Dr.

Verghese Kurien (born November 26, 1921 at Kozhikode, Kerala) is called the father of the
White Revolution in India. He is also known as the Milkman of India.

He was the chairman of the Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd.(GCMMF).
GCMMF is an apex cooperative organization that manages the Amul food brand. He is
recognized as the man behind the success of the Amul brand. Amul had a revenue of $1b USD in
2006-07.

He is credited with being the architect of Operation Flood -- the largest dairy development
program in the world. Kurien helped modernize Anand model of cooperative dairy development
and thus engineered the White Revolution in India, and made India the largest milk producer in
the world. His uncle, John Mathai, was an economist who served as India's first Railway
Minister and subsequently as India's Finance Minister.

Career
Verghese Kurien was born on November 26, 1921. His father was a civil surgeon in Cochin. He
graduated in Physics from Loyola College, Madras in 1940 and then did B.E. (Mech) from the
University of Madras. After completing his degree, he joined the Tata Steel Technical Institute,
Jamshedpur from where he graduated in 1946. He then went to USA on a government
scholarship to earn his Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering (with distinction) from
Michigan State University.

When he came back to India, he was posted as a dairy engineer at the government creamery,
Anand, in May 1949. Around the same time, the infant cooperative dairy, Kaira District Co-
operative Milk Producers' Union (KDCMPUL), now famous as Amul -- was fighting a battle
with the Polson Dairy, which was privately owned. Young Kurien, fed up with being at the
government creamery, which held no challenge, volunteered to help Shri Tribhuvandas Patel, the
Chairman of KDCMPUL, to set up a processing plant. This marked the birth of AMUL.
Achievement-
Known as the "father of the white revolution" in India; Winner of Ramon Magsaysay Award;
Awarded with Padma Shri (1965), Padma Bhushan (1966), and Padma Vibhushan (1999).

Dr. Verghese Kurien is better known as the "father of the white revolution" in India. He is also
called as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the success of the
largest dairy development program in the world, christened as Operation Flood. He was the
chairman of the Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd. (GCMMF) and his name
was synonymous with the Amul brand.

Born on November 26, 1921 in Kozhikode, Kerala, Dr. Verghese Kurien graduated with Physics
from Loyola College, Madras in 1940. Subsequently, he did his B.E.(Mechanical) from the
Madras University and went to USA on a government scholarship to do his Masters in
Mechanical Engineering from Michigan State University. In between, he completed special
studies in engineering at the Tata Iron and Steel Company Institute at Jamshedpur, Bihar, in
February 1946 and underwent nine months of specialized training in dairy engineering at the
National Dairy Research Institute of Bangalore.

Dr. Verghese Kurien returned from America in 1948 and joined the Dairy Department of the
Government of India. In May 1949, he was posted as Dairy Engineer at the Government
Research Creamery, a small milk-powder factory, in Anand, Gujarat. Around this time, the
newly formed cooperative dairy, Kaira District Cooperative Milk Producers' Union Limited
((KDCMPUL), was engaged in battle of survival with the privately owned Polson Dairy, which
was a giant in its field. Enthused by the challenge, Dr. Verghese Kurien left his government job
and volunteered to help Shri Tribhuvandas Patel, the Chairman of KDCMPUL, to set up a
processing plant. This led to the birth of AMUL and the rest is history.

In 1965, the then Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri, created the National Dairy Development
Board (NDDB) under the leadership of Dr. Verghese Kurien to replicate the success story of
Amul throughout the country. In 1973, Dr. Kurien set up GCMMF (Gujarat Cooperative Milk
Marketing Federation) to market the products produced by the dairies. Under Dr. Kurien's
stewardship India became the as the largest producer of milk in the world,

Awards
During his illustrious career, Dr. Verghese Kurien won many accolades and awards. These
include:

Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership (1963),

Padma Shri (1965), Padma Bhushan (1966), Krishi Ratna Award (1986),

Wateler Peace Prize Award of Carnegie Foundation (1986),

World Food Prize Laureate (1989),

International Person of the Year (1993) by the World Dairy Expo, Madison, Wisconsin, USA,

How it all began?

