Amul’s success does not seem to have been a catalyst for similar movements in other agricultural commodities.
great wishes for legend “Milk Man of India” Verghese Kurienexists among us today in the form of a conflict between the central government and the farming community agricultural law issue Still seems to be unsolved. November 26, 2021 was also Kurien’s 100th birth anniversary. Kurien’s deep understanding of Indian agriculture and the trust he earned from the farming community could have helped in finding a possible solution to the current crisis. His widely cited observation, that “India’s place in the sun will come from a partnership between the knowledge of its rural people and the skills of its professionals”, captures the essence of his life and mission.
There was a time when Kurien seemed an unlikely architect of a rural revolution that would eventually change the lives of millions of farmers in Gujarat. There were many people who saw him as an outsider to that world. He hailed from distant Kerala, belonged to an upper-middle-class Christian family, and was educated in metallurgy at a western university, far away from agriculture.
only as a cooperative model
Yet, quietly and with confidence, Kurien won over the farmers with his professional integrity and his vision of a central role for farmers in India’s development journey. It was on this foundation that Kurien designed his idea of Amul as a cooperative, turning it into a global brand over the years, and later launching the White Revolution that would make India the largest milk producer in the world. It was all a well planned plan.
Central to Kurien’s vision was a cooperative model of business development. He decided that Amul would neither grow as a public sector undertaking nor establish itself as a private corporate entity. He believed that the cooperative model was in the interest of the milk producers of Gujarat.
Kurien had a deep distrust of India’s bureaucracy. He saw it as a remnant of the colonial mindset and a product of the Western way of life. Equally, he had objections about the social objectives of the private sector. He believed that much of the corporate sector was driven more by profit motive rather than public good. Kurien’s attraction to the cooperative model was also influenced by Gandhian thinking on poverty alleviation and social change. He saw cooperatives as the closest embodiment of Mahatma Gandhi’s powerful insight that “the world does not require mass production, but production by the masses”.
Read also | ‘Kurien marched like a titan across bureaucratic hurdles and hurdles’
Charting a Path and Questions
Despite his objections, it must be said, to Kurian’s credit, that he saw a lot – that he could borrow from – the ideas and practices of the corporate world. In areas such as innovations in marketing and management, branding and technology, the private sector excels and sets standards for businesses around the world to follow and adopt.
At the same time, Amul was steadily emerging as a laboratory, developing significant innovations and developing its own technologies, and it has strengthened its competitive power against multinational corporations. Its greatest success came when, under the leadership of HM Dalaya, a reputed dairy engineer, Amul succeeded in converting buffalo milk into skim milk powder and condensed milk. It was a single innovation that gave Amul a distinct competitive advantage and profoundly changed the lives of milk producers in Gujarat and beyond.
Two questions are central to evaluating the legacy of Verghese Kurien and his contribution to India’s growth story.
One, how has Amul fared in the years since its iconic founder left the world in 2012?
Second, to what extent the cooperative movement has generally fulfilled its stated objective of economic transformation at the grassroots level.
Amul has continuously grown on the strong foundation laid by its visionary leader, diversifying and adding new ones to its product range. Amul remains one of India’s best-known food brands and is an inspiration for other dairy cooperatives such as Nandini in Karnataka, Aavin in Tamil Nadu and Verka in Punjab.
Focus on Digital Revolution
Sadly, Amul’s success has not been a catalyst for similar movements in other agricultural commodities in India. Life for millions of farmers is still a struggle for existence.
India’s digital revolution has overtaken the agriculture sector. India talks of smart cities, not smart villages, not liveable villages. Farmer suicides are not uncommon, which weighs heavily on the conscience of the country.
The cooperative movement in India is in a flux. It has suffered due to lack of professional management, adequate finance and poor adoption of technology.
Meanwhile, the pandemic has deepened the urban-rural divide. While the corporate sector is earning billions at the peak of the stock market boom, incomes are shrinking in rural India and the country is facing a grave human tragedy. It is indeed a moment to reflect on the remarkable legacy of Verghese Kurien and the unfinished business he left behind.
C. Sharath Chandran is a Senior Fellow of the London School of Economics
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