'Amul': Story of a Growth Model An Unfinished Dream by Verghese Kurien Review by: Deepak Shah Economic and Political

Weekly, Vol. 35, No. 24 (Jun. 10-16, 2000), pp. 2018-2019 Published by: Economic and Political Weekly Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4409386 . Accessed: 01/11/2012 08:02
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'Amul: Growth

Story
Model

of

An Unfinished Dream by Verghese Kurien;Tata McGraw-Hill Publishing,New Delhi, 1997; pp xxii + 598, Rs 450.

DEEPAK SHAH

the This bookprovides fascinating story RevoFlood'(the'White of'Operation lution') that has, over the past three decades, provideda constantlyincreasing of sustainable production milkof improved to and quality madeit available consumers areasof India.Behindthis in mosturban successstoryis the indomitable spirit,the and untiringefforts of one unrelenting man- VergheseKurien.The white revowith lutionin thiscountryis synonymous him. It is he and his team of dedicated comradeswho are responsible for this Indiaas the feat wonderful in establishing of largest producer milkintheworldtoday. the the Theyshared vision of establishing on movement scientificprincooperative ciples.To lay persons,VergheseKurien's role in usheringin the milk revolutionis largely unknown.He is best known to mostas India's'dudhwala' themanwho that structure reaches builtthecooperative millionsof small dairyfarmersand connectsthemwith teemingmillionsof conof sumers milk,butter, cheese,chocolates, To anda hostof otherproducts. some, he is also known for his fight to liberate cooperativesfrom archaiclegislation, a manwhohasfoughta longbattleto ensure have thatproducers therightto controlthe resourcesthey create. The book An Unfinished Dream of Kurien's speeches, spanning nearly 40 years from 1955 to 1994, is the story of the pursuitof a dream.He begins with a for clearly definedblueprint a dairy cothat structure would operativemarketing with linkmillionsof milkproducers urban consumers.He moves on to enlargeand and refinethe nature powerof the further into structure incorporating cooperative and the its statutes roleof theprofessional
2018

of the obligations India'selite. Thenwith the passage of time, he respondsto atwho of tacks:theassaults bureaucrats fear of the implications successfulinstitutions runby producers; by objections academiand thesabotage vestedinterests cians; by financial the oppositionof international In institutionsand multinationals. more recent speeches, he turns to the dream has renewed a dreamwhoseimportance been enhancedby the turn of events in India and which has relevanceeven beyond India. The book, with speeches presentedin order,is dividedinto three chronological sections:'A Dream'(1957-79), 'Defending the Dream' (1980-88), and 'Dream Renewed' (1989-94). To read this book It is to travela pathwith Kurien. is a path that leads towards a clear goal amidst He manyhindrances. neverloses trackof his mission objectives. his Kurienspeakswith candour, points crisp, his languagelucid, his logic clear, at directed himselfas well andhis humour, as his adversaries, enrichingand illuminating.As he himselfsays, a speechproto vides him with the opportunity share often Thosethoughts andtesthisthoughts. test conventionalwisdom as well as the beliefs of his audiences. Theentirebookcovers57 speeches.The in first speechwasdelivered 1957atAnand, of on 'Marketing Milk Products Gujarat, in India' and it was followed by a series of lecturescoveringa wide spectrumof issues and deliveredat variousplaces in the countryand abroadincludingmany convocationaddressesand keynote addresses.Theconcluding speechappearing in the book was deliveredin 1994 at the 24th InternationalDairy Congress at on Melbome,Australia, 'ShouldDairying in Be Encouraged DevelopingCountries'. The first chapterand the first section entitled'A Dream'deals with the vision of the futureof dairyingin India. This whentheNational dreamcameto fruition Dairy DevelopmentBoardwas founded elementsof this some 10yearslater.Other visionarydreamsaw the creationof the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation a federation joining all of attention to the obstacles created and
Economic and Political Weekly June 10, 2000

Gujarat's dairy cooperatives under one umbrella and the largest among all the food sector businesses in India. This is a dream about India's future - a future with a just economic order where the rural people have as much access in the country's progress as their urban counterparts. In explaining his dream to a variety of audiences, Kurien articulates what, decades later, has become the byword of development: only when those who are directly concerned with the results of development have control over its ends and the means to achieve those ends, will true development occur. The culminating speech in this section is Kurien's address to the Magsaysay Award Foundation. In it he critically examines the reasons for the success of India's dairy cooperative movement, identifies the areas where he and his colleagues might have erred, and propounds a thesis about proper development and suggests appropriate means of realising the goals enshrined in this development model. The success of OperationFlood launched in 1970 attracted national and international attention. Kurien was applauded as the chief architect of India's 'white revolution'. The success of the Kaira Union gave birth to other milk producer's unions in Gujarat. These inspired the formation of 'National Dairy Development Board (NDDB)' and provided the impetus and resources required for its creation. The NDDB as an institution bore considerable resemblance in design to the Indian Dairy Products' Marketing Board which Kurien had earlier conceived in 1955. Impressed with the achievements in self-sufficiency in milk production, the government of India requested the NDDB to replicate the 'Anand' pattern to other sectors of the food economy, first oilseeds andthen fruits and vegetables. Once NDDB got involved in the vegetable oil business, the NDDB and its chairman came under fire from all sides - academicians, the press, bureaucrats,the donorswho had supportedOperationFlood and its off shoots, a host of domestic and foreign non-governmental organisations, and even senior ministers in the central government. During this period, as Kurien's speeches in the second section of the book show, he continued to focus on the meaning of development while fending off attacks on Operation Flood. Kurien was also more direct in drawing