The India District Co-operative Milk Producers' Union was registered on December 14, 1946 as
a response to exploitation of marginal milk producers by traders or agents of existing dairies in
the small town named Anand (in Kaira District of Gujarat).[7] Milk Producers had to travel long
distances to deliver milk to the only dairy, the Polson Dairy in Anand. Often milk went sour as
producers had to physically carry the milk in individual containers, especially in the summer
season. These agents arbitrarily decided the prices depending on the production and the season.
Milk is a commodity that has to be collected twice a day from each cow/buffalo. In winter, the
producer was either left with surplus / unsold milk or had to sell it at very low prices. Moreover,
the government at that time had given monopoly rights to Polson Dairy (around that time Polson
was the most well known butter brand in the country) to collect milk from Anand and supply it to
Bombay city in turn. India ranked nowhere amongst milk producing countries in the world
because of its limitations in 1946 British Raj.

Angered by the unfair and manipulative trade practices, the farmers of Kaira District approached
Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel (who later became the first Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister
of free India) under the leadership of the local farmer leader Tribhuvandas Patel. Sardar Patel
advised the farmers to form a Cooperative and supply milk directly to the Bombay Milk Scheme
instead of selling it to Polson (who did the same but gave low prices to the producers).[8] He sent
Morarji Desai (who later became Prime Minister of India) to organize the farmers. In 1946, the
farmers of the area went on a milk strike refusing to be further oppressed. Thus the Kaira District
Cooperative was established to collect and process milk in the District of Kaira in 1946. Milk
collection was also decentralized, as most producers were marginal farmers who were in a
position to deliver 1-2 litres of milk per day. Village level cooperatives were established to
organize the marginal milk producers in each of these villages.

The Cooperative was further developed and managed by Dr. V Kurien along with Shri H M
Dalaya. The first modern dairy of the Kaira Union was established at Anand. Indigenous

research and development and technology development at the Cooperative had led to the
successful production of skimmed milk powder from buffalo milk – the first time on a

commercial scale anywhere in the world.

The success of the dairy co-operative movement spread rapidly in Gujarat. Within a short span
five other district unions – Mehsana, Banaskantha, Baroda, Sabarkantha and Surat were
organized. In order to combine forces and expand the market while saving on advertising and
avoid a situation where milk cooperatives would compete against each other it was decided to set
up an apex marketing body of dairy cooperative unions in Gujarat. Thus, in 1973, the Gujarat
Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation was established. The Kaira District Co-operative Milk
Producers’ Union Ltd. which had established the brand name Amul in 1955 decided to hand over
the brand name to GCMMF (AMUL).

Dr. Verghese Kurien, the World Food Prize and the Magsaysay Award winner, was the architect
of India’s White Revolution, which helped India emerge as the largest milk producer in the
world.

Impressed with the development of dairy cooperatives in Kaira District and its success, Shri Lal
Bahadur Shastri, the then Prime Minister of India during his visit to Anand in 1964, asked Dr. V
Kurien to replicate the Anand type dairy cooperatives all over India. Thus, the National Dairy
Developed Board was formed and Operation Flood Programme was launched for replication of
the Amul Model all over India.
GCMMF Today

GCMMF is India's largest food products marketing organization. It is a state level apex body of
milk cooperatives in Gujarat, which aims to provide remunerative returns to the farmers and also
serve the interest of consumers by providing affordable quality products. GCMMF markets and
manages the Amul brand. From mid-1990s Amul has entered areas not related directly to its core
business. Its entry into ice cream was regarded as successful due to the large market share it was
able to capture within a short period of time – primarily due to the price differential and the
brand name. It also entered the pizza business, where the base and the recipes were made
available to restaurant owners who could price it as low as 30 rupees per pizza when the other
players were charging upwards of 100 rupees.

