Book Review - The Amul India Story - By Ruth Heredia

Every morning 20 lakh women across 10,000 villages bring in milk worth 5 crores, are now celebrating their economic independence.

Thanks to the great co-operative movement called “The Amul India”.

CONTENTS OF THE BOOK

This is a story of a dream to which the interacting faith of a great many people finally gave substance.

The book has been classified into 6 chapters namely:
Ø The field
Ø Sowing the seed
Ø Tending a sapling
Ø The tree grows
Ø Bearing fruit
Ø Nestling in the branches

The author’s purpose of writing emphasizes the white revolution and the realization of the dream with the kaira district co-operative milk producers union. The author quotes
”Swasthi prajaabhyaha paripaalanthaam nyaayyaen, maargaenn mahee maheeshaaha, go-brahmannaebhyaha shubham asthu nithyam, lokaaha samasthaaha sukhino bhavantu”.
The quote reiterates the purpose and objective of which the co-operative movement was started.

The Field chapter realizes the requirement for a co-operative movement as it speaks the emergence of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and the situational analysis of kaira. The dominance of Polson in the milk procurement.

The Sowing The Seed chapter speaks of the emergence of the Tribhuvan Das Kishibhai Patel. He was convinced of the necessity of organizing the milk producers of kaira into a cooperative society and it remained his goal as India struggled for freedom. As a result on December 14, 1946 Tribhuvan Das had the satisfaction of seeing the Kaira District Co-Operative Milk Producers Union Limited registered (KDCMPUC). Here there is an introduction of Verghese Kurien, Mechanical engineer an unlikely recruit to the dairy sciences.

The Tending A Sapling chapter speaks of Dara Khurody who was associated with Agmark grading scheme an influential person. It speaks of the teamwork. It speaks of changes in the dairying system and its logistics. The society developed the impossible buffalo milk spray dried.

The Tree Grows Chapter deals with the different products out of the co-operative and the advertising campaign adopted by them and thus coining the term AMUL. It speaks of the strategies adopted by AMUL to drift the market of Polson and also taking on the giants of Swiss-Nestle and an American multinational called Glaxo. It also speaks of the award received by the prominent personality. It gives a clear supply-chain management association of Amul.

The Bearing Fruit chapter speaks of National Dairy Development Board, The Feeder Balancing Dairies and Mother Dairies. It also speaks of operation flood. It throws light on Gujarat Co-Operative Milk Marketing Federation and many new products out in the market viz. Lassi, Shrikhand, Gulab Jamun, Chai Sathi, Nutramul, and Amulsprays. It also gives an insight to the progress of the people.

Nestling In The Branches focuses on the emergence of Tribhuvan Das Foundation for improving the conditions and standards of living in kaira. The establishment of Institute Of Rural Management Anand.

AUTHOR’S STYLE OF WRITING

It is a story of the development of the Anand milk producers cooperative from a struggling cooperative in to the giant that it is today. Through Amul, Verghese Kurien and others have successfully demonstrated how to build a cooperative that provides just distribution of profits to its members and at the same time competes in the market place. This experiment has finally made India self-sufficient in dairy products. In 1997, the talk –of the town was an unusual book, written with passion, peppered with good humors and packing quite a punch on behalf of the poor.

Ø The author has made a comprehensive research of every aspect.
Ø The analysis has been a descriptive one based on factual events and has been written in a logical sequence of the story.
Ø Many technical details have been aptly mentioned.
Ø The author could have given a curious progression to the topic, as it would have aroused the reader’s conscious.
Ø Marketing strategies have been given a direct focus with clear-cut intensions.
Ø The author has thrown light on teamwork and has systematically carried the spirit of co-operative societies.
Ø The author has supplemented her thought by describing an incident and these incidents carry a lot of hidden inferences.
Ø She has included many roles in her narrative and her language is very lucid.

