The Hindu Business Line : MANAGER PAR EXCELLENCE

The name of Dr Varghese Kurien, who resigned recently as Chairman of the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation, would figure very high indeed in any list of India's finest professional managers. The well-connected young Michigan-trained engineer, who returned to India fifty years ago, was not overawed by the West, unlike many of his generation; he turned down lucrative and more comfortable options to set up a farmer's co-operative in a State he knew nothing about. He not only made the dairy industry and the co-operative movement in India among the world's best but also relentlessly championed the cause of Indian talent and creativity.

Dr Kurien was sharp enough to see Kaira district's geographical advantage. Milk was in surplus there, while six hours away by train was the country's largest market, Bombay, facing chronic shortages and poor quality, and depending on imported powdered milk. Local dairies were inefficient and negligent causing loss of cattle quality due to poor genetics, chaos on the roads, pollution, and clogging up drains. Dr Kurien wondered why milk must travel on the hoof to Bombay, why not take the cattle out, free the city and let the standardised, quality-controlled milk flow in? He focussed on establishing a brand out of an everyday commodity through a durable and good-humoured advertising for Amul.

Fiercely loyal, he recognised only farmers as his bosses, sure of his facts and firm in his judgement, he faced much harassment from vested interests and conventional thinkers. His attempts to replicate the successful formula in the oilseeds business were stymied. All through his life, he went great lengths to find a solution, usually local and less expensive too. He was not everyone's cup of tea. Multinationals hated his guts; he knew it, and the sentiment was mutual. Leaders of all political colours were grateful for his contribution to rural prosperity. Many far-sighted and nationalists such as Tribhuvandas Patel, his mentor and a father figure, and Prime Ministers Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi backed him all the way.

The epithet of father of the White Revolution in India is well deserved for both his organisational and managerial innovations. A vast network of co-operatives was noteworthy in an era dominated by the straight contest between State sponsored and hereditary capitalism. The wonder and cause for regret is that a producer's co-op — a natural device for a populous, capital-starved developing nation such as India — did not take root any further. He may have overstayed his welcome but the nation can take pride that it built the first world-scale consumer product brand in Amul, from a garage in a one-horse town.

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