Verghese Kurien was born in Kozhikode, Kerala on the 26

th
of November 1921 into a Syrian Christian
family headed by his civil surgeon father. Upon finishing school, Kurien attended Loyola College in
Madras, graduating in 1940 with a degree in physics before taking a further bachelors degree in
mechanical engineering from the University of Madras. After his graduation, Kurien continued his studies
by joining the Tata Iron and Steel Company Technical Institute inJamshedpur, from where he graduated in
1946.
Further bolstering his academic record, Kurien applied for a government funded Masters program at
Michigan State University. The government supported Kurien to specialize in dairy engineering against his
pleas to stay in the field of engineering. Fortuitously for Kurien, however, the university did not offer a dairy
specialization. Thus, in 1948, Kuriengraduated with a distinction in Metallurgical Engineering. He did also
however undertake specialist training before serving his time in local government, attending the National
Dairy Research Institute in Bangalore.
Kurien arrived in a small village named Anand to serve his two years of service at a government
research creameryKurien. Initially, he was impatient for its end, disliking his job and the restrictions of
government work. The timing of his arrival coincided with a difficult time for small, local dairy farmers who,
without an efficient way to get their milk to market, were frequently exploited by larger dairies whose
money, resources, and governmental connections allowed them unique benefits.
Earlier in the decade, and in response to this, local farmers led by Tribhuvandas Patel had already
started the first dairy cooperative. But it was Kurien who would revolutionize the
movement. Kuriens unhappiness in his job and his intense loneliness had led him to reach out to the local
farmers, including Patel. The earnest efforts of this cooperative and the crippling unfairness of the status
quo inspired Kurien, and so when he was asked to help the cooperative expand he eagerly agreed.
Straight away he insisted that they purchase a pasteurizing machine at the cost of 60,000 rupees. It was a
large outlay but an investment that paid off for the small band. Milk could now be transported to Mumbai
without it spoiling and the cooperative flourished.
It became the success story of the area, with local farmers from other districts travelling to learn from the
cooperative and from Kurien himself. Amongst those who made the pilgrimage were a large number of
landless labourers whose assets were few but often included a sole cow or buffalo.
H.M Dalaya further aided the movement when he invented the process of turning buffalo milk into
skim milk powder or condensed milk. This breakthrough allowed the cooperative to capitalize on the
abundance of buffalo in India and to compete against multi-national corporations who relied solely on cow
milk.
The vast success of Amul, as the organization had been titled, put the area and Kurien on the
governmental map. As the company grew into the biggest food brand in India, Kurien nevertheless
remained in Anand, enjoying the prestige he maintained in the town, and veering away from national
politics. His dairies instructed farmers not only in method but also in discipline and cleanliness. In 1965 the
government, so impressed by the achievements of Amul, created the National Dairy Development Board to
spread this cooperative model nationally. Kurien was inaugurated with great fanfare by the Prime Minister
to serve as the boards founding chairman.
In 1973, Kurien pioneered Operation Flood (or the white revolution), a move which would make India
self-reliant in milk production. Kurien replicated the cooperatives and setup the Gujarat Cooperative Milk
Marketing Federation (GCMMF) in order to sell the combined produce of the disparate dairies under the
same Amul brand name both nationally and overseas. Kurien invested in infrastructure for these budding
cooperatives. which had grown (by the time of his death) to some 150,000 members.
By creating a self-sufficient dairy system in India, Kurien revolutionized rural India and dramatically
improved the lives of the poor living in those areas. The cooperative system has given millions of
landless labourers and small farmers a regular income, whilst stabilizing domestic milk prices in India, thus
making hygienic milk easily available even amongst the poorest communities.
In 1989 Kurien was awarded the World Food Prize for his recognition that feeding the worlds citizens
includes coordinating breakthroughs in production with effective management and distribution strategies.
Under Kuriens model, India became the worlds biggest producer of milk, increasing production from 20
million metric tons in the 1960s to 120 million by 2011.
Beyond this, Kurien also sought to apply the model to vegetable oil in the 1980s, an industry
controlled once again by a small and powerful group of select families. Later in life, Kurien was a vocal
critic of the liberalization of India which he saw as putting India at risk of unfair competition by large
multinational companies, frequently speaking out during interviews on the issues of liberalization and
globalization.
He died in Nadiad, in western India, on the 9
th
of September 2012 aged 90. By the time of his death, he had
been awarded 17 honourary doctorates and numerous national and international accolades
Verghese Kurien was a leader of remarkable vision, creativity, and compassion who revolutionized
a nations industryand economy while transforming the lives of millions of its most impoverished citizens.