CENTRAL THEME

AMUL: THE ORIGIN
The mighty Ganges at its origin is but a tiny stream in the Gangotri ranges of the Himalayas. Similar is the story of Amul, which inspired “operation flood” and heralded the “white revolution” in India. It began with two village cooperatives and 250 litres of milk per day, nothing but a trickle compared to the flood it has become today. Today Amul collects, processes and distributes over a million litres of milk ands milk products per day, during the peak, on behalf of more than a thousand village cooperatives owned by half a million-farmer members. Further, as Ganga-ma carries the aspirations of millions of farmers. Creating a pattern of liberation and self-reliance for every farmer to follow.

The Amul India story is a stimulating excursion into a dream that is now reality. Blessed with the vision of sardar vallabhbhai patel, a patriot, the book traces the birth of a small movement in Gujarat, the kaira district co-operative milk producers union and its evolution into a fantastic new paradigm of development. A fast-paced narrative, laced with several fascinating anecdotes, the book chronicles the daring initiatives and dynamism displayed by a team of committed individuals-a farmer, Tribhuvan Das Patel, a professional manager, V Kurien and a technologist, H M Dalaya. This is a story of faith, empowerment, and dream realization, with all the elements that make a story more interesting-passion, humor and the thrill.

THE START OF THE REVOLUTION
It starts with the rural renaissance in the nineteenth century of the Christian era, the in heritance and the inspiration of sardar vallabhbhai patel, the great visionary who was a man who knew how to translate vision into deed which transformed the white revolution with the emergence of AMUL and many of its subsidiary organizations.
It teaches each one of us a lesson as to how a team effort could change the situation as it did in the co-operative movement.

The revolution started as awareness among the farmers that grew and matured into a protest movement and the determination to liberate themselves. Over four decades ago, the life of a farmer in kaira district was very much like that of his counterparts anywhere else in India. His income was derived almost entirely from seasonal crops. The income from milch buffaloes was undependable. Private traders and middlemen controlled the marketing and distribution system for the milk. As milk is perishable, farmers were compelled to sell it for whatever they were offered. Often, they had to sell cream and ghee at throwaway prices. In this situation, the one who gained was the private trader. Gradually the realization dawned on the farmers that the exploitation by the trader could be checked only if marketed their milk themselves. In order to do that they needed to form some sort of an organization. This realization is what led to the establishment of the kaira district co-operative milk producers union limited (popularly known as Amul), which was formally registered on December 14, 1946.

The kaira union began pasteurizing milk for the Bombay milk scheme in June 1948. An assured market proved a great incentive to the milk producers of the district. By the end of 1948, more than 400 farmers joined in more village societies, and the quantity of milk handled by one union increased from 250 to 5000 litres a day.

OBSTACLES: SPRING BOARDS FOR SUCCESS.

The realization of the dream began with the kaira district co-operative milk producers union which was then like a small but sturdy plant, full of sap. That plant has grown into fruitful tree, with spreading roots and branches but it is still nourished by the soil from which it sprang. Likewise are the towering concrete structures and land scaped gardens; the array of computers; the clever, highly skilled technical staff; the busy researchers, eloquent teachers, and eager students: they all draw their purpose from the white revolution that has brought so much of rural India out of the feudal age.

The white revolution has not been easy to achieve. At one time, the milk lake of kaira district was stagnant. A few trades skimmed off fat profits, leaving to the numerous producers’ only sour thin whey of inadequate payment. But the cooperative movement began to churn that lake and soon it overflowed, spreading throughout the country. There was some pain for all those involved in the movement: for the traders, who lost much profit; and for the milk producers, who had to discipline themselves to responsibility, to a practice of democratic principles, and to the acceptance of changes in a lifestyle that had imparted a sense of security, chiefly because it was traditional; pain, too, for the men who initiated and then guided the movement with patience and perseverance, learning to accept temporary frustrations in the long term interests of their project.

Each failure, each obstacle, each stumbling block can be turned into a success story. In the early years, Amul had to face a number of problems. With every problem came opportunity. A chance to turn a negative into a positive. Milk by products and supplementary yield, which suffered from the same lack of marketing and distribution facilities, became encumbrances. Instead of being bogged down by their fate they were used as stepping-stones for expansion. Backward integration of the process led the cooperatives to advances in animal husbandry and veterinary practice.

