Verghese Kurien Biography 
Verghese Kurien, popularly known as ‘Milkman of India’ is responsible for milk revolution in India. To place India as the top milk producing country of the world, he has played a significant role. Before his operation started, India was a milk deficit country and in 1998, India reached the top position in world in milk production. Through powerful ideas and hard work, he brought milk revolution to India. He is best known as the "Father of the White Revolution" through the program, ‘Operation flood’. Through his efforts, dairy farming became the biggest self-started earning program of India, thus quenching the hunger of millions of poor families in India. He is the person behind Amul India and has founded more than 25 institutions of India including GCMMF, IRMA and NDDB. He was the first person in the world who found that buffalo milk is best suited for milk powder than cow’s milk.
Seeing his efforts and talents, in 1965, the then Indian Prime minister, Lal Bahadur Shastri appointed him as the chairman of National Dairy Development Board. He was asked to replicate Anand Model, throughout India, resulting in India’s prime position in milk production. Not only that, he has been awarded with Padma Vibhushan. Not only that, for his contributions to milk farming worldwide he has been awarded with Magsaysay Award and World Food prize. He has also received 17 honorary doctorates from universities worldwide.
Kurien was born in a Christian family in Kozhicode, Kerala. He completed his graduation from Chennai and did his Engineering course too. He joined Tata steel, but later went abroad on a scholarship to get a master degree in Mechanical engineering. In 1948, he joined as Dairy Engineer in a milk powder factory run by central government in Gujarat. That private sector firm was located in Anand. But he resigned his job and joined poor peasants of Anand, to give birth to the biggest milk powder producing brand of India – Amul. Contribution of Tribhuvandas Patel has also played a significant role in the big success of Amul India. When Kurien joined Kheda District Co-operative society, started by Tribhuvandas and Morarji Desai, it was something like destiny! And the rest is history!
Brought up a Christian, Kurien later became an atheist, and was cremated.
Published: N/A
Updated: June 12, 2018
