Sunteți pe pagina 1din 35

AMITY LAW SCHOOL - 2

ENTREPENEURSHIP PROJECT

Submitted by:
Akansha Singh Chaudhary
BA.,LLB (H)
SEM-5
SEC-C
A11911113161

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to express my special thanks of gratitude to my


entrepreneurship teachers who gave me the golden
opportunity to do this wonderful project. This project also
helped me in doing a lot of Research and I came to know
about so many new things and I am really thankful to all

Secondly I would also like to thank my parents and friends


who helped me a lot in finalizing this project within the
limited time frame.

INTRODUCTION
Dr. Verghese Kurien was born on November 26, 1921 to an affluent Syrian
Christian family in Calicut (now Kozhikode), Kerala. His father Puthenparakkal
Kurien was a civil surgeon in British Cochin and his mother was a highly
educated woman as well an exceptional piano player. He was named after his
uncle Rao Sahib P.K Verghese. Dr Kurien joined Loyola College in Madras and
attained his degree in B.Sc in Physics. He was also very active in sports and
represented the college in cricket, badminton, boxing and tennis. He went to
the United States of America on government scholarship where he pursued his
degree in Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering (Distinction). He
returned to India after completion of his studies and on May 13, 1949 he
headed for Anand, a place in Kaira district of Gujarat where he was supposed
to spend five years as an officer of the Dairy division in return for the
scholarship paid by the government. On arriving at Anand, he found that the
farmers were being exploited by the distributors of milk and the entire region
was controlled by a shrewd but clever businessman called as "Pestonjee Edulji"
who marketed Polson butter.

Looking at the struggle of these people to survive and mesmerized by the


personality of their leader Tribhuvandas Patel who was trying to unite the
farmers and form a cooperative movement against the exploitation, Dr. Kurien
left his government job and joined forces with Tribhuvandas Patel and the
farmers to start the Milk Cooperative movement in the region registered under
the name of Kaira District Cooperative Milk Producers Union Ltd (KDCMPUL),
which was later renamed to now popular "Amul". He worked towards bringing a
White Revolution in India and executed the much needed programme of
"Operation Flood". Dr. Verghese Kurien married Susan Molly Peter on June 15,
1953 and they had one daughter Nirmala Kurien and a grandson, Siddharth.
Dr. Kurein was the man responsible for turning India from a milk deficient
country to the largest producer of milk in the world today. Under his inspiring
leadership many important institutions were established namely the GCMMF
(Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd) and NDDB (National Dairy
Development board which played a significant role in shaping the Dairy

Cooperative movement across the country and led the replication of Anand
model of cooperative dairy practiced all over the country.

Dr. Kurien always regarded himself as an employee of the farmers who would
do anything to bring prosperity in their favor.In his service of over fifty years he
attained 15 honorary degrees from different institutions of the world as he
believed that learning should never stop. His enduring personality, spirit,
undying charisma and conviction of turning the impossible into possible won
him many accolades such as the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community
Leadership (1963), Padma Shri (1965), Padma Bhushan (1966), Krishi Ratna
Award (1986), World Food prize (1989), Padma Vibhushan (1999), Economic
Times award for Corporate Excellence (2001) and several other awards, but the
best award that the people of the country gave him was the title "Milkman of
India". After a lifetime of struggle and conviction towards serving the nation Dr.
Verghese Kurien breathe his last on 9 September 2012 due to brief illness at
Anand. Dr. Verghese Kurien will always be remembered as the person who
redefined the meaning of milk as a powerful tool for economic development.

JOURNEY DR. VERGHESE KURIEN


1920-1940
It all began at Anand, a place in Kaira district, Gujarat famous for its Dairy
Industry. It was ruled by some old players who started their dairy in 1890s and
1910s. However during the 1920s a new entrant called as Polson, which was
led by a shrewd but clever Parsi businessman known as Pestonjee Edulji
entered the market. He started supplying Polson butter to the British Army and
its milk products soon became a household name. He built a large dairy in
Anand in the year 1930. Once he was asked by the Bombay milk scheme
whether it was possible for him to supply milk from Anand to Bombay some

350 kilometers away. Never before had liquid milk travelled such long
distances, but Pestonjee was not the man who would let the opportunity go.

