I too had a dream - Verghese Kurien - Excerpts

This book engrosses the words of wisdom and his path breaking journey which has brought in changes in lives of farmers in India. Yes, It is Dr.Verghese Kurien - Milk Man of India - Amul's founder chairman. Let me pour in the words of wisdom from his book -'I too had a dream'.

Building an India of our dreams - A nation where our people would not only hold their heads high in freedom but would be free from hunger and poverty. A nation where our people could live with equal respect and love for one another. A nation that would eventually be counted among the foremost nations of the world.

Choosing to lead one kind of life means putting aside the desire to pursue other options.

Life is a privilege and to waste it would be wrong. In living this privilege called 'Life', you must accept responsibility for yourself, always use your talents to the best of your ability and contribute somehow to the common good.

Failure is not about succeeding. Rather, it is about not putting in your best effort and not contributing.

When a market is created, the producers react.

Our rural people could never become really free until they were liberated from the exploitation of money lenders, from the social ills and burdens of caste and class.

In any fight, there are losses.

I started to write to the Ministry of Agriculture in Delhi every month, submitting my resignation, saying that I was drawing a salary of Rs.350 for doing no work and instead of wasting government money I should be allowed to go.

I looked around and said to myself that since I found myself placed in this unhappy situation, I must find something to do. This is what anyone with a good education would do; otherwise the so-called education is worthless.

When you work merely for your own profit, the pleasure is transitory; but if you work for others, there is a deeper sense of fulfilment and if things are handled well, the money too, is more than adequate.


When Dr.Kurien's efforts were attempted by his rivals to cripple his growth,
Once the Milk Scheme officials claimed to have found a fly in the milk we supplied, a huge hue and cry was raised and the media splashed the news. I immediately suspected foul play and suggested to the Milk Commissioner's office that they should do a post-mortem of the fly. I wanted to see if the fly had milk in its lungs - if so, then had drowned in the milk; but if not, then a dead fly had been put there to frame our cooperatives. Miraculously, the uproar quitened and nobody mentioned the hapless fly again.

I was to learn yet another valuable but sad lesson : that the technical advice of 'experts' is all too often dictated by the economic interests of the advanced countries and not by the need or ground realities in developing countries. Without exception, technical experts from England and New Zealand told us that buffalo milk could not be converted to milk powed. WE SHOWED THEM HOW IT COULD BE DONE.

We learnt another useful lesson : with adequate support, confrontation at the right time pays off.

As the Prime Minister Mr.Jawaharlal Nehru was leaving the premises, Morarjibhai said to him, 'Mr Kurien has not just built and commissioned this dairy in record time, but this is the first milk powder in the world that makes milk powder from buffalo milk.

Jawaraharlal Nehru turned to me, embraced me and said, 'Kurien, I'm so glad that our country has people like you - people who will go ahead and achieve even that which seems unachievable.'

Those days I was in the habit of taking a walk around the dairy just to ensure that all was moving well and efficiently. One day while I was on one of my unannounced rounds in the cold store, I spotted an old employee, with a big moustache and a beard, who had opened the lid of one of the milk cans and was sucking the cream. Suddenly, he looked up and saw me. We stared at each other for a moment.  There was a cream dripping from his mouth on to his chin and he faltered 'No, no saheb, I am not drinking, I am not drinking'. I just turned around and walked away. But the very next day, I told the Manager that every worker had to be given half a litre of milk. These men were handling vast quantities of milk all day long and they were hungry. It was not fair that they did not have a share of the milk

As the chief executive of cooperative, my main goal became to ensure the best deal for the farmers, within my capacity, without exploiting the consumer. The best way to do this was, of course, to give the consumer products of extremely high quality and that is what we at Amul worked hard to to do.

It is not that Government officials lack ability; it is that they try to achieve development through a structure that is not designed to achieve it. Our belief at Anand has always been: let the people's energies be unleashed.

One of the basic principles that Amul stood for - giving the customer quality products - would never allow us to cut corners. Value for money was then, and has remained, the fundamental principle for Amul.

True development is not development of cow or buffalo but development of women and men. However, you cannot develop women and men until and unless you place the instruments of development in their hands, involve them in the process of such development and create structures that they themselves can command. What, therefore, is a government at its best? It is a government that 'governs' least and instead finds ways to mobilize the energies of our people.

I was convinced that the biggest power in India is the power of its people - the power of millions of farmers and their families. What if we mobilized them, if we combined this farmer power with professional management? What could they not achieve? What could India not become?

Money is not the only satisfaction that one can seek, that there are several other forms of satisfaction.

In developing countries, one of the biggest obstacles is that the people do not have any power.

In every crisis, if you look carefully, you will spot an opportunity.


