Father of white revolution- Dr Verghese Kurien

Verghese Kurien (26 November 1921 – 9 September 2012) was an Indian engineer and businessman, best known as the founder of Amul, a dairy-food company.

As the founding chairman of the Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF), Kurien was responsible for the creation and success of Amul brand of dairy products. A key achievement at Amul was the invention of milk powder processed from buffalo's milk (abundant in India), as opposed to that made from cow-milk.

His achievements with the GCMMF led Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri to appoint him founder-chairman of the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) in 1965, to replicate Amul's successes on a nationwide scale. A few years later, the NDDB under Kurien launched Operation Flood (or the White Revolution)—the largest dairy development program in the world. Operation Flood helped India become the world's largest milk producer; in 2010–11, India's contribution was close to 17 percent of the global production.

Hailed as the "Milkman of India" and the "Father of the White Revolution", Kurien had won several awards including the Padma Vibhushan (India's second-highest civilian honour), the World Food Prize and the Magsaysay Award.

Verghese Kurien was born on 26 November 1921 in Calicut, Madras Presidency, British India (now Kozhikode, Kerala). His father was a civil surgeon in Cochin. He graduated in Physics from Loyola College, Madras in 1940 and then did B.E. (mechanical engineering) from the College of Engineering, Guindy (then 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 the United States on a government scholarship to earn hisMaster of Science in metallurgical engineering (with distinction) from Michigan State University.

Kurien was born into the Syrian Christian community of India, but later became an atheist.He married his neighbor's daughter Molly. He is survived by his wife, one daughter Nirmala Kurien and a grandson, Siddharth. Kurien died on 9 September 2012 after a brief spell of illness in Gujarat, India. He was 90.

Kurien arrived on 13 May 1949 on a Government of India deputation at the Government Research Creamery, Anand. Since then he built the dairy development cooperative model into one of the largest and most successful institutions in India. Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru visited Anand to inaugurate Amul "factory" and he embraced Kurien for his groundbreaking work. The Amul pattern of cooperatives became so successful, that in 1965 Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri, created the National Dairy Development Board(NDDB) to replicate the program on a nationwide basis citing Kurien's "extraordinary and dynamic leadership" upon naming him chairman.

Kurien also set up GCMMF in 1973 to sell the products produced by the dairies. Today GCMMF sells Amul products not only in India but also overseas. He quit the post of GCMMF Chairman in 2006 following disagreements with GCMMF management.

Kurien, played a key role in many other organizations, ranging from chairing the Viksit Bharat Foundation, a body set up by the President of India, to chairman of the Board of Governors of Institute of Rural Management, Anand (IRMA). Kurien was mentioned by the Ashoka Foundation as one of the eminent present Day Social Entrepreneurs. Kurien's life story is chronicled in his memoir I Too Had a Dream.

Kurien and his team were pioneers in inventing the process of making milk powder and condensed milk from buffalo's milk instead of cow's milk. This was the reason Amul became so successful and competed well against Nestle who only used cow milk to make powder and condensed milk. In India, buffalo milk is the main raw material unlike Europe where cow milk is abundant.

References- wikipedia