acknowledges problems where they existed. Despite the bitter attacks, NDDB and its chairman, Kurien continued to draw support and acclaim. An eminent committee, headed by Prince Claus of the Netherlands, selected Kurienas the winner of the Wateler Peace Prize. An equally eminent committee, chaired by Norman Borlaug, chose Kurien as the third world's Food Prize laureate. But the most important support was provided by the women and men who produce India's milk. They joined dairy cooperatives in increasing numbers, and contributed to building once of the largest and most successful cooperative enterprises anywhere in the world. The third section of this book begins with the remarks made by Kurien at news conference held at New Delhi in the aftermath of his being declared the recepient of the 1989 World Food Prize. In his acceptance address, Kurien set out the agenda for the future. He drew attention to the increasing pressures of the north on the south, of the agriculturally and industrially advanced nations of the thirdworld. He examined the role of the international financial institutions, GATT, and other international and bilateral agencies in promoting development that even the nations of the north would reject. He pointed out the dangers of accepting the dictates of those who would continue to consume vast resources, while preaching the virtues of 'appropriate technology' and environmental protection to the rest of the world. Concerned with the sharp shift in economic policies since the beginning of liberalisation from the fundamental commitment to an equitable social order, Kurien's later speeches cautioned the country against blindly following the model of the 'market-driven' economy. In his speeches to international audiences, whetherin Washington at the World Food Prize award ceremony, in Canada speaking to food industry group, or in Australiatalking to the InternationalDairy Congress, Kurien urged his colleagues to use their enormous productive capacity to help build agriculture and agro-based industries in the regions of the south. He dreamt of collaboration between the north and the south, between farmers and their cooperatives, helping to build the agro-industries of Africa, Asia and Latin America. The quintessential dreamer that Economic and Political Weekly

he is, Kurien continues dream a better to of world and betterliving for the men and womenwhosetoilsarelargelyresponsible for mostof theworld'sproduction food of and fibre.

For the concerned citizen, the speeches rise above the mumble of ideology and partisan rhetoric to provide a clear, refreshingview of how Indiacan betterpursue

its destiny.rrGi

On

the

Nilgiris
ethnology and linguistics to make the Nilgiris district such a clearly delimited area". These distinctive characteristics, which also extend to the local floraand other aspects, have made his job as a bibliographer relatively easy, says Hockings. This may be true, but this extensive bibliography which covers various subjects like cross-cultural studies, cultural anthropology, languages, literature and music, the fauna and flora, agriculture and horticulture, geography and general history is a most impressive collection. References have been meticulously collected from periodicals,journals, newspapers, books and historical works. Hockings has also written a brief preface which gives a backgroundto the documentation on the Nilgiris. All in all, a fascinating reference book. [l

Bibliographie des Nilgiri/Bibliography for the Nilgiri 1603-1996 by Paul Hockings; Dymset, Universite Michel de Montaigne-Bordeaux; 1996; (Espaces Tropicaux, no 14, 1996)
pp xxv + 326, US $ 50.00.

KANAKALATHA MUKUND

s a new resident of the Nilgiris I have struck by the vast difference between the 'public' face of the Nilgiris (as found in the overdeveloped touristtown of Ooty) and the 'private' face of the Nilgiris, as seen in clumps of small houses huddled together on the hill slopes surrounded by tea gardens and in the very distinctive lifestyle of the badagas who constitute the main non-triballocal people in the district. The badagas are migrants from the Kannada-speaking areas of the north who settled in the region more than 400 years ago. They are a very upwardly mobile community and area dominant part of the economic and social landscapeof the Nilgiris.The maintribesfoundin the Nilgiris are the todas, kurumbas, irulas and kotas. Even as I was wondering why so little is known to the outside world about this aspect of the Nilgiris district, I came across

Been

THE TATAIRONAND STEEL COMPANY LIMITED NOTICE

NOTICE ISHEREBY pursuant Section GIVEN to the 154oftheCompanies 1956that Register Act, ofMembers remain will closed from 30th Friday, 19th June2000to Wednesday, July2000 (both for of daysinclusive) thepurpose determining themembers theCompany on thedateof of as theAnnual General to Meeting proposed beheld on 20thJuly2000. TheTransfer will Books theCompany also of remain closedduring aforesaid the period. Dated,ttis 23rd day of May2000. THETATA IRONAND STEEL COMPANY LIMITED Sd/(Mrs.S.S. Kudtarkar) COMPANY SECRETARY RegisteredOffice: House Bombay 24, IorniModyStreet, 400 Fort,Mumbai 001

theBibliographyfor Nilgiriby thewell the

known anthropologist Paul Hockings. It came as a great surprise to learn that in fact this is the most intensively studied part of rural Asia, and Hockings supports this claim with a list of close to 7,000 books and articles.The earliestaccount of the area can be found in Father Giacomo Fenicio's reportof 1603 which described essentially the same kind of settlements of economic interdependence between the todas and badagas which was described in 1906 by Rivers. Hockings points out that "it is fortunate for bibliographical purposes that geography andhistory have combined with

June 10, 2000

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