Company info

The Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd, Anand (GCMMF) is the largest food
products marketing organisation of India. It is the apex organization of the Dairy Cooperatives of
Gujarat. This State has been a pioneer in organizing dairy cooperatives and our success has not
only been emulated in India but serves as a model for rest of the World. Over the last five and a
half decades, Dairy Cooperatives in Gujarat have created an economic network that links more
than 2.8 million village milk producers with millions of consumers in India and abroad through a
cooperative system that includes 13,141 Village Dairy Cooperative Societies (VDCS) at the
village level, affiliated to 13 District Cooperative Milk Producers’ Unions at the District level
and GCMMF at the State level. These cooperatives collect on an average 7.5 million litres of
milk per day from their producer members, more than 70% of whom are small, marginal farmers
and landless labourers and include a sizeable population of tribal folk and people belonging to
the scheduled castes.

The turnover of GCMMF (AMUL) during 2008-09 was Rs. 67.11 billion. It markets the
products, produced by the district milk unions in 30 dairy plants, under the renowned AMUL
brand name. The combined processing capacity of these plants is 11.6 million liters per day, with
four dairy plants having processing capacity in excess of 1 million Liters per day. The farmers of
Gujarat own the largest state of the art dairy plant in Asia – Mother Dairy, Gandhinagar, Gujarat
– which can handle 2.5 million litres of milk per day and process 100 MTs of milk powder daily.
During the last year, 3.1 billion litres of milk was collected by Member Unions of GCMMF.
Huge capacities for milk drying, product manufacture and cattle feed manufacture have been
installed. All its products are manufactured under the most hygienic conditions. All dairy plants
of the unions are ISO 9001-2000, ISO 22000 and HACCP certified. GCMMF (AMUL)’s Total
Quality Management ensures the quality of products right from the starting point (milk producer)
through the value chain until it reaches the consumer.

Ever since the movement was launched fifty-five years ago, Gujarat’s Dairy Cooperatives have
brought about a significant social and economic change to our rural people. The Dairy
Cooperatives have helped in ending the exploitation of farmers and demonstrated that when our
rural producers benefit, the community and nation benefits as well.
The Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd. cannot be viewed simply as a business
enterprise. It is an institution created by the milk producers themselves to primarily safeguard
their interest economically, socially as well as democratically. Business houses create profit in
order to distribute it to the shareholders. In the case of GCMMF the surplus is ploughed back to
farmers through the District Unions as well as the village societies. This circulation of capital
with value addition within the structure not only benefits the final beneficiary – the farmer – but
eventually contributes to the development of the village community. This is the most significant
contribution the Amul Model cooperatives has made in building the Nation.

The Three-tier "Amul Model"

The Amul Model is a three-tier cooperative structure. This structure consists of a Dairy
Cooperative Society at the village level affiliated to a Milk Union at the District level which in
turn is further federated into a Milk Federation at the State level. The above three-tier structure
was set-up in order to delegate the various functions, milk collection is done at the Village Dairy
Society, Milk Procurement & Processing at the District Milk Union and Milk & Milk Products
Marketing at the State Milk Federation. This helps in eliminating not only internal competition
but also ensuring that economies of scale is achieved. As the above structure was first evolved at
Amul in Gujarat and thereafter replicated all over the country under the Operation Flood
Programme, it is known as the ‘Amul Model’ or ‘Anand Pattern’ of Dairy Cooperatives.

Responsible for Marketing of Milk & Milk Products Responsible for Procurement & Processing
of Milk Responsible for Collection of Milk Responsible for Milk Production

Village Dairy Cooperative Society (VDCS)

The milk producers of a village, having surplus milk after own consumption, come together and
form a Village Dairy Cooperative Society (VDCS). The Village Dairy Cooperative is the
primary society under the three-tier structure. It has membership of milk producers of the village
and is governed by an elected Management Committee consisting of 9 to 12 elected
representatives of the milk producers based on the principle of one member, one vote. The
village society further appoints a Secretary (a paid employee and member secretary of the
Management Committee) for management of the day-to-day functions. It also employs various
people for assisting the Secretary in accomplishing his / her daily duties. The main functions of
the VDCS are as follows:

• Collection of surplus milk from the milk producers of the village & payment based on
quality & quantity
• Providing support services to the members like Veterinary First Aid, Artificial
Insemination services, cattle-feed sales, mineral mixture sales, fodder & fodder seed
sales, conducting training on Animal Husbandry & Dairying, etc.
• Selling liquid milk for local consumers of the village
• Supplying milk to the District Milk Union

