entrepreneur ship verghese final
DESCRIPTION
Enterpreneur verghese kurienTRANSCRIPT
AMITY LAW SCHOOL - 2
ENTREPENEURSHIP PROJECT
Submitted by:
Akansha Singh Chaudhary
BA.,LLB (H)
SEM-5
SEC-C
A11911113161
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would like to express my special thanks of gratitude to my entrepreneurship teachers who gave me the golden
opportunity to do this wonderful project. This project also helped me in doing a lot of Research and I came to know about so many new things and I am really thankful to all
Secondly I would also like to thank my parents and friends who helped me a lot in finalizing this project
within the limited time frame.
INTRODUCTION
Dr. Verghese Kurien was born on November 26, 1921 to an affluent Syrian
Christian family in Calicut (now Kozhikode), Kerala. His father Puthenparakkal
Kurien was a civil surgeon in British Cochin and his mother was a highly
educated woman as well an exceptional piano player. He was named after
his uncle Rao Sahib P.K Verghese. Dr Kurien joined Loyola College in Madras
and attained his degree in B.Sc in Physics. He was also very active in sports
and represented the college in cricket, badminton, boxing and tennis. He
went to the United States of America on government scholarship where he
pursued his degree in Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering
(Distinction). He returned to India after completion of his studies and on May
13, 1949 he headed for Anand, a place in Kaira district of Gujarat where he
was supposed to spend five years as an officer of the Dairy division in return
for the scholarship paid by the government. On arriving at Anand, he found
that the farmers were being exploited by the distributors of milk and the
entire region was controlled by a shrewd but clever businessman called as
"Pestonjee Edulji" who marketed Polson butter.
Looking at the struggle of these people to survive and mesmerized by the
personality of their leader Tribhuvandas Patel who was trying to unite the
farmers and form a cooperative movement against the exploitation, Dr.
Kurien left his government job and joined forces with Tribhuvandas Patel and
the farmers to start the Milk Cooperative movement in the region registered
under the name of Kaira District Cooperative Milk Producers Union Ltd
(KDCMPUL), which was later renamed to now popular "Amul". He worked
towards bringing a White Revolution in India and executed the much needed
programme of "Operation Flood". Dr. Verghese Kurien married Susan Molly
Peter on June 15, 1953 and they had one daughter Nirmala Kurien and a
grandson, Siddharth. Dr. Kurein was the man responsible for turning India
from a milk deficient country to the largest producer of milk in the world
today. Under his inspiring leadership many important institutions were
established namely the GCMMF (Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing
Federation Ltd) and NDDB (National Dairy Development board which played
a significant role in shaping the Dairy Cooperative movement across the
country and led the replication of Anand model of cooperative dairy
practiced all over the country.
Dr. Kurien always regarded himself as an employee of the farmers who
would do anything to bring prosperity in their favor.In his service of over fifty
years he attained 15 honorary degrees from different institutions of the
world as he believed that learning should never stop. His enduring
personality, spirit, undying charisma and conviction of turning the impossible
into possible won him many accolades such as the Ramon Magsaysay Award
for Community Leadership (1963), Padma Shri (1965), Padma Bhushan
(1966), Krishi Ratna Award (1986), World Food prize (1989), Padma
Vibhushan (1999), Economic Times award for Corporate Excellence (2001)
and several other awards, but the best award that the people of the country
gave him was the title "Milkman of India". After a lifetime of struggle and
conviction towards serving the nation Dr. Verghese Kurien breathe his last on
9 September 2012 due to brief illness at Anand. Dr. Verghese Kurien will
always be remembered as the person who redefined the meaning of milk as
a powerful tool for economic development.
JOURNEY DR. VERGHESE KURIEN
1920-1940
It all began at Anand, a place in Kaira district, Gujarat famous for its Dairy
Industry. It was ruled by some old players who started their dairy in 1890s
and 1910s. However during the 1920s a new entrant called as “Polson”,
which was led by a shrewd but clever Parsi businessman known as
“Pestonjee Edulji” entered the market. He started supplying Polson butter to
the British Army and its milk products soon became a household name. He
built a large dairy in Anand in the year 1930. Once he was asked by the
Bombay milk scheme whether it was possible for him to supply milk from
Anand to Bombay – some 350 kilometers away. Never before had liquid milk
travelled such long distances, but Pestonjee was not the man who would let
the opportunity go.