MILK BY PRODUCTS: AN EXCUSE TO EXPAND

From the preparation of the soil in which a tree is to be rooted, until the time when it begins to cast its seeds and thereby causes other trees to grow, the life cycle of a tree presents a serviceable image of two themes: faith and development. It presupposes faith even to plant a seed. And the long trial of faith followed by the joy of seeing it justified reflects, I think, the travail of development ending in the enjoyment of its rewards. In both, a farmer would see a parallel to the slow growth of his tree, the pains he takes over its nourishment and health, and the harvest of fine fruit that he reaps.

The response to these provided stimulus for further growth. For example as the movement spread in the district, it was found that the Bombay milk scheme could not absorb the extra milk collected by the kaira union in the winter, when the production on an average was 2.5 times more than in summer. Thus, even by 1953, the farmer-members had no assured market for the extra milk produced in winter. They were again forced ton sell a large surplus at low rates to the middlemen. The remedy was to set up a plant to process milk into products like butter and milk powder. An Rs 5 million plant to manufacture milk powder and butter was completed in 1955. In 1958, the factory was expanded to manufacture sweetened condensed milk. Two years later, a new wing was added for the manufacture of 2500 tons of roller dried baby food and 600 tons of cheese per year, the former based on a formula developed with the assistance of Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI), Mysore. It was the first time anywhere in the world that cheese or baby food was made from buffalo milk on a large, commercial scale. Another milestone was the completion of a project to manufacture balanced cattle feed. The plant was donated by OXFAM under the Freedom From Hunger Campaign of the FAO.

To meet the requirement of milk powder for the defense, the kaira union was asked by the government of India in 1963 to setup additional milk drying capacity. A new dairy capable of producing 40 tons of milk powder and 20 tons of butter a day was speedily completed. It was declared open in 1965. The Mogar complex where high protein weaning food, chocolate and malted food are being made was another initiative by Amul to ensure that while it fulfilled the social responsibility to meet the demand for liquid milk, its members were not deprived of the benefits to be had from the sale of high value-added products.

CHARACTERS INVOLVED

ü PESTONJI EDULJI POLSON (1875-1962)
When he was 13 years old, Pestonji Dalal left school and, with a capital of 100/- rupees borrowed from his sister, set himself up in business in a small shop that he rented for eight rupees a month. He bought a hand operated coffee grinder and roasted coffee beans, which he ground and packed in paper bags. He packed his packets of aromatic, freshly ground coffee from door to door. by 1900 he was doing well enough to be able to rent a larger shop near Crawford market in Bombay. This market was patronized almost exclusively by the upper class, particularly the white sahibs.

From Pestonji nickname, Polly, it was only a step to Polson. P E Polson Esquire, of the Raj, would become after independence, Seth Polson. Meanwhile, Polson’s business flourished. He moved his office in 1905 and again in 1907 each time occupying larger premises. In 1910 he set up his coffee factory up at maza goan. He called his chicory blend French coffee, and he sold it as coffee sold as blended according to a French recipe.

During the Boer war, Polson started selling pure coffee and introduced coffee tablets that dissolved in hot water. He would cannily put 13 tablets in a dozen’s pack, and also introduced the gift coupon system to reward faithful customers, gaining their loyalty and also winning new clients.

Dickson was in the supply corps one day remarked to Polson that it was difficult to procure quality butter in sufficiently large quantities. It was even more difficult to find someone who could be depended upon to keep up a steady supply. That was Polson’s opportunity. He seized it and made it his fortune.

Up and down the network of railways that crisscrossed the Indian subcontinent, Polson’s was the butter in dining cars, canteens, railway restaurants, railway colonies and clubs. In the homes of the British Anglo Indians and Parsis it was again Polson’s butter that was favoured. On September 6 th 1934, Sydney g Williams, chief medical officer of BB&CI railway, entered a remark in the visitors’ book at Polson’s model dairying anand, which is both revealing and typical:” in future we shall always use Polson’s butter. We had never dreamt that there could be anything so good as this in India.”