He pasteurized milk and transported it to Bombay in a rather primitive fashion


in milk cans wrapped up in gunny bags with chilled water poured on the cans.
The experiment worked and very soon Bombay became an important market for
Polson. With this Pestonjee started developing good relations with the
government officials and he would persuade them to make arrangement so that
he could get benefit out of it. Pestonjee knew that the main source of milk is
the Kaira district so he persuaded the government officials to make
arrangements that only Polson dairy could procure milk from the district. His
wish was granted and Pestonjee started monopolizing the market; he started
selling products to the people at higher prices and started exploiting farmers by
paying them less for their produce and since Pestonjee monopolized the
market, the milk producers had no option but become the victim of
exploitation.

By 1945, the Polson dairy was flourishing and the farmers were getting more
and more exploited, leading to animosity among the farmers and hence the
seeds of the movements were sown..

1946

It was Sardar Vallabhbhai Patels vision that led to the growth of the
cooperative movement. After fighting for and winning the freedom he recognized
that independence was more than a political task. He knew that the rural
people could never become completely free until they were liberated from the
exploitation of money lenders, burdens of the social ills and the caste and class
discrimination. He addressed the problems of building rural institutions and
educating rural people for their development.Sardar Patel urged the dairy
farmers to organize milk cooperatives, which would give them control over the
resources they generated. He assigned Morarji Desai, his deputy, to coordinate
this effort. Morarji Desai organized a meeting where he asked people to become

the chairman of the cooperative and take the work ahead. A few people
volunteered, but Morarjibhai chose Tribhuvandas Patel who was a committed
freedom fighter and the elected vice president of the Kaira district congress
committee. Tribhuvandas was a man of integrity and honour and he started
the cooperative by organizing the dairy farmers and he soon managed to form a
couple of cooperative societies. Although the farmers were ready to take their
leaders advice but since milk was such a perishable commodity, farmers had
to accept the price that the contractor offered and also Polson would use every
trick in the book to procure milk at lower prices by accusing the milk
producers that their milk lacks quality. Farmers got fed up of the daily
exploitation and Tribhuvandas met Sardar Patel to seeka solution. Patel gave
him a simple solution that if they wanted to stop exploitation then they need to
remove Polson from the market by capturing the Bombay market for which they
need to gather the masses and the cooperative needs to own the dairy. Only,
then they could pressurize the Bombay Milk scheme (BMS) to buy milk from
them and not Polson. However, Pestonjees reach was stronger than the
cooperatives and Tribhuvandas and companys plea was rejected. In protest of
the BMS, the cooperative society went on a 15 day strike, famously recalled in
history as the Kaira strike. The farmers collected the milk and poured it on the
streets but not even a single drop was given to Polson. Finally the BMS realized

the strength of the union and kneeled to their demands. For Tribhuvandas
Patel this was morale boosting incident as he travelled mile after mile, village
after village trying to convince the famers to form the cooperative society.
Finally in December 1946, Kaira District Cooperative Milk Producers Union
Limited (KDCMPUL) was registered. By procuring the old dairy of World War I
from the government they began their process.

Arrival of Dr.Verghese Kurien at Anand


It was Friday, 13 May, 1949 when Dr. Verghese Kurien first arrived at Anand to
serve his bond in return of the scholarship he received from the government.
Although he had no plans of working in the village but soon he started noticing
the movement of the farmers in the village and admired the qualities of their
leader, Tribhuvandas Patel. He started giving ideas to the cooperative, shared

his views on how to go ahead and advised them in the selection of machinery
for manufacturing milk. Tribhuvandas Patel recognized the potential of Dr.
Verghese Kurien and just on the day when Dr. Verghese Kurien resigned from
his job and packed his bags to leave, Tribhuvandas asked him to help him in
setting the new dairy in the village, since no one in the village was able to run
the new machinery. Dr. Kurien agreed and stayed back to help them.

1952
Increasing production of the cooperative

Although, Kurien stopped for a few days but looking at the struggle of the
farmers he stayed back. He worked for the farmers in creating a better life for
them by taking the cooperative movement ahead. He started working day and
night for the dairy along with Tribhuvandas and hundreds of farmers. On the
advice of Dr. Kurien, Tribhuvandas left the old machinery of manufacturing
milk and collected money from the cooperative and bought new machinery
from Larsen and Toubro in 1951. Dr. Kurien joined the cooperative as General
Manager in 1950. With the new machinery in place, the procurement capacity
of the cooperative rose from 200 litres of milk in 1948 to 20,000 litres in 1952.
Slowly and gradually the name of Kaira reached till Delhi and the Anand model
of cooperative started growing.

