India’s ‘Milkman’ extraordinaire

Along with the Collector, Kurien drove to Ajarpura to check if everything was ready. After parking the vehicle, they walked to Ramanbhai’s sparse but compact house. Ramanbhai walked around the house, sprinkling water to keep the dust down, tidying the place as per Kurien’s suggestion. Kurien decided that Ramanbhai had the right to know who his guests were. ‘It’s safe to reveal it now,’ he thought to himself. He went up to Ramanbhai and announced, ‘Your guests are not foreigners. Due to security reasons, I couldn’t reveal their identity before. But now you must know that you are hosting the Prime Minister of India and the Chief Minister of Gujarat.’

Ramanbhai froze, and his eyes nearly popped out. His heart beat fast, listening to what Kurien had just informed him. He wiped the sweat off his forehead with his hands and asked Kurien, ‘Why did you do this to me? How can the Pradhan Mantri be comfortable in my house? I haven’t cooked anything extraordinary, nor have I made any other arrangements. How is this fair? What do we do now!’

Kurien smiled and assured him, ‘Don’t worry. Treat them like you would treat any other guests. That’s exactly what they wish for. They want to spend some time here like any other normal individual. Everything you have here arranged is more than enough.’

Kurien turned and took a step back to have a good look at the Collector. The Collector stood pale and open-mouthed. He couldn’t believe what he had just heard. Kurien added, ‘Now I am entrusting everything to you, Sir. I have to head back. All the guests are at my house expecting the Prime Minister’s arrival. Molly is handling everything on her own. I have to help her and reveal to the guests that the PM will not be arriving today.’ After a quick parting wave, Kurien walked back to his car briskly.

According to the discussed plan, while the Prime Minister’s convoy was travelling from Ahmedabad to Anand, the PM’s car alone was diverted to the village of Ajarpura. PM Shastri had no plans for spending the night in the village; he spent the entire day walking around the town. Everyone recognised him, and Ramanbhai invited him to his house. Shastri listened to the farmers and discussed in great detail their lives, dairy farming, cooperatives, and the support and education they are obtaining from the cooperatives.

He had a simple dinner with Ramanbhai and continued conversing with the villagers. He talked to Muslims and Harijans, spoke to the women in the families, enquiring about their health conditions, working atmosphere, role in cooperatives, etc. The Home Secretary interrupted, reminding the Prime Minister that he had early plans for tomorrow.

The following day, the Prime Minister visited the village cooperative society run by the elected members from the village. He observed how everything was managed there, and then he went to Anand to inaugurate the new cattle feed compounding factory. After inspiring the audience with a rousing speech, he visited Kurien’s house. Kurien and Shastri had an exciting evening that Kurien never forgot in the years to come.

After the day’s activities were over, Shastri and Kurien sat opposite each other. Shastri divulged straight into the conversation, eager to ask Kurien what he thought. ‘Mr Kurien, the government has started many dairies under the second five-year plan and the third one. All these dairies are run and owned by the government, but unfortunately, none have succeeded. Amul is the only exception in India that has a consistent success record. To unearth the secret behind this, I stayed with the farmers yesterday, talking to them in detail.’

After listening to every word Shastri said, Kurien smiled at him, ready to give him the answer he sought, but before that, he let the PM finish pointing out his observations. He asked the PM, ‘What did you find out so far, Sir?’

Shastri continued, ‘I don’t intend to offend you, Mr Kurien. I am about to state my opinion only to clarify the subject. I assumed that there was something special about Anand, but after spending last night in the village with farmers, I learnt there is nothing special about the place. The buffaloes from my native place, Uttar Pradesh, yield more milk than the ones here. I asked the farmers about the rainfall, but it is the same as in most parts of the country. I looked at the soil too; it is good but not as best as the soil of Indo-Gangetic plains. The climate is the same as anywhere else in India, hot in summer and cold in winter. The farmers here are good people but not as hardworking as the farmers of Punjab. Lastly, I expected the terrain to be green with cattle grazing everywhere, but to my disappointment, I found the landscape to be brown like in most other states of India. I failed to find at least one reason behind the success of Amul.’

