Back in 2014, all the dairy majors of India, along with the Indian Dairy Association, decided to observe the birthday of Verghese Kurien, on November 26, as National Milk Day. Kurien was the architect of Operation Flood which was launched in 1970 by India's National Dairy Development Board (NDDB).
India's Operation flood was the world's biggest dairy development program which gave a major thrust to the milk production of the nation. It aimed at helping the dairy industry sustain itself economically while providing employment to poor farmers.
As the program came into force, India escalated from 50th position to the peak in terms of milk production in just a couple of decades.
Operation Flood was launched to help farmers direct their own development. It placed the control of the resources they create in their own hands.
The white revolution brought in by the program was achieved not merely by mass production, but by production by the masses.
Also read | 10 amazing facts about the dairy industry
How operation flood created the 'flood' of milk
Operation Flood worked in three phases which ensured the following:
- It created a national milk grid linking producers throughout India with consumers in over 700 towns and cities
- It reduced the seasonal and regional price variations
- It ensured that the producer gets a major share of the price consumers pay, by cutting out middlemen
- The bedrock of the program was village milk producers' co-operatives, which procure milk and provide inputs and services.
Three phases of white revolution
Phase 1: Started in July 1970, phase 1 of white revolution (aka Operation Flood) carried the objective of setting up dairy cooperatives in 18 milk sheds in 10 states, and to connect them with four best metropolitan markets. The phase ended in 1981 and India had 13,000 village dairy cooperatives covering 15,000 farmers.
Phase 2: Built on the designs of phase 1, the second phase of the operation assisted Dairy development programmes in Karnataka, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. By the end of this phase in 1985, India had 136 milk sheds, village dairy cooperatives reached 34,500 with 36 lakh members.
Phase 3: The final phase of the programme, emphasized to improve the productivity and efficiency of the dairy sectors for long-term sustainability. By the time phase 3 ended in 1996, there were 73,300 dairy cooperatives and over 9.4 million farmer members.
What did white revolution achieve?
The white revolution ended India's dependence on imported milk solids. Not only the nation met its local dairy needs but also started exporting milk powder to many foreign nations. Genetic improvement of milking animals also increased due to cross breeding. As the dairy industry modernised and expanded, around 10 million farmers started earning their income from dairy farming.
Verghese Kurien and Lal Bahadur Shastri
Verghese Kurien, the chairman and founder of Amul, was named the chairman of NDDB by the then Prime Minister of India Lal Bahadur Shastri. Operation Flood was based on the experimental pattern set up by Kurien.
Amul, a single, cooperative dairy, was one of the largest milk producing companies in India. It was the engine behind the success of the white revolution.
In India Today Magazine's September 2017 issue, Shyam Benegal gives the account of 1964 when the then prime minister Lal Bahadur Shastri visited Anand in Gujarat.
Shastri was keen to witness Amul's success first hand.
He requested Verghese Kurien to let him stay incognito in one of the villages for the night. Kurien got a fright. How could he let the prime minister stay overnight in a village without security or any support mechanism? Shastri insisted and, without his security detail's knowledge, was taken close to a village and left there for the night.
He walked into the village and introduced himself as a traveller who had lost his way. A family in the village invited Shastri to stay with them. He took the opportunity to talk to them about their lives and how they had been affected by the cooperative.
By the time Kurien came to pick him up the next morning, the prime minister was not only convinced about the Anand pattern of cooperatives but put his full might behind Kurien to set up the National Dairy Development Board in Anand to help replicate the movement across the country.
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