1955
Worlds First Buffalo Milk Powder plant
After returning from New Zealand, Dr. Kurien started his experiment of
obtaining milk powder from buffalo milk. Through a series of experiments
under the guidance of Dalaya and other cooperative members, Dr. Kurien
became successful in making milk powder from buffalo milk and planned to
build a plant where they could manufacture the buffalo milk powder.

On November 15, 1954, the first president of India, Dr. Rajendra Prasad laid
the foundation for the worlds first dairy to manufacture milk powder from
buffalo milkat Anand . Dr. Kurien was confident that the plant could be erected
in a period of one year and when Maniben asked him who he wants to
inaugurate the plant, he said Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. When contacted,
Pandit Nehru gracefully accepted the invitation and informed that he would
inaugurate the plant on October 31, 1955, the birth anniversary of Sarder
Vallabhbhai Patel, which gave them exactly 11 months to build the plant. The
work started and experts from foreign countries were called to erect the plant

and finally on the day of the inauguration all the preparations were done.

Pandit Nehru inaugurated the plant and gave an inspiring speech which
boosted the morale of the cooperative. This is how the worlds first buffalo milk
powder manufacturing plant came to life.

1957
Birth of Amul

With the increasing production capacity of the plant and the progressive nature
of the cooperative, it was time to take the competition under consideration and
there was a need to understand the finer points of marketing Kaira
Cooperatives products. At a brainstorming session to come up with a good
name for the products, a chemist at the laboratory suggested the name Amul.
It comes from a Sanskrit word Amoolya which means priceless. Also it stood
as an acronym for Anand Milk Union Limited. Advertising and Sales Promotion
(ASP) did a fine job by crafting the Amul polka dotted girl and the best baseline
a brand has ever had Utterly Butterly Delicious. the credit for the work goes
to Eustace Fernandez, Slyvester Da cunha and his team.

The name was registered in the year 1957 and till today it is the most recalled
household name.

It was also a special year for Dr. Kurien as her daughter Nirmala was born in
1957.

1962
War against China

In 1962, the clouds of war against China darkened the nation. The Prime
Ministers office called the Amul cooperative to help the government as the
army needed milk powder during the war; the requirement was 2750 tons
within six months. Although that was outside the reach of the Amul
cooperative but in collaboration with the Rajkot dairy they fulfilled the demand
of the government by completely seizing the consumer market. The integrity of
the cooperative and its leaders was such that when asked what they want in
return of this favour, they said nothing and proved that in real sense it is
serving the nation. Minoo Polson (son of Pestonjee Edulji) tried to increase the
prices of its butter and take undue advantage of the scenario. When it came to

the notice of Amul cooperative, they froze the manufacturing of Polson with the
help of the government.

1964
Lal Bahadur Shastri visits Anand
On the birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, the then Prime Minister
of India, Lal Bahadur Shastri , who had heard a lot about the development
process going in Anand, he called the then Chief Minister of Gujarat,
Balwantrai Mehta and made an unusual request. He mentioned that he would
like to visit Anand but a day earlier and spend a night at a small farmers
house with no police protection where he can move freely and talk with the
villagers. His main objective was to understand the life of the farmer and the

way they perform functions at the cooperative. Balwantrai Mehta immediately


conveyed the message to Dr. Kurien and raised the security issues related to
the Prime Ministers request. But, like always Dr. Kurien found a way out and
planned to take Shastriji secretly to a village 10 kms away from Anand called
Ajarpura where he spent a night at a farmers house named Ramanbhai. The
security cars were taken straight to Anand.

During his night stay in Ajarpura the Prime Minister moved freely in the village
and asked several questions to the villagers regarding their life, Amul and how
the cooperative brought prosperity to their life. When the next day he arrived at
Anand, he was most attentive to understand the working of the cooperative and
applauded the work of the cooperative by giving an inspiring speech.

The Prime Minister stayed at Dr. Kuriens home and in the evening had a
detailed conversation where he mentioned his experience of having spent a
night at a village and talking to the farmers. He said that he thought something
special about Anand but he found nothing special. He added that the soil of
Anand is not as good as the Indo-Gangetic plains, the climate is cold in winter
and very hot in summer, rainfall is more or less similar to other places. He
remarked that he expected greenery but it was all dusty and brown and the
buffalos give less milk than the one in his home state of Uttar Pradesh and

lastly the farmers here are good people but less hard working than the ones of
Punjab. He was curious that what has then made this cooperative as the
Centre of attraction of the world? Dr. Kurien agreed to all the observations of
the Prime Minister but he mentioned one very important thing that it is the
farmers cooperative union, they are the owners of the dairy and he was just an
employee of the farmer. Being a dairy which is owned by the farmers gives them
the will power and the energy to face every challenge and overcome it.