Kurien leaned forward in his chair, eager to reply to the PM. He smiled and said, ‘Shastriji, whatever you have observed is true, but you failed to notice one major difference. The dairy here is owned by farmers themselves, unlike other dairies in India. I am merely their manager who provides them with the best infrastructure and other help to increase their production.’ Kurien continued to explain to Shastri the democratic structure of the cooperatives. After comprehending every word Kurien said, the PM declared in excitement, ‘Kurien, the cooperatives structure in Anand is incredible! If possible, we can replicate the Anand model all over India!’ Kurien nodded his head in agreement.

The PM continued, ‘Kurien, the Indian government, will provide you with a blank cheque to create any structure you seem fit to do the job. You can decide how to reproduce the Anand model and assign professionals as required. The only condition I have is that you should head it. Whatever help you need, the government is ready to provide it.’

Kurien nodded to everything the Prime Minister said, and then he added, ‘Sir, I am ready to accept your offer, but I have two conditions which I will not compromise.’ Shastri raised his eyebrows and asked, ‘What is it? I have already asked you to plan everything as you want to.’

Kurien replied, ‘Yes, Sir, I heard you, but I must warn you that I will never be a government servant. I will continue to work for the farmers.’

‘Why is that?’ Shastri enquired curiously. Kurien said, ‘Sir, if I work for the farmers, I will try to please the farmers and not my superiors. That’s a more genuine way to run the cooperatives, and it assures true democracy.’ Shastri hummed in agreement.

Kurien said, ‘My next precondition is that this new body we are forming will be located in Anand. I know usually the head of all organisations will be in Delhi. But people of Delhi seldom think of farmers. They are caught up with their own busy lives. I believe Anand is a suitable place to start such an initiative. Hence, I am not ready to leave Anand.’ Shastri accepted both the conditions laid out by Kurien, wishing him the best.

A National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) was created, with Kurien as its head, to carry out the PM’s decision. But this did not happen without glitches. By then, he had been receiving significant opposition from the government itself.

At Delhi, Subramaniam, the Minister of Food and Agriculture, informed Kurien the bureaucrats of Delhi were disappointed with the PM. According to them, the PM went over to Anand one fine day and met a random bloke called Kurien, who infused some absurd ideas in him. They jointly opposed the concept of locating NDDB headquarters in Anand. Concurrently, C Subramaniam refused to provide Kurien with the mere Rs 30,000 he had requested to create NDDB. Kurien felt insulted and vowed he didn’t want the government’s money.

‘I am not a beggar, Sir. Please let the Prime Minister know. I can very well shape NDDB without your money,’ Kurien fumed. He bid farewell to the Minister, getting out of the room as quickly as possible.

On his return to Anand, he called for a board meeting of Amul to discuss the matter. He once again realised the stark difference between a government bureaucracy and cooperatives. The way both worked was entirely different. After spending two days in the national capital, Kurien couldn’t receive the small amount required to start the project, but the cooperatives agreed to the idea within minutes. Only one crucial doubt was raised to Kurien. One of the farmers stood up and raised the question, ‘Sir, if we build more Amuls across the nation, wouldn’t that pose steep competition to us?’

Kurien replied emphatically, ‘That is an important question, and I am happy to answer your query. In the long run, just one Amul will not be able to meet the milk demand of the whole country. Moreover, you all should understand that just like it is very easy to break one single stick, it will be easier to put down one Amul. However, with several Amuls together, we will be united. It would be difficult for external vested interests to break us.’ This convinced the farmers.

Thus, with the help of the cooperative members and the Gujarat government, NDDB was formed with Kurien as its chairperson. As they were already employees of the Kaira Union, they received no income from NDDB. They started the initiative with a desk and a couple of chairs inside the premises of Kaira Union. The logo of NDDB was a picture of the Indus Valley bull. It was registered in 1965 under the Societies Registration Act, 1860. The year 1965 was also special for Kurien as the world started to acknowledge his work more. In the same year, Kurien became Dr Verghese Kurien as the Michigan State University conferred an honorary Doctorate of Science degree on him.

(Excerpted with permission from MS Meenakshi’s monograph, ‘Verghese Kurien’; excerpted with permission from Niyogi Books)