He pasteurized milk and transported it to Bombay in a rather primitive
fashion in milk cans wrapped up in gunny bags with chilled water poured on
the cans. The experiment worked and very soon Bombay became an
important market for Polson. With this Pestonjee started developing good
relations with the government officials and he would persuade them to make
arrangement so that he could get benefit out of it. Pestonjee knew that the
main source of milk is the Kaira district so he persuaded the government
officials to make arrangements that only Polson dairy could procure milk
from the district. His wish was granted and Pestonjee started monopolizing
the market; he started selling products to the people at higher prices and
started exploiting farmers by paying them less for their produce and since
Pestonjee monopolized the market, the milk producers had no option but
become the victim of exploitation.
By 1945, the Polson dairy was flourishing and the farmers were getting more
and more exploited, leading to animosity among the farmers and hence the
seeds of the movements were sown..
1946
It was Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel’s vision that led to the growth of the
cooperative movement. After fighting for and winning the freedom he
recognized that independence was more than a political task. He knew that
the rural people could never become completely free until they were
liberated from the exploitation of money lenders, burdens of the social ills
and the caste and class discrimination. He addressed the problems of
building rural institutions and educating rural people for their
development.Sardar Patel urged the dairy farmers to organize milk
cooperatives, which would give them control over the resources they
generated. He assigned Morarji Desai, his deputy, to coordinate this effort.
Morarji Desai organized a meeting where he asked people to become the
chairman of the cooperative and take the work ahead. A few people
volunteered, but Morarjibhai chose Tribhuvandas Patel who was a committed
freedom fighter and the elected vice president of the Kaira district congress
committee. Tribhuvandas was a man of integrity and honour and he started
the cooperative by organizing the dairy farmers and he soon managed to
form a couple of cooperative societies. Although the farmers were ready to
take their leader’s advice but since milk was such a perishable commodity,
farmers had to accept the price that the contractor offered and also Polson
would use every trick in the book to procure milk at lower prices by accusing
the milk producers that their milk lacks quality. Farmers got fed up of the
daily exploitation and Tribhuvandas met Sardar Patel to seeka solution. Patel
gave him a simple solution that if they wanted to stop exploitation then they
need to remove Polson from the market by capturing the Bombay market for
which they need to gather the masses and the cooperative needs to own the
dairy. Only, then they could pressurize the Bombay Milk scheme (BMS) to
buy milk from them and not Polson. However, Pestonjee’s reach was stronger
than the cooperative’s and Tribhuvandas and company’s plea was rejected.
In protest of the BMS, the cooperative society went on a 15 day strike,
famously recalled in history as the Kaira strike. The farmers collected the
milk and poured it on the streets but not even a single drop was given to
Polson. Finally the BMS realized the strength of the union and kneeled to
their demands. For Tribhuvandas Patel this was morale boosting incident as
he travelled mile after mile, village after village trying to convince the famers
to form the cooperative society. Finally in December 1946, Kaira District
Cooperative Milk Producers Union Limited (KDCMPUL) was registered. By
procuring the old dairy of World War I from the government they began their
process.
Arrival of Dr.Verghese Kurien at Anand
It was Friday, 13 May, 1949 when Dr. Verghese Kurien first arrived at Anand
to serve his bond in return of the scholarship he received from the
government. Although he had no plans of working in the village but soon he
started noticing the movement of the farmers in the village and admired the
qualities of their leader, Tribhuvandas Patel. He started giving ideas to the
cooperative, shared his views on how to go ahead and advised them in the
selection of machinery for manufacturing milk. Tribhuvandas Patel
recognized the potential of Dr. Verghese Kurien and just on the day when Dr.
Verghese Kurien resigned from his job and packed his bags to leave,
Tribhuvandas asked him to help him in setting the new dairy in the village,
since no one in the village was able to run the new machinery. Dr. Kurien
agreed and stayed back to help them.
1952
Increasing production of the cooperative
Although, Kurien stopped for a few days but looking at the struggle of the
farmers he stayed back. He worked for the farmers in creating a better life
for them by taking the cooperative movement ahead. He started working
day and night for the dairy along with Tribhuvandas and hundreds of
farmers. On the advice of Dr. Kurien, Tribhuvandas left the old machinery of
manufacturing milk and collected money from the cooperative and bought
new machinery from Larsen and Toubro in 1951. Dr. Kurien joined the
cooperative as General Manager in 1950. With the new machinery in place,
the procurement capacity of the cooperative rose from 200 litres of milk in
1948 to 20,000 litres in 1952. Slowly and gradually the name of Kaira
reached till Delhi and the Anand model of cooperative started growing.