The Prime Minister was convinced by his explanation asked him to replicate the
Anand model in other parts of the country, which made Dr. Kurien imagine
about the social and economic prosperity they could bring about if the model is
replicated. He knew that it is going to be a tedious task but it was not
impossible as the man with the stature and class of Dr. Kurien will always grow
strong with the challenge. He started thinking and planning how this big
dream can be brought to life and be replicated throughout the country.

1965

Mr Kurien becomes Dr. Kurien and Quest for Operation Flood

The year of 1965 was fairly momentous for the cooperative society and also for
Dr. Kurien. Michigan State University conferred an honorary degree of "Doctor
of Science" thereby promoting him from Mr. Kurien to "Dr. Kurien".

In September 1965, the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) was


registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860. With this the dream of
replicating the Amul model throughout the country and bringing it to reality
became stronger.

Dr. Kurien started thinking on the plan and he worked in coordination with
Micheal Hales who was Food and Agriculture expert and a Harvard trained
visiting faculty at the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) and H.M Dalaya.
Michael Hales noted down all the points to be taken into consideration to
replicate the plan and helped the cooperative to draft their plan to be presented
to the government seeking their support for the programme. The amount that
was required for replicating the Anand Model all over the country was over 650
crore rupees as estimated by the cooperative team. When the plan was
presented to the state government and the other authorities, it was rejected as
the government had the control over the dairy industry in India and they never
wished to give that power to the villagers. It also led to a lot of corruption and

soon the cooperative realized that they need to do something different. It was
very easy to drop the plan but the conviction of the leader and the cooperative
was not going to shy away from the challenge.

1968
Seizing the opportunity

There was a surplus production of milk in the European countries. So much


so, that they had no clue what to do with the surplus milk. At that time, the
Home Secretary, L.P Singh recommended Dr. Kurien to present their proposal
to these European countries at the event, which happened in Rome called as
the World Food Programme (WFP). Dr. Kurien realized that this opportunity will
never come again as these nations will never commit this mistake again of over
producing. Dr. Kurien visited Rome in October 1968 to present NDDB's project
proposal to a twenty four nation executive committee of the WFP. The
Agriculture Secretary of the Government of India at that time was B.R Patel
who introduced Dr. Kurien to the WFP committee to present India's point of
view. Dr. Kurien was waiting for this opportunity and was all set to go. He
started by elaborating on the importance of milk in India. With a huge
population there is a big space for dairy development in India and his intention
was to replicate the Anand model in various parts of the country. He simply

explained how he intended to use the donated milk to sell at a regular price in
India in order to capture the markets of Delhi, Bangalore and other metros and
milk rich cities and then generate the money out of it to fund the Operation
Flood programme where his major goal was to make India a self-sufficient
country in milk and milk products. He also added that if a country donates
milk worth $100 million then it can expect 10% return on investment hence
the donation is in fact an investment. He continued that he is not asking for
such donations to sell them at a lower rate and make money out of it as many
countries do it but to use it to raise money for Operation Flood to make India
self-sufficient.

The elaborate and passionate presentation was liked and more importantly
very well received by the committee. Hence in March 1970, the proposal to
award India the food aid donation was signed between the Government of India
and the WFP.

The cooperative won the major battle here which kick started the Operation
Flood.

1970-1980
Phase 1 of Operational Flood/Billion Liter Idea

In a nutshell the approach was very simple. The first step was that the donated
milk products would be reconstituted to provide the Bombay, Delhi, Calcutta
and Madras liquid schemes with enough milk to obtain a commanding share of
the markets. Next, the funds realized from this reconstitution and sale of
donated products were used to resettle city-kept cattle and help them to breed
and to increase organized milk production, its procurement and processing.
Finally this entire operation would be directed towards stabilizing the position
of major liquid milk schemes in their markets.

