Milk Man of India

Father of white revolution

Dr Verghese Kurien

  

He was 90 and is survived by wife and daughter. Kurien was founder chairman of both the Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF) that markets brand Amul and the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB).
He transformed India from a milk-deficient country to world's largest milk producer after he kicked off 'Operation Flood'.
As architect of Operation Flood — the largest dairy development program in world — he helped modernize model of co-operatives. He also served as founder chairman of the Institute of Rural Management Anand (IRMA) in Anand town where he had arrived on May 13, 1949 as a dairy engineer appointed by government to look after the operations of Government Research Creamery.
Kurien who had started his life from a garage later helped founder chairman of Amul Dairy Tribhuvandas Patel who was struggling to run Amul Dairy that was set up with inspiration of Iron Man of India Sardar Patel. It was from Amul Dairy that Dr Kurien started his stint with the co-operative sector.
Anand which Kurien turned into his 'home town' after serving the co-operative sector for over five decades is now reputed as milk capital of the country. Last year, milk city had celebrated Kurien's 90th birthday by organizing a mega event on November 26.