Thus, the VDCS in an independent entity managed locally by the milk producers and assisted by
the District Milk Union.
District Cooperative Milk Producers’ Union (Milk Union)

The Village Societies of a District (ranging from 75 to 1653 per Milk Union in Gujarat) having
surplus milk after local sales come together and form a District Milk Union. The Milk Union is
the second tier under the three-tier structure. It has membership of Village Dairy Societies of the
District and is governed by a Board of Directors consisting of 9 to 18 elected representatives of
the Village Societies. The Milk Union further appoints a professional Managing Director (paid
employee and member secretary of the Board) for management of the day-to-day functions. It
also employs various people for assisting the Managing Director in accomplishing his / her daily
duties. The main functions of the Milk Union are as follows:

• Procurement of milk from the Village Dairy Societies of the District

• Arranging transportation of raw milk from the VDCS to the Milk Union.
• Providing input services to the producers like Veterinary Care, Artificial Insemination
services, cattle-feed sales, mineral mixture sales, fodder & fodder seed sales, etc.
• Conducting training on Cooperative Development, Animal Husbandry & Dairying for
milk producers and conducting specialized skill development & Leadership Development
training for VDCS staff & Management Committee members.
• Providing management support to the VDCS along with regular supervision of its
activities.
• Establish Chilling Centres & Dairy Plants for processing the milk received from the
villages.
• Selling liquid milk & milk products within the District
• Process milk into various milk & milk products as per the requirement of State Marketing
Federation.
• Decide on the prices of milk to be paid to milk producers as well on the prices of support
services provided to members.

State Cooperative Milk Federation (Federation)

The Milk Unions of a State are federated into a State Cooperative Milk Federation. The
Federation is the apex tier under the three-tier structure. It has membership of all the cooperative
Milk Unions of the State and is governed by a Board of Directors consisting of one elected
representative of each Milk Union. The State Federation further appoints a Managing Director
(paid employee and member secretary of the Board) for management of the day-to-day functions.
It also employs various people for assisting the Managing Director in accomplishing his daily
duties. The main functions of the Federation are as follows:

• Marketing of milk & milk products processed / manufactured by Milk Unions.

• Establish distribution network for marketing of milk & milk products.
• Arranging transportation of milk & milk products from the Milk Unions to the market.
• Creating & maintaining a brand for marketing of milk & milk products (brand building).
• Providing support services to the Milk Unions & members like Technical Inputs,
management support & advisory services.
• Pooling surplus milk from the Milk Unions and supplying it to deficit Milk Unions.
 • Establish feeder-balancing Dairy Plants for processing the surplus milk of the Milk
Unions.
• Arranging for common purchase of raw materials used in manufacture / packaging of
milk products.
• Decide on the prices of milk & milk products to be paid to Milk Unions.
• Decide on the products to be manufactured at various Milk Unions (product-mix) and
capacity required for the same.
• Conduct long-term Milk Production, Procurement & Processing as well as Marketing
Planning.
• Arranging Finance for the Milk Unions and providing them technical know-how.
• Designing & Providing training on Cooperative Development, Technical & Marketing
functions.
• Conflict Resolution & keeping the entire structure intact.

We move to the year 2008. The dairy industry in India and particularly in the State of Gujarat
looks very different. India for one has emerged as the largest milk producing country in the
World. Gujarat has emerged as the most successful State in terms of milk and milk product
production through its cooperative dairy movement. The Kaira District Cooperative Milk
Producers’ Union Limited, Anand has become the focal point of dairy development in the entire
region and AMUL has emerged as one of the most recognized brands in India, ahead of many
international brands.

Today, we have around 176 cooperative dairy Unions formed by 1,25,000dairy cooperative
societies having a total membership of around 13 million farmers on the same pattern, who are
processing and marketing milk and milk products profitably, be it Amul in Gujarat or Verka in
Punjab, Vijaya in Andhra Pradesh or a Nandini in Karnataka. This entire process has created
more than 190 dairy processing plants spread all over India with large investments by these
farmers’ institutions. These cooperatives today collect approximately 23 million kgs. of milk per
day and pay an aggregate amount of more than Rs.125 billion to the milk producers in a year.