1981-1985
Phase 2 of Operational Flood/Billion Liter Idea

The second phase of the operation flood, which lasted from 1981 to 1985, was
implemented with the seed capital raised from the sale of European Economic
Committee's (EEC) gifts as well as a World Bank loan of Rs 200 crore. With this
phase, the number of milk sheds increased the outlets for milk produced. By
the end of this phase more than 43,000 village cooperatives covering 4.25
million milk producers were established.

1985-1996
Phase 3 of Operational Flood/Billion Liter Idea

The third phase of the operation added 30,000 new dairy cooperatives to the
42,000 existing societies. Member education was intensified, and significantly,
the number of women members and women's Dairy cooperative societies
increased considerably. This phase focused on assisting unions to expand and
strengthen their procurement and marketing infrastructure to manage the

increasing volumes of milk (by 1989 the number of milk sheds had grown to
173). Veterinary healthcare services, feed and artificial insemination services
for cooperative members were extended. During this decade the increased
emphasis was on research and development on animal health and animal
nutrition.

Operational Flood
Operation Flood: one of the world's largest rural development programmes
Launched in 1970, Operation Flood has helped dairy farmers direct their own
development, placing control of the resources they create in their own hands.
A National Milk Grid links milk producers throughout India with consumers in
over 700 towns and cities, reducing seasonal and regional price variations
while ensuring that the producer gets fair market prices in a transparent
manner on a regular basis. The bedrock of Operation Flood has been village
milk producers' cooperatives, which procure milk and provide inputs and
services, making modern management and technology available to members.
Operation Flood's objectives included :

Increase milk production ("a flood of milk")

Augment rural incomes

Reasonable prices for consumers

Programme Implementation

Operation Flood was implemented in three phases.

Phase I

Phase I (1970-1980) was financed by the sale of skimmed milk powder and
butter oil gifted by the European Union then EEC through the World Food
Programme. NDDB planned the programme and negotiated the details of EEC
assistance.

During its first phase, Operation Flood linked 18 of India's premier milksheds
with consumers in India's four major metropolitan cities: Delhi, Mumbai,
Kolkata and Chennai.

Phase II

Operation Flood's Phase II (1981-85) increased the milksheds from 18 to 136;


290 urban markets expanded the outlets for milk. By the end of 1985, a selfsustaining system of 43,000 village cooperatives covering 4.25 million milk
producers had become a reality. Domestic milk powder production increased
from 22,000 tons in the pre-project year to 140,000 tons by 1989, all of the
increase coming from dairies set up under Operation Flood. In this way EEC
gifts and World Bank loan helped to promote self-reliance. Direct marketing of
milk by producers' cooperatives increased by several million litres a day.

Phase III

Phase III (1985-1996) enabled dairy cooperatives to expand and strengthen the
infrastructure required to procure and market increasing volumes of milk.
Veterinary first-aid health care services, feed and artificial insemination

services for cooperative members were extended, along with intensified member
education.

Operation Flood's Phase III consolidated India's dairy cooperative movement,


adding 30,000 new

dairy cooperatives to the 42,000 existing societies

organised during Phase II. Milksheds peaked to 173 in 1988-89 with the
numbers of women members and Women's Dairy Cooperative Societies
increasing significantly.

Phase III gave increased emphasis to research and development in animal


health and animal nutrition. Innovations like vaccine for Theileriosis , bypass
protein feed and urea-molasses mineral blocks, all contributed to the enhanced
productivity of milch animals.

From the outset, Operation Flood was conceived and implemented as much
more than a dairy programme. Rather, dairying was seen as an instrument of
development, generating employment and regular incomes for millions of rural
people. "Operation Flood can be viewed as a twenty year experiment
confirming the Rural Development Vision" ( World Bank Report 1997c.)

SPEECHES BY DR. VERGHESE KURIEN

March 24, 1994 : XXV Dairy Industry Conference

August 30, 1991 : Vallabhai Patel Memorial Lecture

1991 - Cooperative Development group : Cooperative Leadership &


Cooperative Values

December 15, 1990 : Sardar Patel University

December 12, 1990 : Bal Dattatraya Award Lecture

December 13, 1989 : Shri Ram Memorial Lecture Cooperatives and


Capital

December 13, 1989 : Shri Ram Memorial Lecture

October 17, 1989 : Presentation of the World Food Prize at Washington

March 9, 1988 : Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute Dimensions of Deve

January 16, 1988 : South Gujarat University

February 10, 1987 : Prof.J. C. Kane Memorial Lecture

September 3, 1986 : Third Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial IFFCO Lecture

