Dr. Verghese Kurien

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Dr. Verghese Kurien was born on 26 November 1921 in Calicut Kerala. He belonged to an affluent Christian family. His father was Puthenparakkal Kurien who was a civil surgeon with the British government. Dr. Kurien's mother was also a highly educated woman and a remarkable piano player. Dr. Verghese Kurien was named after his uncle Rao Sahib P.K Verghese. Dr. Kurien attained his degree in B.Sc in Physics from Loyola College in Madras. He was also a very dynamic sportsman; he represented the college in various games including cricket, badminton, boxing, and tennis. Later Dr. Kurien went to the United States of America on the scholarship sponsored by the government for perusing his Master's degree of Science in Mechanical Engineering. After completing his master's degree with the distinction he returned to India. On 13 May 1949 as per the norms of the government scholarship, he went to Anand in Gujarat where he had to spend five years at the post of an officer of the Dairy division. On reaching Anand, he was alarmed to see the grieved situation of the farmers, who were being browbeaten by the distributors of milk. The entire region was being controlled shrewd but clever businessman who was no more than a thug. Dr. Verghese Kurien wedded Susan Molly Peter on 15 June 1953 they were blessed with one daughter Nirmala Kurien and a grandson, Siddharth.

via: i.dailymail.co.uk

Tribhuvandas Patel was the local leader during those times who was trying to unite the farmers and form a cooperative movement against the exploitation.  Seeing the plight of these people to basic survival and immensely impressed by their leader Dr. Kurien decided to quit his government job and then joined the struggle alongside Tribhuvandas Patel and the poor farmers to start the Milk Cooperative movement in the district, the institution was registered under the name of Kaira District Cooperative Milk Producers Union Ltd (KDCMPUL), which was later renamed to be the world famous brand "Amul". Dr. Verghese Kurien was the mind behind the programme of "Operation Flood" and contributed immensely in bringing a White Revolution in India. Dr. Kurein is the man

responsible for spinning India from a milk scarce country to one of the world's largest producer of milk in today. many important institutions were established Under his inspirational leadership namely the GCMMF (Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd) and NDDB (National Dairy Development board) these establishments played a much significant role in determining the Dairy Cooperative movement across the country. Dr. Kurien led various cooperative dairy which was practiced all over the country in the lines of Anand model.

Dr. Kurien was presented with15 honorary degrees from diverse institutions of the world. He was awarded with various awards and honors like 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) but he considers that the best award was the one given by the people of the country, we call him "Milkman of India".