Father of White Revolution V Kurien no more
Source: The Sangai Express / Agencies

Anand, September 09 2012: The father of India's 'White Revolution' Dr Verghese Kurien passed away early on Sunday morning at Muljibhai Patel Urological Hospital in neighbouring Nadiad town due to age-related problems, Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF) sources said.

He was 90 years old and is survived by wife and daughter.

Dr Kurien, who took India from being a milkdeficient country to the world's largest milk producer, is recognized as the father of White Revolution and the man who started 'Operation Flood', besides making the Amul dairy brand a household name.

GCMMF chairman M S Sodhi had reached the hospital, sources said.

Dr Kurien's 90th birthday was celebrated in a big way at his residence in Anand by the GCMMF on November 26 last year.

Dr Verghese Kurien, who passed away at the Muljibhai Patel Urological Hospital today headed the Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation for several decades.

GCMMF that began with just two village dairy co-operative societies and 247 litres of milk, is now a $2.5 bn turnover entity that markets the brand Amul and has in its folds 32 lakh farmers.

Amul touched $1 billion turnover in the 33rd year of its formation and grew to $2 bn in 2011.He was the founder-chairman of the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) in 1965 that replicaded Amul's success story nationally through Operation Flood.

The polka dot muppet who echoed the voice of millions of Indians over five decades felt orphaned on Sunday with the demise of Dr Verghese Kurien, the man who fathered her.

"It is a sad day for the muppet....Dr Kurien was closely associated with it," said Nitin Karkare, Nitin Karkare, chief operating officer, DraftFCB Ulka, the creative agency behind the ad campaigns.

Long before Amul brand splashed across billboards and newspapers, Dr Verghese Kurien, the father of white revolution, realised that professionals would be needed to steer the brand.

The muppet wearing a red polka dot muppet and has done her job since last 50 years and the brand has never latched on to celebrities to endorse the products coming from 32 lakh farmers.

"The Amul girl has given the brand just the image we had in mindthat of a precious, 'priceless' product that the consumer would trust completely," said Dr Kurien in a recent compilation of Amul's advertisements in a book called Amul's India.

"Looking back, I realise how wise a decision it was to give complete freedom to the ad agency to do their job in a professional way.

I never interdered with their work and the result is before you," he said in the book.

While brand Amul was registered in 1957, the advertising campaign started a decade later.

The Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing federation now owns and markets the brand came into being in 1973 .

Comment