Research & Publications
Research & Publications
Remembering Dr. V. Kurien- the Father of White Revolution
Dr. Verghese Kurien popularly known as the Milk Man of India was born on November 26, 1921 at Kozhikode, Kerala. His father was a civil surgeon in Cochin and mother was a highly educated Syrian Christian lady. He passed away at the age of 90 in early hours of September 09, 2012 at Nadiad hospital near Anand after a brief illness. He is survived by his wife, a daughter and a grandson. Although a native of Kerala by birth, he chose Anand in Gujarat as his karma bhumi, where he stayed and worked for over six decades.
Dr. Kurien was the architect of India's modern dairy industry and is rightly called the Father of 'White Revolution'. He ingeniously designed, funded and implemented the Operation Flood (OF) programme, which was the world's largest dairy development programme. OF enabled India not only to attain self sufficiency in milk production but also to emerge as the world's largest milk producer. The Amul model of dairy development which underpinned the OF has now become an internationally known strategy for promoting the economic and social well being of small milk producers which include millions of landless households, marginal and small farmers. Amul brand dairy products are known their quality.
Dr. Kurien built, nurtured and managed dozens of institutions of excellence including AMUL, Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF), National Dairy Development Board, and IRMA. He was Founder Chairman of IRMA until he relinquished his office in 2006. Of all the institutions that he founded, IRMA was close to his heart. He founded IRMA with the conviction that the rural managers produced by IRMA would help transform India's rural sector into a vibrant, modern and progressive sector through professional management. I remember him saying that 'rural' does not mean 'backward' and that he does not want rural managers produced by IRMA to live in thatched huts and serve the rural poor while they themselves remain poor. He wanted IRMA graduates to be reasonably well paid vis-a-vis their counterparts from the Indian Institutes of Management and other reputed management schools and to serve the rural sector with a missionary zeal. He would often exhort the IRMA students saying that if one Kurien could make so much difference to India's dairy sector, there is no reason why thousands of IRMA graduates should not transform the entire rural sector, alleviate the problems of rural poverty and enable rural producers to attain the economic and social status that they deserve.
.He envisioned that eventually all governmental and non-governmental organisations engaged in rural development should be headed by IRMA graduates and that there should be an All India Rural Management Service on the pattern of the Indian Administrative Service. This vision has been partially fulfilled in the sense that many of the IRMA graduates now head many prestigious organisations including AMUL, GCMMF, and agri-business division of ITC.
Dr. Kurien's contributions to rural development in general and cooperative dairy development in particular have been recognized both nationally and internationally. He was awarded many prestigious prizes including the Ramon Magsaysay Award-1963, Wateler Peace Prize -1986, Krishi Ratna Puruskar -1986, the World Food Prize-1989, Padma Vibhushan -1999 and the Economic Times Life Time Achievement Award - 2001. Besides, he was also awarded honorary doctorate degrees by 11 reputed Indian and foreign universities including his alma mater, Michigan State University, USA.
I had the pleasure and privilege of working closely with Dr. Kurien for over 22 years until August 31, 2002 when I retired as Director, IRMA). Dr. Kurien was an engineer by training but a manager par excellence by practice. He believed that management is better taught by those who have managed some organisations than those who hold MBA degrees but have not managed any organisation. While meeting with IRMA faculty, he would often ask them and I quote him " how many of you have managed any organisation". If none, then "how can you teach management". n He was a critic of social scientists, particularly economists.. He would often deride them saying that social scientists do not do any constructive development work but only write and criticize those who do good work for the benefit of people.
He was great strategist and knew how to use politicians and bureaucrats to help achieve his mission. I remember so many instances when he achieved his objectives through this approach. I shall cite here one of them. The proposal for setting up IRMA had been pending with the Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India for more than two years. The Expenditure Finance Committee (EFC) would raise some trivial queries and ask IRMA to answer those. At that time, I was Coordinator, Administration, IRMA. Dr. Kurien used to ask me to answer the queries and put up drafts of letters to the EFC on his behalf. Then again some other queries were received and answered. He got fed up with this kind of red tapism and thought of an ingenious way to get around the problem. He invited the then prime Minister of India, Mrs. Indira Ganghi, to be the Chief Guest at the IRMA's first Convocation. Having known Dr. Kurien personally, Mrs. Indira Gandhi accepted the invitation. As soon as the word spread, the Ministry of Agriculture got into action and speeded up the process of granting its approval to the proposal.. Very soon thereafter, IRMA got a telegram from the Ministry stating that the IRMA proposal had been approved by them. Dr. Kurien was very happy at this great achievement.
Dr. Kurien was my mentor. I learned so many guru mantras of management from him from time to time. Some of those mantras are recapitulated below:
Dr. Kurien was both feared and respected by officers and staff in the organisations that he founded and headed. He was considered to be a ruthless person and a dictator by his critics. But I was never afraid of him; I had easy access to him and above all I found him to be a great human being with a kind heart full of compassion and strong convictions.
Dr. Kurien was a great patriot, a visionary and a real Bharat Ratna. Farmers in general and milk producers in particular will always remember him with a deep sense of gratitude as their messiah. He had unflinching faith in producers' cooperatives as the best instrument of promoting the economic and social well being of rural producers and pursued this philosophy single-mindedly throughout his life. I don't know of any living person who has contributed so much for promoting the cause of agricultural and rural development in India. May his high ideals and lofty principles guide and inspire the young generation of rural managers to contribute their best in the service of rural producers in India.