Amul had to face the stiff resistance from Polson’s diary due to many factors. One of those could be his high proximity to top-level bureaucrats and he being a Parsi had the sentiment running in the English and Parsi household to buy his product. He was the one who monopolized the market right from collection of milk to the distribution.

ü DARA NUSSERWANJI KHURODY (1906-1983)

In 1963 the three recipients of the Ramon Magsasay Award for community leadership were Tribhuvandas K Patel, Verghese Kurien and Dara N Khurody. The citation referred to “their creative coordination of government and private enterprise to improve the supply of an essential food, and of sanitation, in on of Asia’s largest and most crowded urban complexes, and to raise living standards among village producers.”

The milk colony that was Khurody boast is now only a shadow of its former self. But once, nearly laid out it covered about 3200 acres, of which 400 were used “mainly for spectacular purposes”, to quote V A Philipos, an officer from the health ministry, reporting on Aarey, to the government of India in 1957. The central dairy and administration blocks stood on a hillock amid lush green lawns. Every detail was attended to. It was much a thing of beauty as utility patterned flowerbeds, rare trees and manicured lawns along side an efficient modern dairy.

Aarey’s extensive gardens had an importance quite apart from the fact that they took many prizes at flower shows Khurody passion for gardening was shared by minister, Dinakar Rao Desai. It brought the two closer after the colony blossomed, and it seems very likely that this shared interest subtly influenced Dinakarbhai’s attitude whenever, in Aarey’s heyday, a conflict arose between aarey and Amul. Compared with developing a garden, the development of people is not as attractive, but it is infinitely more rewarding; and that is the difference between the building of Aarey and the building of Amul.

Yet, Khurody achievement in making wholesome pasteurized milk available to Bombay through the BMS deserved to be honored in remembrance. Perhaps only the elder citizens, able to recall the horrors of the private milk supply and of suburban Bombay’s sanitation before Khurody innovation, can fully appreciate what he accomplished. all the more reason, therefore, to record it beside the history of Amul.

Following the bifurcation of Greater Bombay state in 1960, Khurody was appointed dairy development commissioner and joint secretary to the Maharashtra government. In this capacity he expedited the organization of milk schemes for 15 towns ands cities, and profoundly influenced dairy development in the state.

In 1959, Khurody negotiated a contract with unicef to equip a second dairy plant for Bombay, the impressive dairy at worli, which one unicef observer described as having the proportions and dignity of a cathedral!”

q TRIBHUVANDAS KISHIBHAI PATEL (1903-1994)
He was one of nature’s gentlemen. He was one of the organizers and chairman of the anand taluk cooperative purchase and sale union. By managing them he acquired skill and experience, which helped him through bigger challenges. Tribhuvandas’s organizational skill, and his capacity for the right sort of compromise: one which enables persons of clashing temperaments-or even opposing views-to work fruitfully together, without sacrificing basic principles.
He was a man of steadfast loyalty and integrity. His integrity was such that he never once used the facilities available to him as chairman of kaira cooperative for political work.

Self-effacing and soft-spoken Tribhuvandas may be, but injustice has always roused in him a lion. It would frequently happens that a wealthy farmer would try to manipulate the authorities-in order, for example, to get a road to run through his own fields and not a poor farmers land. That sort of thing would always find Tribhuvandas fighting strongly against the abuse of privilege.

He understood the villagers of his district well, and knew when a little paternalistic interference was called for. When the land on which Amul dairy stands was acquired, compensation had to be paid to the displaced villagers. he took charge of the amount and brought land elsewhere to resettle the community.