1955
World’s First Buffalo Milk Powder plant
After returning from New Zealand, Dr. Kurien started his experiment of
obtaining milk powder from buffalo milk. Through a series of experiments
under the guidance of Dalaya and other cooperative members, Dr. Kurien
became successful in making milk powder from buffalo milk and planned to
build a plant where they could manufacture the buffalo milk powder.
On November 15, 1954, the first president of India, Dr. Rajendra Prasad laid
the foundation for the world’s first dairy to manufacture milk powder from
buffalo milkat Anand . Dr. Kurien was confident that the plant could be
erected in a period of one year and when Maniben asked him who he wants
to inaugurate the plant, he said Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. When contacted,
Pandit Nehru gracefully accepted the invitation and informed that he would
inaugurate the plant on October 31, 1955, the birth anniversary of Sarder
Vallabhbhai Patel, which gave them exactly 11 months to build the plant.
The work started and experts from foreign countries were called to erect the
plant and finally on the day of the inauguration all the preparations were
done.
Pandit Nehru inaugurated the plant and gave an inspiring speech which
boosted the morale of the cooperative. This is how the world’s first buffalo
milk powder manufacturing plant came to life.
1957
Birth of Amul
With the increasing production capacity of the plant and the progressive
nature of the cooperative, it was time to take the competition under
consideration and there was a need to understand the finer points of
marketing Kaira Cooperative’s products. At a brainstorming session to come
up with a good name for the products, a chemist at the laboratory suggested
the name “Amul”. It comes from a Sanskrit word “Amoolya” which means
priceless. Also it stood as an acronym for Anand Milk Union Limited.
Advertising and Sales Promotion (ASP) did a fine job by crafting the Amul
polka dotted girl and the best baseline a brand has ever had “Utterly Butterly
Delicious”. the credit for the work goes to Eustace Fernandez, Slyvester Da
cunha and his team.
The name was registered in the year 1957 and till today it is the most
recalled household name.
It was also a special year for Dr. Kurien as her daughter Nirmala was born in
1957.
1962
War against China
In 1962, the clouds of war against China darkened the nation. The Prime
Minister’s office called the Amul cooperative to help the government as the
army needed milk powder during the war; the requirement was 2750 tons
within six months. Although that was outside the reach of the Amul
cooperative but in collaboration with the Rajkot dairy they fulfilled the
demand of the government by completely seizing the consumer market. The
integrity of the cooperative and its leaders was such that when asked what
they want in return of this favour, they said “nothing” and proved that in real
sense it is serving the nation. Minoo Polson (son of Pestonjee Edulji) tried to
increase the prices of its butter and take undue advantage of the scenario.
When it came to the notice of Amul cooperative, they froze the
manufacturing of Polson with the help of the government.
1964
Lal Bahadur Shastri visits Anand
On the birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, the then Prime Minister
of India, Lal Bahadur Shastri , who had heard a lot about the development
process going in Anand, he called the then Chief Minister of Gujarat,
Balwantrai Mehta and made an unusual request. He mentioned that he
would like to visit Anand but a day earlier and spend a night at a small
farmer’s house with no police protection where he can move freely and talk
with the villagers. His main objective was to understand the life of the farmer
and the way they perform functions at the cooperative. Balwantrai Mehta
immediately conveyed the message to Dr. Kurien and raised the security
issues related to the Prime Minister’s request. But, like always Dr. Kurien
found a way out and planned to take Shastriji secretly to a village 10 kms
away from Anand called “Ajarpura” where he spent a night at a farmer’s
house named Ramanbhai. The security cars were taken straight to Anand.
During his night stay in Ajarpura the Prime Minister moved freely in the
village and asked several questions to the villagers regarding their life, Amul
and how the cooperative brought prosperity to their life. When the next day
he arrived at Anand, he was most attentive to understand the working of the
cooperative and applauded the work of the cooperative by giving an
inspiring speech.
