…with a course correction! NDDB has taken India’s milk production a long way forward with its cooperative model. Now it has become imperative to turn that model on its head, by Virat Bahri
“There’s nothing really special about either the bulls or the farmers. Then how is it that the farmers of the Kaira District Co-operative Milk Producers’ Union in Anand, Gujarat are doing so well?”
The year was 1964. And these were the exact queries that went through the mind of the then PM Lal Bahadur Shastri, also hailed as one of India’s most diligent & enterprising prime ministers. He had been invited by the aforementioned union (which we know today by the brand name Amul) to set up a cattle feed plant. As he got a better understanding of the cooperative model being followed, and being the visionary that he was, Shastri realised its potential. He therefore asked the GM of the cooperative, Dr. Verghese Kurien to set up a board (of which Dr. Kurien would be Chairman), under the government, whose mandate would be to set up ‘Anands’ all across India. And that is why, when we talk about NDDB, it would be unfair to talk just about one Anand; the township that NDDB helped create actually spans a much larger area across India.
It was truly a daunting task, and required a lifetime of commitment, with success being anything but certain. But these weren’t Dr. Kurien’s concerns. He had only two conditions – one that the board will be set up in Anand and the second that he would not take a single rupee from the government; and that his salary would come from the farmers. It was his way of ensuring that he remained committed to the farmer’s needs. That was how National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) was born.
We often hear about deals that make money. Then there are the deals that lose money. But this was one rare instance of a deal that made history – a revolution that India proudly remembers as Operation Flood.
What was the model about? In Kurien’s words, “Combine the power of farmers, production, processing and marketing and put it in the hands of the farmers. They employ professionals to manage the business – professionals who are responsive to their needs.”
“There’s nothing really special about either the bulls or the farmers. Then how is it that the farmers of the Kaira District Co-operative Milk Producers’ Union in Anand, Gujarat are doing so well?”
The year was 1964. And these were the exact queries that went through the mind of the then PM Lal Bahadur Shastri, also hailed as one of India’s most diligent & enterprising prime ministers. He had been invited by the aforementioned union (which we know today by the brand name Amul) to set up a cattle feed plant. As he got a better understanding of the cooperative model being followed, and being the visionary that he was, Shastri realised its potential. He therefore asked the GM of the cooperative, Dr. Verghese Kurien to set up a board (of which Dr. Kurien would be Chairman), under the government, whose mandate would be to set up ‘Anands’ all across India. And that is why, when we talk about NDDB, it would be unfair to talk just about one Anand; the township that NDDB helped create actually spans a much larger area across India.
It was truly a daunting task, and required a lifetime of commitment, with success being anything but certain. But these weren’t Dr. Kurien’s concerns. He had only two conditions – one that the board will be set up in Anand and the second that he would not take a single rupee from the government; and that his salary would come from the farmers. It was his way of ensuring that he remained committed to the farmer’s needs. That was how National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) was born.
We often hear about deals that make money. Then there are the deals that lose money. But this was one rare instance of a deal that made history – a revolution that India proudly remembers as Operation Flood.
What was the model about? In Kurien’s words, “Combine the power of farmers, production, processing and marketing and put it in the hands of the farmers. They employ professionals to manage the business – professionals who are responsive to their needs.”
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