After graduation from America, it seems a bit strange to see someone working on dairy products with an engineering and a master’s degree in science from America. But If a person moves forward with good thinking, then he can be successful even by doing small things. I also refer you to the book “I Too Had A Dream” a story of Amul and Verghese Kurien, and how they created India’s top milk company which benefits farmers as well as customers.
Official Website of Amul https://amul.com/
Verghese Kurien Ji has proved this. he is considered the founder of Amul company. Friends, Amul Company was started to give their rights to the poor milk producers of small villages of Gujarat and it was matter of 1946 when India was also a slave of the British.
At that time the poor farmers of the village had to sell milk to the brokers, who used to earn a large part of their hard work as middlemen. However, the poor farmers also had no choice as only a select few companies across the country had invested their money.
To empower the poor milk producers of the village, Tribhuvandas started the Amul company along with Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and Morarji Desai. Which was registered as a corporate company on 14 December 1946. A corporate company is a company formed by many people together. Later in 1949, at the behest of Tribhuvandas, Varghese Kurien joined the company. He obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in 1948 from Michigan State University, USA.
Friends, Verghese Kurien could have lived a comfortable life even after having a good job, but instead he “preferred to help the farmers of the country”.
The biggest challenge he faced after joining the company was that “Polson Dairy” had captured the entire country, at that time Polson Dairy was the single largest dairy company, so poor farmers were forced by middlemen. The same company had to sell milk. That too at very low prices. But then people were persuaded not to sell milk to Polson Dairy by reminding them of their rights. And join this corporate company to avoid middlemen and get the right price for milk.
Gradually poor farmers started understanding this model of Amul Company and in this way, many milk-producing farmers started joining the company. “Moreover, comrades show that where there is a solidarity there is victory.” The milk of Amul Company slowly started reaching the whole country and then Varghese Kurien prepared the model so that the farmers could get maximum profit with minimum cost.
He divided the process into several stages to check the quality of milk and for the convenience of the people. First, a village-village association was formed, and a plant was also set up there, after checking the quality of milk from the village it was sent to further districts and then after checking there it was sent to the state level. Where it was packed and sent. and through this process, some milk reached people’s homes. Soon Kurien’s hard work and dedication started paying off. And the Amul company started achieving one big success after another. But a major contribution to the success of this company. There was also milk powder, which Amul made for the first time from buffalo milk. While scientists believed that milk powder could not be made from buffalo milk, Verghese Kurien made a new discovery by proving everyone wrong while doing research on buffalo milk.
And then later the Amul company touched many heights and in today’s time Amul, Apart from milk and milk powder, many things like ghee, paneer, chocolate, ice cream, and butter are made from it.
And if we talk about today’s time, then about 32 lakh people are associated with Amul. Which supplies milk daily. And for this contribution of Kurien, he has received many honors like Padma Vibhushan, Krishi Ratna, and Padma Shri. And people know him by the name of Milkman of India.
Although Dr. Verghese Kurien has now left this world, he died on 9 September 2012 in Gujarat. But he may not be in this world, but their thoughts and deeds will live on forever.
So, Friends, this is the story of how Dr. Kurien takes Amul to new heights and let the farmers free from British companies. Thanks for reading this article.