The Prime Minister stayed at Dr. Kurien’s home and in the evening had a
detailed conversation where he mentioned his experience of having spent a
night at a village and talking to the farmers. He said that he thought
something special about Anand but he found nothing special. He added that
the soil of Anand is not as good as the Indo-Gangetic plains, the climate is
cold in winter and very hot in summer, rainfall is more or less similar to other
places. He remarked that he expected greenery but it was all dusty and
brown and the buffalos give less milk than the one in his home state of Uttar
Pradesh and lastly the farmers here are good people but less hard working
than the ones of Punjab. He was curious that what has then made this
cooperative as the Centre of attraction of the world? Dr. Kurien agreed to all
the observations of the Prime Minister but he mentioned one very important
thing that it is the farmer’s cooperative union, they are the owners of the
dairy and he was just an employee of the farmer. Being a dairy which is
owned by the farmers gives them the will power and the energy to face
every challenge and overcome it.
The Prime Minister was convinced by his explanation asked him to replicate
the Anand model in other parts of the country, which made Dr. Kurien
imagine about the social and economic prosperity they could bring about if
the model is replicated. He knew that it is going to be a tedious task but it
was not impossible as the man with the stature and class of Dr. Kurien will
always grow strong with the challenge. He started thinking and planning how
this big dream can be brought to life and be replicated throughout the
country.
1965
Mr Kurien becomes Dr. Kurien and Quest for Operation Flood
The year of 1965 was fairly momentous for the cooperative society and also
for Dr. Kurien. Michigan State University conferred an honorary degree of
"Doctor of Science" thereby promoting him from Mr. Kurien to "Dr. Kurien".
In September 1965, the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) was
registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860. With this the dream of
replicating the Amul model throughout the country and bringing it to reality
became stronger.
Dr. Kurien started thinking on the plan and he worked in coordination with
Micheal Hales who was Food and Agriculture expert and a Harvard trained
visiting faculty at the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) and H.M Dalaya.
Michael Hales noted down all the points to be taken into consideration to
replicate the plan and helped the cooperative to draft their plan to be
presented to the government seeking their support for the programme. The
amount that was required for replicating the Anand Model all over the
country was over 650 crore rupees as estimated by the cooperative team.
When the plan was presented to the state government and the other
authorities, it was rejected as the government had the control over the dairy
industry in India and they never wished to give that power to the villagers. It
also led to a lot of corruption and soon the cooperative realized that they
need to do something different. It was very easy to drop the plan but the
conviction of the leader and the cooperative was not going to shy away from
the challenge.
1968
Seizing the opportunity
There was a surplus production of milk in the European countries. So much
so, that they had no clue what to do with the surplus milk. At that time, the
Home Secretary, L.P Singh recommended Dr. Kurien to present their
proposal to these European countries at the event, which happened in Rome
called as the World Food Programme (WFP). Dr. Kurien realized that this
opportunity will never come again as these nations will never commit this
mistake again of over producing. Dr. Kurien visited Rome in October 1968 to
present NDDB's project proposal to a twenty four nation executive
committee of the WFP. The Agriculture Secretary of the Government of India
at that time was B.R Patel who introduced Dr. Kurien to the WFP committee
to present India's point of view. Dr. Kurien was waiting for this opportunity
and was all set to go. He started by elaborating on the importance of milk in
India. With a huge population there is a big space for dairy development in
India and his intention was to replicate the Anand model in various parts of
the country. He simply explained how he intended to use the donated milk to
sell at a regular price in India in order to capture the markets of Delhi,
Bangalore and other metros and milk rich cities and then generate the
money out of it to fund the Operation Flood programme where his major goal
was to make India a self-sufficient country in milk and milk products. He also
added that if a country donates milk worth $100 million then it can expect
10% return on investment hence the donation is in fact an investment. He
continued that he is not asking for such donations to sell them at a lower
rate and make money out of it as many countries do it but to use it to raise
money for Operation Flood to make India self-sufficient.
The elaborate and passionate presentation was liked and more importantly
very well received by the committee. Hence in March 1970, the proposal to
award India the food aid donation was signed between the Government of
India and the WFP.
The cooperative won the major battle here which kick started the Operation
Flood.
1970-1980
Phase 1 of Operational Flood/Billion Liter Idea
In a nutshell the approach was very simple. The first step was that the
donated milk products would be reconstituted to provide the Bombay, Delhi,
Calcutta and Madras liquid schemes with enough milk to obtain a
commanding share of the markets. Next, the funds realized from this
reconstitution and sale of donated products were used to resettle city-kept
cattle and help them to breed and to increase organized milk production, its
procurement and processing. Finally this entire operation would be directed
towards stabilizing the position of major liquid milk schemes in their markets.
