Dr Verghese Kurian

In News

• Recently, the Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying celebrated “National Milk Day” to commemorate the 101st birth anniversary of Dr. Verghese Kurien.

About 

• He was born on November 26, 1921, in present-day- Kozhikode, Kerala.
• His ideas and contributions made him the “Father of the White Revolution in India” and the ‘Milkman of India’.
• Achievements:
  • Played an instrumental role in making India the largest milk producer in the world.
  • He was the man behind Operation Flood which led to dairy farming becoming the country’s largest self-sustaining industry, as well as the largest rural employment sector. 
  • He also helped set up the Amul cooperative society in 1946, in Gujarat’s Anand.
  • In 1965, Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri assigned Dr. Kurien to create the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB). 
  • Dr Kurien also founded the Institute of Rural Management Anand (IRMA) in 1979 and managed the Delhi Milk Scheme by correcting the prices. 
• Awards: 
  • Padma Vibhushan (1999), 
  • the World Food Prize (1989), 
  • Krishi Ratna (1986), 
  • Padma Bhushan (1966), 
  • Padma Shri (1965), 
  • Ramon Magsaysay Award (1963), etc.

Operation Flood

• About:
  • It was the world’s biggest dairy development program which gave a major thrust to the milk production of the nation. . 
  • Launched in 1970, it was the brainchild of Dr Verghese Kurein.
• Objectives: 
  • Increase milk production (“a flood of milk”)
  • Augment rural incomes
  • Reasonable prices for consumers

Source: PIB