May 13, 1986 : Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda

December 10,1983 : Socio-economic Impact of Operation Flood

January 29th, 1982 : 1st Sardar Patel Memorial Lecture

November 2, 1982 : Mohan Kumaramangalam Memorial Lecture

August 28th, 1982 : Breed improvement and milk production

October 17, 1981 : All India Womens Conference

March 7, 1978 : Dr. Vikram Sarabhai Memorial Lecture

December 20, 1975 : National Investment and Finance anniversary

December 16, 1972 : Rajmitra A. D. Amin Memorial Lecture

DAIRY DEVELOPMENT THOUGH CO-OPERATIVES IN INDIA : Shri


Ramchandra Sarvotam Dubhashi Memorial Lecture

PUBLIC SERVICE BY PRIVATE PERSONS : Programme of Training for


Democracy

Vallabhbhai Patel Memorial Lecture on Cooperative Marketing : Patel's Vision of


the Indian Cooperative Movement.

THOUGHTS OF DR. VERGHESE KURIEN-

Dr. Verghese Kurien will always be remembered as a man with strong

will and self-belief.


Here are few of his thoughts.
India's place in the sun would come from the partnership between

wisdom of its rural people and skill of its professionals


The milk of India is produced by millions of small and marginal farmers
and landless labourers'. It is on their behalf and in their name that i

accept this high honour.


India needs to show an honest face, a kind face, a human face - and not
an arrogant face as the powerful nations of today (do). What you need is
good management with farmer power. Good management gives this power
the right direction and thrust. Nothing can stop the farmers then. Least

of all the MNCs.


Milk is the only commodity which has to be collected twice a day, every
day of the year. Thus, cooperatives are the only logical system for the
dairy industry. About 85% of the industry in the US, Denmark and
Australia is run by cooperatives. No other system will work for milk. Who
told you there is one Amul? There are more than 175 Amuls across

various districts (in Gujarat).


True development is not the development of land, or of cows; it is the
development of men and women.

Innovation cannot be mandated or forced on people; it is everywhere, a


function of the quality of the people and the environment. We need to
have enough skilled people working in a self- actuating environment to

produce innovation
I am like a cat, throw me wherever you want to, I will still stand on my

feet Eight hours for dairy, eight hours for family and eight hours for sleep
My philosophy in life is to do as much good as I can to those who are less

fortunate, but I would like to live my life as a common man


The time has come for massive rural development in our country. The
task is daunting and the opposing is great, but I believe that it is also the
greatest opportunity that has ever been presented to a society such as

ours.
I trust, in a humble way - dairying is such as instrument of change: an
instrument not only of technical change, but also of economic and social
change. It is to such instruments that we must look to build the India

tomorrow.
All the tools are with us, in our Hands, to effect the transformation of
our predominantly rural society. Never has an elite had such an

opportunity.
In every successful grassroots cooperative, members trust their leaders.

Trust is the most cost-effective way to manage cooperatives.


If we can again create the environment, the opportunity, and the
education, our villages will provide a new generation of leaders who will

not only rebuild our cooperative movement, but who will help us to build

a truly great nation.


This process of modernization cannot merely demonstrate to producers
the application of such techniques as artificial insemination, improved
animal feeding etc. On the contrary, it inevitably shows the producers
that they can use modern science and technology to achieve the larger

objectives of their own lives.


To be quite honest, service to our nation's farmers was not the career I
had envisioned for myself. But somehow, a series of events swept me
along and put me in a certain place at a certain time when I had to

choose between one option and another.


Sardar Vallabhai Patel's vision has always been a source of great
inspiration. He knew that our rural people could never become really free
until they were liberated from the exploitation of moneylenders. Sardar
Patel believed that the way to address these problems was to build rural
institutions that would serve the farmers' economic interests. He urged
dairy farmers to organize milk cooperatives, which would give them
control over the resources they generated and assigned Morarji Desai, his

Deputy, to coordinate this effort.


I was fortunate that I enjoyed the support of all the governments that
came to power. I have been and continue to be, highly critical of our

bureaucracy. Fortunately for us, within our bureaucracy, there are a

number of people who are dedicated, patriotic and able.


I am in the business of empowerment. Milk is just a tool in that.
I am supposed to exploit the consumer; and I will (exploit them), but not
in a way that will create resentment. I have to milk the consumer. And
milk them I will, but gently.

S-ar putea să vă placă și