I Too Had A Dream by Verghese Kurien as told to Gouri  Salvi ;  Published by Lotus  / Roli ; Pages 249 ; Price Rs 295/-

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The book under review is the Memoir of India’s “Milkman” Verghese Kurien. In his “Foreword” Ratan Tata admirably summarises the hero—“Dr.Kurien is a true visionary who built a series of institutions which made India the world’s  largest milk producer; developed a logistic chain to produce and deliver hygienic and nutritious milk to millions and

 created the largest food marketing business and the

 country’s largest food brand —Amul. The cooperatives he created have also become powerful agents of social change in empowering women and in embedding democracy at the grassroots level in the country.”

It was a sheer quirk of fate that landed him in Anand where  a small group was running a cooperative, the Kaira District Cooperative Milk Producer’s Union Limited (better known as Amul), to sell their milk. Intrigued by the integrity and commitment of their leader Tribhuvandas Patel, Dr Kurien joined them. Since then there has been no looking back. The

 ‘Anand pattern of cooperatives’ was so successful that, at the request of the Government of India, he set up the

 National Dairy Development Board to replicate it across India. He also established the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation to market its products. 

  

Born in Calicut, Kerala, Dr Verghese Kurien graduated in science and engineering from Madras University and Michigan State University, USA, respectively. He did Physics (from Loyola), a bachelor’s in ­mechanical and a training stint at Tata, before heading off to the US on government scholarship .

He has received countless awards, including the Ramon Magsaysay Award , Wateler Peace Prize , World Food Prize , Padma Shri , Padma Bhushan  and Padma Vibhushan , Carnegie  World Peace Prize and International Person of the Year Award from US.

Dr. Kurien was Chairman of the Institute of Rural Management, Anand, Chairman of the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation and Chairman of the National Cooperative Dairy Federation of India.

In thIs memoir, Dr Verghese Kurien, popularly known as the ‘Father of the White Revolution’, recounts, with customary candour, the story of his life and how he shaped the dairy industry. We learn from this book the tremendous efforts  put in by this man and  the magnitude of his contributions and his multifaceted personality.

The people described in these books were the least qualified and the least resourceful to do what they did. But they just did not bother about all that and went ahead and achieved their dreams due to their extreme passion and firm resolve and determination.

The book conveys one message loud and clear – If you have purity of intention and are ready to serve with your heart, the society will support you with all the required resources.

Smt.Kurien  would say that her husband  worked hard but never brought work back home and was in bed by 9 pm, only to wake up in the dead of night to catch the earliest morning flight after some road travel. Brought up a Christian, Kurien later became an atheist, and was cremated respecting his last wish. 

 In his later years, on being asked by his daughter to retire and come stay with her at her home in another city, he replied that Anand was his home and he will remain there and never quit working. Even as his most expensive personal possession was a mere watch gifted him by his grandson, he would take pride in the farmers' money providing the air-conditioned house and luxury-model car at his disposal,and spared no expense with it for constructing a modern IRMA campus and facilities for its residents.

 Shyam Benegal wanted to make " Manthan ", a story based on Amul, but lacked funds. Kurien got his half a million member-farmers to contribute a token two rupees each for the making of the movie. It struck a chord with the audience when it was released in Gujarat . Truckloads of farmers came to see "their film", making it a success at the box office, emboldening distributors to release it before audiences nationwide. It was critically acclaimed and went on to win national awards the following year, was later shown on national television .

The movie's success led Kurien to another idea. A vet, a milk technician and a fodder specialist, who could explain the value of cross-breeding of milch cattle, as was shown in the film, would tour other parts of the country in real life along with the film's prints, to woo farmers to form cooperatives of their own. UNDP used the movie to start similar cooperatives in Latin America and  in Africa.

Kurien transformed India from a milk-deficient country to the world`s largest milk producer and the founder of Amul.

Kurien is  credited with being the first one to produce powder from buffalo milk, when elsewhere in the world, cow milk was used to produce milk powder.Impressed by the success of Amul, Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri established National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) to replicate the Amul model across the country and Kurien was made its Chairman. As Chairman , Kurien led `Operation Flood` to make India the biggest milk producing nation in the world, besides making Amul a household name. He served as Chairman of NDDB for 33 years from 1965 to 1998.

Verghese Kurien  made dairy farming India's largest self-sustaining industry and the largest rural employment provider. He also made India self-sufficient in edible oils. He is regarded as one of the greatest proponents of the cooperative movement in the world, which emphasises production by the masses over mass-production, with his work having lifted millions out of poverty in India and outside.

                                                                                                                                                        

Dr Verghese Kurien  died on September 9, 2012. He was 90 years.This is an inspiring book of a totally committed Indian. One wishes that the Bharat Ratna had been conferred on him—even posthumously.

P.P.Ramachandran

04/02/2018

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 Tit bits

1. Rajendra Prasad came to lay the Foundation Stone of Amul. The highlight of the event was when the President was about to place the first foundation stone in the earth, suddenly to everybody's amazement a mouse came scampering by and jumped over the stone. The entire gathering was overcome with joy because the mouse is seen as Lord Ganesha's vehicle and, therefore, considered auspicious--P 47.

2.Kurien was a gentleman but acerbic when required.

The supercilious attitude of the High Commissioner of New Zealand irked him too much. She said,” It has come to our knowledge that you have started exporting your products to countries where we sell ours. You cannot do that. That is our market”

I forced myself to remain calm, in deference to the fact that I was talking to a woman. “Madam”,  I responded very politely, quite frankly. “ I did not know that the  world market is your private property and we should not encroach upon it.”

The lady was livid that I had dared to answer her and she grew ruder and more abusive. I suggested to her that it might be better if she left my room. But she persisted with obnoxious remarks and I could not hold my tongue any more.

I said to her, “ Madam, you must understand that you 

come from this country called New Zealand. If all of us

 Indians decided to get together and spit upon your 

country, your country will get drowned in our spit”.—Pages—195-96.

3.Kurien's support was crucial in making, the 'Amul Girl' 

ad campaign  one of the longest running for decades 

now.---P  75.

PPR 4/2/2018