Dr. Verghese Kurien - Father of White Revolution- An Uncrowned Bharat Ratna

Dr. Verghese Kurien -  Father of white revolution- Bharat Ratna of trillions of people

 Like many young graduates, Dr V Kurien landed in Gujarat, exploring the employment opportunity he got in Anand. For a young engineer with urban background and foreign education, an opportunity to work in a small town and also with farmers/village women is very difficult to adjust/digest if it is not of liking to him.  Perhaps Dr.Kurien was at the peak of the heaven during his initial days of carrier itself as the job was of liking to him. 

Working in a state filled with memories of freedom movement lead by Gandhi Jee and a strong cooperative movement spread across the state under stalwarts like Sardar Patel, Morarji Desai, Tribuvandas Patel and many others, for a person with zeal and commitment it's a God sent opportunity. Cooperative movement in the country was built on mutual trust and influenced by great and selfless personalities. Working with such personalities was an excellent opportunity and had tremendous influence on Dr. Kurien.  

The strong kick & positive energy gained through working with great leaders, augmented the thought process of Dr. Kurien, resulting in creation of a road map for socio-economic empowerment of our beloved Nation.  The balancing act of addressing both the producer and consumer needs with utmost satisfaction, by handling production/processing/distribution effectively aiming at high productivity and coverage is the key to the success of Dr. Kurien in his long span of public life. Starting with Anand milk producers union (AMUL), GCMMF, NDDB, White revolution, milk societies/federations at various states, IRMA, edible oil unions/Federation, SAFAL and many more there is no looking back.  There are few scientists like Dr. M S Swaminathan, who created greater impact on production systems/technology and very selective and rare personalities like Dr. V Kurien, who created impact on public through socioeconomic re engineering.

Dr. Kurien is a unique personality with combination of technocrat, social activist, scientist, bureaucrat, political leader with vision and thereby he is a true leader, created impact on  trillions of people.  No wonder he won so many national and international awards and may be more in future also. But the greatest award is the place he permanently established in hearts of trillions of people. There is no bigger award than this and it is no exaggeration in saying that this type of personalities will be born once in a decade and India is always proud of her distinguished son.

Dr. Kurien, with his clear vision, structured the cooperative principles in such a way that the genuine interests of the members are never put to stake. Though he belongs to the era of personality oriented cooperatives dominated by persons with principles, with his greater vision, keeping the possible future threats in view he ensured that the cooperative movement is immune from politics. His positive influence on political system be it in Centre or states is never questioned.

It was possible despite complex political system with different  ideologies, collation Governments, vested interest groups, because of the honesty with which the team under Dr.Kurien was carrying the task of empowerment. All the political parties/ groups were convinced that by creating positive impact   through Dr.Kurien’s institutions they can attract votes and win elections. One of the best examples is Dr. NTR's commitment towards Mutually aided cooperatives act (MAC 1995).

It was stated that  Dr. Kurien and Sri. Narendra Modi had differences on corruption and farmers issues. I feel it is not appropriate to pass value judgments.  Dr.Kurien with his vast experience commented on corruption, its impact on country’s development.  Sri.Narendra Modi who is young and energetic leader  with ideology based politics took Dr. Kurien's words in positive sense and proved that even in present day politics there is honesty and vision leading to  progressive development. For me it's like GURU-SISYA relationship and SISYA  proved that he can be a match to his GURU. The success stories of Gujarat starting with Gandiji, followed by Sardar Patel, Tribuvandas Patel, Morarji Desai, Dr.Kurien is being continued by Sri. Narendra Modi. 

The difference of opinion between Dr.Kurien and Madam Amritha Patel was related to dilution of cooperative principles by promoting equity participation of Government through Mother Dairies. Dr.Kurien who kept cooperatives immune from politics or Government naturally raised his objections to it. Madam Patel in her capacity as Chairman of NDDB, keeping the global scenario in view felt that the cooperatives with expertise and scale of operations through external infusion of resources can only survive in expanded global markets. It’s again a GURU-SISYA relationship and I am sure Dr. Kurien's vision will prevail on  Madam Patel.

The other concerns raised in many forums is the possible infusion of politics into these sectors, the abnormal increase in milk prices at consumer point, dilution of cooperative principles etc. These are the real challenges for the pool of talent created by Dr. Kurien in his over 60 years of unchallenged professional life.

Last but not the least, a unique management institution (IRMA) was established in 1980 to address the socio-economic issues of rural sector through effective supply chain management. In over 35 years span, thousands of highly motivated and committed professionals are rolled from this coveted institution of higher learning. IRMANs along with talented pool of individuals from NDDB, GCMMF and other institutions crowned by Dr. Kurien are the real soldiers to carry forward  the vision and ensure that even the future generations will look forward to have a leader like Dr. Kurien.

IRMANs already proved their mantle in every walk of life, be it in cooperatives, corporate bodies, funding agencies, social sector, banking, academics etc. and is in a position to influence policy at larger frame work. This is a very special and unique contribution of Dr. Kurien to this great nation.

I would like to sum up this piece of article by sharing my personal feelings.  In 1982 after completion of graduation in engineering, I joined IRMA to pursue management education, so that I will be assured of a job and settling in life. But in a couple of years, exposure to institution of higher learning and interactions with Dr. Kurien and other great personalities gave a different perspective to carrier. Where ever I worked or whatever I was doing , the influence of the great leader always prevailed, prevailing and will prevail. Many a times, the conflict between personal interest and society interest crop up and I always give up personal interest for larger society interest. I am sure this will be the case with every IRMAN.   I am sure we are the soldiers of  Dr. Kurien's vision, born to make positive difference in larger sections of the society.

B G Reddy

PRM 82-84

grbonthu@gmail.com

9866889246