I was aware that Nazir Ahmed(Head of WFP(World Food Programme) for Pakistan) was deeply prejudiced against the Indian government. I remember that he had once asked me how a Christian like me could be designated Chairman ofNDDB. I had replied : 'Mr Ahmed, that is because India is not Pakistan. When your country attacked India, the Collector of Kutch district was a Christian, the IGP in Gujarat was a devout Muslim, the Home Secretary of Gujarat was a Christian and the Governor of Gujarat was a Muslim. That is India for you'

One thing I abhor is delivering speeches from prepared notes. Very often Colleagues have helpfully tried to present me with notes for my speeches but once I stand up to face the audience, the need to share my feelings and throughts leads me to quickly put those notes aside and speak extempore.


During his visit to Rome in October 1968 to present NDDB's project proposal to twenty-four nation executive committe of the WFP:

After a prolonged session, Nazir Ahmed felt he must have the last word. He asked, 'How can we be sure that your proposal is foolproof?'. There was silence among the audience. I then replied, 'I thought I had made it foolproof but I see that I have failed'. After a long silence everyone burst out laughing. :)


I have always believed that once you identify the best person for a particular project and tell him or her exactly what you expect, you must put your complete trust in that person, allowing him or her to work independently without interference. If you do, the project is bound to be succeed.


In 1998, the World Bank published a report on the impact of dairy development in India and looked at its own contribution to this. The audit revealed that of the Rs.200 crore the World Bank invested in Operation Flood, the net return into India's rural economy was a massiveRs.24000 crore each year over a period of ten years. Certainly no other development programme, either before or Since, has matched this remarkable input-output ratio.

I always believed that nothing is ever gained without undertaking some risk. There are so many opportunities that pass by and if we do not seize them, they are wasted.


During a meeting with Queen of Netherlands and Margaret Alva( a government dignitary),


Margaret Alva piped up and said, 'Your Majesty, whatever you might think of him, I think Dr.Kurien is an MCP(Male Chauvinist Pig). Do you see the crest of the NDDB(National Dairy Development Board)? It is a bull. It should, in fact, have been a cow. After all, NDDB is about dairy development. Doesn't this prove my point? I thought this was getting a bit out of hand and the time had come to say something in my defence so I looked at the honourable Minister and said, 'Madam, no bull, no milk'. The Queen burst out laughing.





There are moments in life when it becomes imperative to protect one's stand. Most of the fights I have had with politicians and bureaucrats over the years have been essentially because I have been trying to hold on to my principles. I feel proud to say that I survived all those battles.

I have found, in over fifty years of confronting governments and defending cooperatives from political and bureaucratic interference, that when you being demanding what is righfully yours, there are many people even within the bureaucratic system who ensure that you retain those rights.


I HAVE CONSTANTLY STRESSED THAT THE REAL POWER OF INDIA LIES IN ITS PEOPLE. PROJECTS SUCH AS OPERATION FLOOD WERE MEANT TO UNLEASH THE POWER. WE INDIANS ARE AN EXTREMELY INTELLIGENT PEOPLE BUT WE CAN PROGRESS AS A NATION ONLY WHEN WE LEARN THE SECRET OF UNLEASHING THIS POSITIVE POWER OF THE PEOPLE. WHENEVER THIS HAPPENS IT DISTURBS A LOT OF PEOPLE - BECAUSE THEY KNOW THAT A GIANT IS WAKING UP.


I have never refused to listen to criticism that is honourable, criticism that is meant to improve, not defame. What we tried to do at NDDB was to create peaks of excellence. Maintaining excellence is always a painful job but we did achieve it in virtually all our projects. For us, excellence was particularly difficult to obtain when bureaucrats and politicians, who knew far less about the issues we were working on than we did, sat in judgement and continued interfering. I resented this intensely and in the process, I know I created a lot of resentment. But since this was to be expected, I also learnt to live with resentment and with criticism.


The tragedy of India is that we frequently have no respect for Indians, for Indian efforts and for Indian successes. This reminds me of a remark made to me, at the height of Amul's success, by a high-ranking official of the Government of India in Delhi. He said, 'Kurien, these chaps at Nestle are truly great people. What marvellours things they have achieved. You should go and see how well they run their dairy.' 'And Shall I tell you how much better the British ran this country'. I retorted, 'So then, shall we call the British back?' He had nothing further to say to me.

Our strategy was very simple : turn the farmers loose - give them adequate incentive - for they are the only ones who can produce more.


Our bureaucracy today is too bloated and therefore it is burdensome. For example, 95 per cent of the agriculture budget goes into paying the staff's salaries and I would not be surprised if the remaining 5 per cent goes towards the maintenance of its jeeps. Where is the planning in that? As an interested and concerned citizen who has witnessed our planning process for the last five decades, I can see why the fruits of development today are not commensurate with the money spent.


In many ways, Rajiv Gandhi's famous statement, about only 15 paise reaching the bottom when hundred paise are released from trop, said it all. The solution can only lie in creating democratic structures which people themselves command, instead of the bureaucracy.


I've always believed that when one does a job, one takes whatever risks that go with it.


Some changes can be brought about only by revolution and by beheading some people! This was certainly one struggle I gave up.


