Dr Kurien, the father of White Revolution

Green Revolution was a global movement piloted by Dr Norman E Borlaug who won Nobel prize in 1971. It happened in the late 1960s. But the seed of white revolution was sown before the Independence in Gujarat, India by the milk cooperative farmers.

Indian farmers belong to small and marginal category. They are to sell their produce immediately after harvest to get money to satisfy their needs. They therefore do not get good price for their produce. Many a time they are compelled to sell their produce at loss. It is more so in case of milk. The remedy of the problem lies in the formation of cooperatives of their own to improve their bargaining power. Milk Cooperative like AUM is one such example.

Dr V Kurien joined AMUL. in 1946 as manager and piloted it to great height. Our Second Prime Minister, Lal Bhahabur Shastri who coined the slogan "Joy Jowan, Joy KIsan" was keen to see the prestracular progress made by Milk cooperative in Gujarat. Therefore, he wrote a letter to Dr Kurien indicating his interest to visit AMUL. Dr Kurien wrote back saying "Your Excellency, you are welcome".

Shastri ji paid a visit as per schedule but did not notice any imported breed of cows. Therefore, astonishingly he asked, "Dr Kurien, I understand that to increase milk production, high yielding foreign breeds , artificial insemination , etc are essential. But I did not find any such thing here in Gujarat. I was told that you have done some miracle to increase milk production. What is that miracle that you have performed ?

Smilingly Dr Kurien reply, "Your Excellency, I have solved the marketing problems, which is the most crucial aspect to enhance milk production. And this has been done by the farmers through village level milk cooperatives. Shastri ji was extremely happy. He desired that Dr Kurien should establish National Dairy Development Board(NDDB). As desired NDDB was established and Dr Kurien was appointed as its Chairman. The major success of the NDDB was achieved through World Bank Financed project : Operation Flood that lasted for 26 years and was largely responsible for making India the World,s lagrest producer of milk.

Interesting and important milk statistics has been provided in Table 1

Table 1: Some important milk statistics

Source Biswas, B C, Mishra, Vipin, and Sati Kuldeep (2017), AW,3(5)18-23, KJ, New Delhi

India became No 1 in milk production in the world. The credit goes to Dr V Kurien who is affectionately known as the Father of white Revolution. To day is his birth day. We , all Kisans and those concerned with krishi , krishi Jagran , etc Salute the soul of Dr Kurien , Great Hero of white revolution.