Rudolf Leyden, general manager of Voltas, first met Tribhuvandas when he had to seek the latter’s approval for the appointment of voltas as distributors for Amul. Leyden wrote before his death:

“I do not remember what was said at the meeting; we certainly did not talk about details of the proposed distribution arrangement. I was conscious of being in the presence of great personality, quite, modest, of few words. A man who had grown up in the vast political movement that gave India its freedom, and who no longer a politician. Not in him the over bearing conceit and the shallow verbosity, that has made so many politicians in India figures of ridicule and contempt. Here was a leader who had wielded power through the strength of his ideals and an example of his service to his fellow men. He is a kind of person that makes you feel happy to be a fellow human being…”

VERGHESE KURIEN (1921)

It was kindly providence that brought Verghese Kurien to work at dairy engineering in part of India that was so different and far from his native kerala. His father, puthenparakkal Kurien, was a civil surgeon serving in madras presidency. In his fifteenth year, Kurien passed the secondary school leaving examination. Too young for admission to an engineering college, he took a Bachelor of Science degree from Loyola College, madras, graduating in 1940 with the seventh rank in the presidency. Intelligent, hardworking and ambitious, he was a credit to his family and community.

Kurien belongs to a small community of Syrian Christians, which is influential in its home, kerala. The community claims descent from high caste converts by st. Thomas, an apostle of Jesus Christ. Kurien’s own family traces its line back to one of the 32-namboodri families coveted by st. Thomas. His mother brought him himself up in the church missionary society.

Syrian Christians as a community have a high level of literacy, and gained much from the British policy of educating Indians. Kurien’s grandfather died young, and his elder brother, a distinguished lawyer, brought up kurien’s father. Infact Kurien himself was named after his uncle, Rao Sahib P K Verghese, whose contribution to the public life of his town, Ernakulam was notable.

It was in 1945 the Indian government recognizing the need for trained personnel in numerous technical fields, approved a scheme for post war reconstruction. Sir Maurice gayer, vice chancellor of Delhi University, was the chairman of the selection committee.

Kurien was the candidate ad the chairman asked him:
“What is pasteurization?” quickly raking through the odds and ends of information remembered from his school days, Kurien ventured a guess that it was “a process of boiling milk at a certain temperature”.” thank you” said the chairman. Then, to kurien’s consternation, he added: “ you are selected for dairy engineering”.

For further education on the scholarship of the state Kurien went Michigan and found a new friend in Harichand Meghaa Dalaya. It is hard to believe that Dalaya who came to anand only temporarily to help Kurien but gradually became completely involved in the kaira cooperative.

To begin with Kurien only took professional pride in Amul Dairy, and in the technology so successfully developed there for manufacturing milk products out of buffalo milk. He and Dalaya tended the small sapling of Amul devotedly. The extrovert Kurien, the introvert Dalaya and the equable Tribhuvandas in consequence of sharing a single-minded commitment to the cooperative movement, made a harmonious and effective team.

During the time of stiff competition to gain the market share of Polson dairy, Kurien laid his plans meticulously.kurien put forward a solution: let the government demarcate the allotted areas for milk collection for each of the two suppliers. Dinakar rao desai pronounced it a good idea and at once Kurien produced his winning card: a map with the areas he had selected already market out.

He was a strategic player in all his endeavors. He was the man behind the success of kaira co-operative movement. He was a charismatic leader and had the ability to conceptualize and communicate effectively.

SUMMARY:

Amul is a dairy cooperative in the western India that has been primarily responsible through its innovative practices, for India to become the world’s largest milk producer. The distinctive features of this paradigm involves managing a large decentralized network of suppliers and producers simultaneous development of markets and suppliers, lean and efficient supply chain and breakthrough leadership

VALUE ADDITION

The Amul India story brings out a fantastic illustration of the revolution and transformation of the society. It has exposed some of the hidden facts, which can be inferred. By reading through I have gained knowledge, which a future manager should believe in.
q Marketing techniques-it speaks volumes about how a cooperative movement could take on multinational companies and move ahead.
q Commitment- it has been proved beyond facts that commitment to resolve issues will enable a person to solve his problems and commitment to work will ensure success.
q Team work- for a cooperative movement can be successful team effort plays a significant role. Due credit to the effort of v Kurien and his team for making this movement a success.
q Strategic planning and presentation- we learn from the fact that during major decisions strategic planning and presentations has yielded fruitful results to counter local competitions.
q Networking-it helps in getting work done in the right approach. It can be seen that due to Kurien’s networking and right attitude he got all the support for his successful endeavors.