When our country fights for its freedom from British rule, it evolved leadership of a quality that any nation anywhere in the world would have been proud of. We produced leaders of tremendous caliber, leaders with a nobility of purpose, not only from Gujarat - in the form of Gandhiji and Sardar Vallabhai Patel - but from every state in India. It is dismaying to see that we no longer seem to have that uplifting nobility of purpose to pursue, and we are producing increasingly inferior leaders. I have dealt with the governement for over fifty years and I have found that grace in public life has become rare. Today in the frantic race to acquire power and money, vulgarity reigns supreme and the devil take the hindmost.

What is democracy after all? It is certainly not what it has, unfortunately, come to mean in our country : a government of the bureaucrats, by the bureaucrats and for the bureaucrats. Thsi brand of democracy has no space for people. True democracy will emerge only when we allow the people to manage.  And only when the people begin to take control of their lives will rural development gain momentum, when goods and services produced by rural areas will get better terms of trade than good and services produced in the cities. Only when our farmers are involved in the processes of development will they be able to command their destiny.  True development is the development of women and men.  What we have to recognise is that 74 % of our population are rural people who depend on agriculture and if we want our country to develop, we have to ensure that these farmers and rural people to develop.


What is the primary job of an efficient manager? In my book, it is to bring in and groom the right people on the team. Once this is done, the manager must then groom the successor most appropriate for the institution.

My attitude toward money has always been a very realistic and utilitarian one. It springs from one of my deepest convictions. It is terrible to have too little money because you will not even have enough to eat and appease your hunger. But it is far, far worse to have too much money because then you will surely get corrupt.


The maximum salary I ever drew was Rs.5000 as the Chairman and General Manager of GCMMF. I never felt underpaid and we managed with the money we got.


I may be old-fashioned in my thinking but I have always believed that it is only when you get less than you are worth, that you can look for respect; if you are paid much more than you are worth you will get no respect. The one thing I have never had a complaint about is the amount of love and respect which my dairy farmers showered upon me.


When you stand above the crowd, you must be ready to have stones thrown at you. I accepted every controversy that came my way as a new challenge. It was because of this perseverance in the face of adversities, that my colleagues and I could make NDDB into the kind of organization it became.

I SINCERELY BELIEVE THAT INDIA CAN ACHIEVE THE STATUS OF A DEVELOPED NATION AND OCCUPY ITS RIGHTFUL PLACE IN THE AFFAIRS OF THE WORLD - HOPEFULLY WITHIN THE FIRST FEW DECADES OF THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY.


BUT I CAN NEVER STRESS ENOUGH THAT EACH ONE OF US HAD A RESPONSIBILITY, AS A MEMBER OF OUR NATION'S PRIVILEGED ELITE, TO HELP BRING ABOUT THAT STAGE. THAT RESPONSIBILITY FOR OUR NATION'S FUTURE; WE MUST HOLD OURSELVES ACCOUNTABLE FOR THAT FUTURE. IT MEANS THAT WE MUST ACT NOT ONLY AS ADVANTAGED INDIVIDUALS BUT AS A CONCERNED MEMBERS OF OUR SOCIETY. IT MEANS THAT IN ALL THAT WE DO, WE MUST BE AWARE OF ITS EFFECT FOR THE GREATER GOOD.


I have often claimed that I have had but one good idea in my life: that true development is the development of women and men. This idea took such a hold of me that I remained in this small, sleepy town of Anand for over fifty years as an employee of farmers. I was never able to give this up for what many call 'a better life'. These years have, without an iota of doubt, been the most rewarding years of my life. Over the years I have spoken ceaselessly of this idea, hoping to enthuse young women and men to adopt my passion as their theirs. I have been fortunate that there have been many who took up the challenge. Yet I cannot help but feel some disappointment that, in the larger scheme of things, our policy makers and implementers still believe that our nations' women and men are means, not ends.


While we can take some pride in the fact that our fellow Indians can meet any challenge and achieve success in highly competitive fields abroad, we must also feel a great sadness that all of that talent - talent that was nurtured at the cost of our own country, since all our academic institutions of excellence are heavily subsidized is being placed at the disposal of others and not our own country, which so desperately needs it.


Among us are people of great intellectual ability; people of the highest moral and ethical attainment; people of great tenacity and courage. The challenge is to put our talent, morality and courage to the right purposes, in the right direction.


Our dreams are enormous, our mission might. But we moved forward gradually, step by step. We knew we must begin by building a small, strong foundation towards change. We knew that this first foundation we built must be our very own. For as Gandhiji said : 'Be the change you want to see'.

FAITH IS BELIEF WITH NO REASON; FOR THOSE WHO BELIEVE, NO EXPLANATION IS NECESSARY; FOR THOSE WHO DO NOT; NO EXPLANATION IS POSSIBLE.


The journey I began in Anand in 1949 still continues. I believe it will continue until we succeed. Until India's farmers succeed....