1981-1985
Phase 2 of Operational Flood/Billion Liter Idea
The second phase of the operation flood, which lasted from 1981 to 1985,
was implemented with the seed capital raised from the sale of European
Economic Committee's (EEC) gifts as well as a World Bank loan of Rs 200
crore. With this phase, the number of milk sheds increased the outlets for
milk produced. By the end of this phase more than 43,000 village
cooperatives covering 4.25 million milk producers were established.
1985-1996
Phase 3 of Operational Flood/Billion Liter Idea
The third phase of the operation added 30,000 new dairy cooperatives to the
42,000 existing societies. Member education was intensified, and
significantly, the number of women members and women's Dairy
cooperative societies increased considerably. This phase focused on
assisting unions to expand and strengthen their procurement and marketing
infrastructure to manage the increasing volumes of milk (by 1989 the
number of milk sheds had grown to 173). Veterinary healthcare services,
feed and artificial insemination services for cooperative members were
extended. During this decade the increased emphasis was on research and
development on animal health and animal nutrition.
Operational Flood
Operation Flood: one of the world's largest rural development programmes
Launched in 1970, Operation Flood has helped dairy farmers direct their own
development, placing control of the resources they create in their own
hands. A National Milk Grid links milk producers throughout India with
consumers in over 700 towns and cities, reducing seasonal and regional
price variations while ensuring that the producer gets fair market prices in a
transparent manner on a regular basis. The bedrock of Operation Flood has
been village milk producers' cooperatives, which procure milk and provide
inputs and services, making modern management and technology available
to members. Operation Flood's objectives included :
Increase milk production ("a flood of milk")
Augment rural incomes
Reasonable prices for consumers
Programme Implementation
Operation Flood was implemented in three phases.
Phase I
Phase I (1970-1980) was financed by the sale of skimmed milk powder and
butter oil gifted by the European Union then EEC through the World Food
Programme. NDDB planned the programme and negotiated the details of
EEC assistance.
During its first phase, Operation Flood linked 18 of India's premier milksheds
with consumers in India's four major metropolitan cities: Delhi, Mumbai,
Kolkata and Chennai.
Phase II
Operation Flood's Phase II (1981-85) increased the milksheds from 18 to
136; 290 urban markets expanded the outlets for milk. By the end of 1985,
a self-sustaining system of 43,000 village cooperatives covering 4.25 million
milk producers had become a reality. Domestic milk powder production
increased from 22,000 tons in the pre-project year to 140,000 tons by 1989,
all of the increase coming from dairies set up under Operation Flood. In this
way EEC gifts and World Bank loan helped to promote self-reliance. Direct
marketing of milk by producers' cooperatives increased by several million
litres a day.
Phase III
Phase III (1985-1996) enabled dairy cooperatives to expand and strengthen
the infrastructure required to procure and market increasing volumes of
milk. Veterinary first-aid health care services, feed and artificial
insemination services for cooperative members were extended, along with
intensified member education.
Operation Flood's Phase III consolidated India's dairy cooperative movement,
adding 30,000 new dairy cooperatives to the 42,000 existing societies
organised during Phase II. Milksheds peaked to 173 in 1988-89 with the
numbers of women members and Women's Dairy Cooperative Societies
increasing significantly.
Phase III gave increased emphasis to research and development in animal
health and animal nutrition. Innovations like vaccine for Theileriosis , bypass
protein feed and urea-molasses mineral blocks, all contributed to the
enhanced productivity of milch animals.
From the outset, Operation Flood was conceived and implemented as much
more than a dairy programme. Rather, dairying was seen as an instrument
of development, generating employment and regular incomes for millions of
rural people. "Operation Flood can be viewed as a twenty year
experiment confirming the Rural Development Vision" ( World Bank
Report 1997c.)
