An MBA program is to train us to become good managers.

So the ideal role model for an MBA

aspirant or student would be someone who rose up the ranks and became CEO of large
organizations.

I too started my MBA with such notions until I came across the book “I Too Had A Dream” by
Dr. Verghese Kurian. The Milkman of India, Dr.Verghese Kurien, who ensured every child got his
daily glass of milk and founded Amul, was a legend in his time.

This book is a true story of a revolutionary and a great visionary. It narrates the innovative story
of how farmers were empowered to build strong co-operatives and increase the production of
milk, which ultimately resulted in India becoming the highest milk producer in the world.

The book begins with the background of Dr. Kurien. Born to a Christian family in Kerala, Dr.
Kurien did his masters in mechanical engineering from Michigan State University, USA. Back
home, he joined a government organization. In 1949, as part of his duties, he was sent to a
creamery in Anand, Gujarat.

Once there various circumstances like the Bombay Milk Scheme and the protests led by dairy
farmers, made him relies on the sad plight of the dairy farmers who were the unsung heroes of
the milk business in the country.

He set about to launch a cooperative movement that recognized these heroes and changed the
fortune of over 10 million humble dairy farmers. With his entrepreneurial skills and risk-taking
abilities, Dr. Kurien revolutionized the milk industry; he replicated the Anand model across the
country, also known as Operation Flood.

Several incidents in the book validate Dr. Kurien’s point that with every challenge comes an
opportunity. He acknowledges that this revolution would not have been possible but for
Tribhuvandas Patel, his mentor and guide. He explains how the cooperative model has been
tailor-made for the dairy sector and how through perseverance and teamwork, they were able
to do the impossible - produce milk powder from buffalo’s milk. His courage and openness
sparkle when he writes about the neglect of Maniben Patel by Congress. It is really exciting to
read how they managed to commission the milk powder plant in one year and got it
inaugurated by Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru, the then Prime Minister of India.

Dr. Kurien believed in the empowerment of farmers and was absolutely against imported dairy
products. He wanted to make India self-sufficient in dairy. In his journey, he received generous
help from many ministers and bureaucrats. Impressed by Dr.Kurian’s model and tangible
benefit, Mr. Krishnamachari, then Commerce Minister, ordered to cut down import of butter to
protect Indian dairy industry and at the same time healing the chronic problem of shortage of
foreign exchange reserve. ‘Value for money’ is the message of Amul for its customer. Dr.
Kurien recollects on how he handled Mr. Polson, another dairy product manufacturer. There
was a continuous threat from Mr. Polson in respect of unhealthy competition, dispute over
division of operational area (Division of Koira district) etc. Despite other market players’
scrupulous way to market products produced with undesirable ingredient formula, Amul stuck
to its quality norms and succeed to withstand the threat from its rival.

Dr.Kurien dreamt of Amul to be much beyond and bigger than only milk products. He wanted to
build an institutional framework where people have an identity and are free to decide what to
do, how to do. He, along with H.M.Dalaya and Michale Halse, proposed Operation Flood, which
was also known as “the billion-liter idea”. Mr. L.P.Singh, the Home Secretary gave Dr. Kurien a
chance to present his proposal in the house. It was immediately sanctioned without the
involvement of any politician. This proposal was sent to the World Food Program and Dr. Kurien
presented the same to a 24 nation executive committee of the WFP at Rome. He convinced the
gathering that the food aid could be handled differently without satisfying the political needs.
He also stressed on the impact of this aid, since it gave an opportunity to replicate Anand
pattern at national level. The Indian Govt nominated him as the Chairman of NDDB and In July
1970, the ‘billion-liter idea’ was officially launched.

Dr. Kurien believed that the actual asset to our country is its people and every government
must try to unleash and channelize the energy of it's people. There are various incidents
mentioned in the book that talks of how empowering the common man contributes towards
the success and growth of the nation.
The milkman of India exhaustively describes some of the moments which posed hurdles to the
project, like the denial of the government to import dairy vending machines for a lot of reasons,
and how this project is not in favor of poverty alleviation etc. There have been instances where
a long lost foe, on getting a bureaucrat position takes on the oath to revenge against Dr. Kurien
and thus harm the project. It also narrates how in times of difficulties, some important people
were key in the sustainability of the project. Through all this, Dr. Kurien emphasized on one
theme that Operation Flood has been an important factor in the success and removal of unfair
practices by intermediaries/middlemen in dairy industry. There have been multiple cases where
Dr. Kurien has offered his resignation where anybody has pointed a finger at the working or the
motive of the Operation Flood; only to be rejected by the prime minister.

Early on Dr. Kurien realized the importance of political and bureaucratic support. His
commitment towards his work gave him access to all the prime ministers of India and he got his
work done by leveraging upon these relationships. While replicating the ANAND pattern for
oilseeds, he got a tremendous amount of support from the Govt. of India i.e. 700 cr. For
reducing the import of vegetable oil and thereby reducing the outflow of foreign exchange, he
started vegetable oil mills marketed under the brand name of Dhara, a low-cost high quality
domestically made products.

After ‘operation flood” Mr. Verghese Kurien was invited to visit many countries especially to
the developing countries like India. All these countries wanted that Dr. Kurien should do
something for them as well, as he had done in India. During these visits he met many
interesting people, with whom his experiences have been shared. From all his experiences Dr.
Kurien learned that corruption was one of the major reasons as to why such organizations
couldn’t be set up everywhere. Then there was also lack of political will in these countries.
Multinationals were also playing all their might to avoid any such cooperative model coming up
anywhere.

The book is full of glimpses about Dr. Kurien’s beliefs and ideals that helped to shape him, the
people around him and also the organizations which he was associated with such as the
Institute of Rural Management, Anand. The inception of the institute came due to Verghese
Kurien strong belief in the need of managers who understand the rural temperament and the
agricultural virtues. Similarly, he speaks of his take on money, bureaucracy and the succession
struggle. He ends the book with his “dream” about cooperatives and his love for his greatest
source of inspiration – his fellow citizens. The book shows us how a community-driven
organization can be developed by beating all the odds and sustain in the present globalized
environment by overcoming political, social, economic and organizational bottlenecks.