WHITE REVOLUTION IN INDIA

WHITE REVOLUTION IN INDIA:

INTRODUCTION:

White revolution means increase in the productivity of milk and its products. Verghese Kurien, the father of white revolution, turned a milk deficient country of ours to largest milk supplying country. He is named one among the eminent social entrepreneurs of the world. He made our country the largest milk exporting country. He introduced many institutions which were owned and managed by the farmers and run by the professionals. He was also awarded Padma vibhushan, World food prize, Magsaysay award and many more for his dedication towards this field.

WHAT LEAD TO THE BEGINNING OF THIS REVOLUTION:

Our country was a milk deficient country and the poverty was spread in the lanes of Indian society. Through the world food programme, United Nations Food and Agricultural organization provided food aid of milk powder and butter oil from the European Economic Community. The Indian milk cooperatives sought to make an innovative use of the aid. They used them for modernization of Indian dairy industry. Those donated products were sold in order to gain funds and these funds were used to multiply the cattle for milk production and eliminate the need for aid. This project was named a 'Billion litre idea' or 'Operation flood programme'.

PROGRESS OF THE REVOLUTION:

The idea of this revolution was to produce milk powder from the buffalo milk while the actual milk powder supplied as aid was produced from cow milk. The skills of farmers and the efficiency of the professionals was made into a partnership on the basis of mutual trust, faith and respect. They introduced small milk cooperatives at village level. Membership was open to everyone who could supply milk to the cooperative. This was named dairy cooperative movement. This movement when got initiated has just two members taking part in it. Decision making was on the basis of voting rights. Profits were shared according to the amount of milk supplied. Farmers from different parts of the country came to visit Amul and learn from their success.  Gujarat cooperative Milk Marketing federation was formed in 1973 to market all the dairy products of Gujarat under a single head. This was named ‘Anand pattern’ as it got started in a place called Anand in Gujarat.

THE THREE PHASES OF DEVELOPMENT:1^ST PHASE:

·          This phase mainly focuses on the establishment of milk dairy cooperatives at village level and links them with the main cities of India.

·          It also aimed at making the dairy cooperatives available to the nook and corner of the Indian society.

·          It made the target of creating a foundation for India’s modern dairy industry.

2^nd PHASE:

The only major aim for the second phase was to provide a way for millions of milk producers and give them a better livelihood.

3^rd PHASE:

·         To achieve substantial expansion of the dairy processing and marketing facilities and improve the milk infrastructure.

·         This phase improved the veterinary first aid and health care facilities.

·         They started the use of breed improvement technology.

·         There were many techniques developed for hygienic milk production.

·         The main development in this phase was the women empowerment in the field.

THE RECOGNITION FROM THE GOVERNMENT:

The Anand Pattern and its struggle caught the attention of the government of India with the social development in that region. The then Prime minister, Lal Bahadur shastri, impressed with the socio economic changes due to the dairy cooperatives, expressed his desire for the establishment of a national organization leading to the formation of National Dairy development Board in 1965.

IMPACT ON THE SOCIETY:

·         As the milk producers and consumers increased due to the wide spread of milk cooperatives, hygienic milk is supplied.

·         Small farmers and landless labour in the rural areas that constitute a major part of dairy cooperatives now have a regular source of income to stand on their feet and earn up their livelihood.

·         Although Operation Flood was not designed to eradicate poverty and unemployment, many were greatly benefited from the income and employment opportunities provided from these cooperatives.

·         It has provided the farmers to adopt scientific practices of animal husbandry to produce more milk with lower cost of production and thereby increase their profits and income.

·         It also led to the improvement in the methods of livestock breeding and nutrition.

A movie named ‘MANTHAN’ was produced by Shyam Benegal, a veteran with the story of cooperative milk movement. As he couldn’t finance for the movie, he asked Kurien to help him out. Kurien came out with an idea to get his entire half a million farmers to act in the film. And so they acted, every one of them went for watching the film making it a box office success and it also served as a medium to educate them about dairy cooperatives.

MY PERSPECTIVE:

The credit behind the success of white revolution goes to Verghese Kurien, the father of white revolution. He has laid a brick by brick foundation creating a golden opportunity in making our country the largest milk supplier in the world. The main interest in this programme to be noted is the social and economic development achieved. There were many people who were benefited by the dairy cooperatives established mainly focusing the employment to the rural poor and landless labour and also made our country self-sufficient. An interesting aspect of this research is that the man (Kurien) who had dedicated his lifetime in developing dairy cooperatives does not drink milk and hate it. The biggest part is their involving women in the employment. They made the population of our country the strength and led to the miracles one cannot imagine. I feel, it’s the way of thinking of people that can create miracles.