milk and condensed milk too.
Mother Dairy, NDDB were all born from this man’s endeavours.
He went on to receive many awards and in fact his passion for dairying inspired him to talk about it and many countries around the globe donated milk towards Operation Flood.
He had truly brought about the White revolution in India. His words True development is not the development of land or cows; it is the development of men and women is an inspiration to many.
He authored the book I too have a dream and sure enough he lived his dream to make India the leading producer of milk and dairy products. #theopenbook #Education #Educationalvideos #Studyiq #learn #Cbse #icse #ssc #generalknowledge