SPEECHES BY DR. VERGHESE KURIEN
March 24, 1994 : XXV Dairy Industry Conference
August 30, 1991 : Vallabhai Patel Memorial Lecture
1991 - Cooperative Development group : Cooperative Leadership &
Cooperative Values
December 15, 1990 : Sardar Patel University
December 12, 1990 : Bal Dattatraya Award Lecture
December 13, 1989 : Shri Ram Memorial Lecture Cooperatives and
Capital
December 13, 1989 : Shri Ram Memorial Lecture
October 17, 1989 : Presentation of the World Food Prize at Washington
March 9, 1988 : Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute Dimensions of Deve
January 16, 1988 : South Gujarat University
February 10, 1987 : Prof.J. C. Kane Memorial Lecture
September 3, 1986 : Third Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial IFFCO Lecture
May 13, 1986 : Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda
December 10,1983 : Socio-economic Impact of Operation Flood
January 29th, 1982 : 1st Sardar Patel Memorial Lecture
November 2, 1982 : Mohan Kumaramangalam Memorial Lecture
August 28th, 1982 : Breed improvement and milk production
October 17, 1981 : All India Women’s Conference
March 7, 1978 : Dr. Vikram Sarabhai Memorial Lecture
December 20, 1975 : National Investment and Finance anniversary
December 16, 1972 : Rajmitra A. D. Amin Memorial Lecture
DAIRY DEVELOPMENT THOUGH CO-OPERATIVES IN INDIA : Shri
Ramchandra Sarvotam Dubhashi Memorial Lecture
PUBLIC SERVICE BY PRIVATE PERSONS : Programme of Training for
Democracy
Vallabhbhai Patel Memorial Lecture on Cooperative Marketing : Patel's Vision of the Indian Cooperative Movement.
THOUGHTS OF DR. VERGHESE KURIEN-
Dr. Verghese Kurien will always be remembered as a man with
strong will and self-belief.
Here are few of his thoughts.
India's place in the sun would come from the partnership between
wisdom of its rural people and skill of its professionals
The milk of India is produced by millions of small and marginal farmers
and landless labourers'. It is on their behalf and in their name that i
accept this high honour.
India needs to show an honest face, a kind face, a human face - and
not an arrogant face as the powerful nations of today (do). What you
need is good management with farmer power. Good management
gives this power the right direction and thrust. Nothing can stop the
farmers then. Least of all the MNCs.
Milk is the only commodity which has to be collected twice a day,
every day of the year. Thus, cooperatives are the only logical system
for the dairy industry. About 85% of the industry in the US, Denmark
and Australia is run by cooperatives. No other system will work for
milk. Who told you there is one Amul? There are more than 175 Amuls
across various districts (in Gujarat).
True development is not the development of land, or of cows; it is the
development of men and women.
Innovation cannot be mandated or forced on people; it is everywhere,
a function of the quality of the people and the environment. We need
to have enough skilled people working in a self- actuating environment
to produce innovation
I am like a cat, throw me wherever you want to, I will still stand on my
feet Eight hours for dairy, eight hours for family and eight hours for
sleep
My philosophy in life is to do as much good as I can to those who are
less fortunate, but I would like to live my life as a common man
The time has come for massive rural development in our country. The
task is daunting and the opposing is great, but I believe that it is also
the greatest opportunity that has ever been presented to a society
such as ours.
I trust, in a humble way - dairying is such as instrument of change: an
instrument not only of technical change, but also of economic and
social change. It is to such instruments that we must look to build the
India tomorrow.
All the tools are with us, in our Hands, to effect the transformation of
our predominantly rural society. Never has an elite had such an
opportunity.
In every successful grassroots cooperative, members trust their
leaders. Trust is the most cost-effective way to manage cooperatives.
If we can again create the environment, the opportunity, and the
education, our villages will provide a new generation of leaders who
will not only rebuild our cooperative movement, but who will help us to
build a truly great nation.
This process of modernization cannot merely demonstrate to producers
the application of such techniques as artificial insemination, improved
animal feeding etc. On the contrary, it inevitably shows the producers
that they can use modern science and technology to achieve the larger
objectives of their own lives.
To be quite honest, service to our nation's farmers was not the career I
had envisioned for myself. But somehow, a series of events swept me
along and put me in a certain place at a certain time when I had to
choose between one option and another.
Sardar Vallabhai Patel's vision has always been a source of great
inspiration. He knew that our rural people could never become really
free until they were liberated from the exploitation of moneylenders.
Sardar Patel believed that the way to address these problems was to
build rural institutions that would serve the farmers' economic
interests. He urged dairy farmers to organize milk cooperatives, which
would give them control over the resources they generated and
assigned Morarji Desai, his Deputy, to coordinate this effort.
I was fortunate that I enjoyed the support of all the governments that
came to power. I have been and continue to be, highly critical of our
bureaucracy. Fortunately for us, within our bureaucracy, there are a
number of people who are dedicated, patriotic and able.
I am in the business of empowerment. Milk is just a tool in that.
I am supposed to exploit the consumer; and I will (exploit them), but
not in a way that will create resentment. I have to milk the consumer.
And milk them I will, but gently.