Impact of the "Amul Model"

The effects of Operation Flood Programme are more appraised by the World Bank in its recent
evaluation report. It has been proved that an investment of Rs. 20 billion over 20 years under
Operation Flood Programme in 70s & 80s has contributed in increase of India’s milk production
by 40 Million Metric Tonne (MMT) i.e. from about 20 MMT in pre- Operation Flood period to
more than 60 MMT at the end of Operation flood Programme. Thus, an incremental return of Rs.
400 billion annually have been generated by an investment of Rs. 20 billion over a period of
20 years. This has been the most beneficial project funded by the World Bank anywhere in the
World. One can continue to see the effect of these efforts as India’s milk production continues to
increase and now stands at 90 MMT. Despite this fourfold increase in milk production, there has
not been drop in the prices of milk during the period and has continued to grow.

Due to this movement, the country’s milk production tripled between the years 1971 to 1996.
Similarly, the per capita milk consumption doubled from 111 gms per day in 1973 to 222 gms
per day in 2000. Thus, these cooperatives have not just been instrumental in economic
development of the rural society of India but it also has provided vital ingredient for improving
health & nutritional requirement of the Indian society. Very few industries of India have such
parallels of development encompassing such a large population.

These dairy cooperatives have been responsible in uplifting the social & economic status of the
women folk in particular as women are basically involved in dairying while the men are busy
with their agriculture. This has also provided a definite source of income to the women leading
to their economic emancipation.

The three-tier ‘Amul Model’ has been instrumental in bringing about the White Revolution in the
country. As per the assessment report of the World Bank on the Impact of Dairy Development in
India, the ‘Anand Pattern’ has demonstrated the following benefits:

• The role of dairying in poverty reduction

• The fact that rural development involves more than agricultural production
• The value of national ‘ownership’ in development
• The beneficial effects of higher incomes in relieving the worst aspects of poverty
• The capacity of dairying to create jobs
• The capacity of dairying to benefit the poor at low cost
• The importance of commercial approach to development
• The capacity of single-commodity projects to have multi-dimensional impacts
• The importance of getting government out of commercial enterprises
• The importance of market failure in agriculture
• The power & problems of participatory organisations
• The importance of policy

Achievements of the "Amul Movement"

1. The phenomenal growth of milk production in India – from 20 million MT to 100 million
MT in a span of just 40 years – has been made possible only because of the dairy
cooperative movement. This has propelled India to emerge as the largest milk producing
country in the World today.
2. The dairy cooperative movement has also encouraged Indian dairy farmers to keep more
animals, which has resulted in the 500 million cattle & buffalo population in the country
– the largest in the World.
3. The dairy cooperative movement has garnered a large base of milk producers, with their
membership today boasting of more than 13 million member families.
4. The dairy cooperative movement has spread across the length and breadth of the country,
covering more than 125,000 villages of 180 Districts in 22 States.
5. The dairy cooperatives have been able to maintain democratic structure at least at the
grass-root level with the management committee of the village level unit elected from
among the members in majority of the villages.
6. The dairy cooperatives have also been instrumental in bridging the social divide of caste,
creed, race, religion & language at the villages, by offering open and voluntary
membership.
7. The dairy cooperatives have been successfully propagating the concepts of scientific
animal husbandry & efficiency of operations, which has resulted in low cost of
production & processing of milk.
8. The movement has been successful because of a well-developed procurement system &
supportive federal structures at District & State levels.
9. Dairy Cooperatives have always been proactive in building large processing capacities,
which has further propelled growth of milk production.
10. The dairy cooperatives are among those few institutions in India, which still cherish a
strong Cooperative identity, values and purpose. They still boast of idealism & good will
of members and employees.
11. The dairy cooperatives have removed the poor farmers of India from the shackles of
agents & middlemen and provided an assured market for their produce. As these are the
institutions run by farmers themselves, it has also resulted in fair returns to the members
for their produce
12. Dairy cooperatives have been able to create a market perception of honesty &
transparency with their clean management