Explore the incredible journey of Amul and the untold story of India's White Revolution, fulfilling Vallabhbhai Patel's dream, Discover the keys to success and the power of self-belief and national pride as we delve into Varghese Kurien's pioneering efforts in the dairy industry and the formation of successful cooperatives like Amul.
Hey, It's Puneet! Join me on this utterly, butterly delicious journey!
I have got a fascinating 2-hour episode lined up all about Varghese Kurien, the legend behind India's White Revolution. We'll be flipping through the pages of his book I Too Had a Dream and sharing the juiciest highlights. From his game-changing innovations in the dairy industry to his unwavering commitment to uplifting rural communities, From breaking the back of monopolies to safely treading the political and bureaucratic waters for 50 years, Kurien's story is packed with inspiration and insight into what makes Indian entrepreneurship tick! So grab a snack, settle in, and get ready for a cozy chat about Kurien's legacy and the spirit of entrepreneurship that continues to shape India's future. Trust me, this is one conversation you won't want to miss!
In this episode, I discuss the book called "I Too Had a Dream" by Varghese Kurien and its lessons on Indian entrepreneurship.
Buy the book for the full story: I Too Had a Dream by Varghese Kurien
When you buy from the link, you support me with no additional cost to you. :-)
Watch Manthan the movie produced by Kaira's farmers.
0:01:
I have often claimed that I have had, but one good idea in my life, 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 AAN for over 50 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 enthus young women and men to adopt my passion as theirs. I have been fortunate that there have been many who took up the challenge. Hey, it's beneath, and this is Galata out of sheer serendipity.
0:57:
It happens to be the golden julee of Amul. And we are talking about the journey of GH Korean in this episode. And I can't wait to share with you such amazing tapestry of his journey while he was building, protecting, and scaling ammo. This is, I too had a dream, uh, by Varghese Korean.
1:26:
And as it was told to Gori Salvi, this book was highly recommended by Ki Bani. Uh, in fact, let me just pull that up for you guys. I shared with all of you in episode 66 of KiOR Bani, where he recommended, uh, Varghese Korean's book. And before I get into the book, I just wanna read what he thought of Varghese Korean's book. I have also read my fair share of autobiographies written by foreign and Indian entrepreneurs, but no book strikes me more than Varghese Koreans autobiography. I too had a dream Korean stories of a genuine Indian folk hero.
2:02:
He proves that if one has the conviction and ability to unleash the power of ordinary Indians, one can turn any dream into reality in terms of its sheer relevance in the current Indian context. The book easily stands out in comparison with what I have read on Indian business throughout the book. Korean reiterates that the biggest asset of India is its people and states. We have glorious examples in our country of what our people can achieve and have achieved by working together.
2:35:
Korean isn't shy of pointing out the disturbing truth. The tragedy of India is that we have no respect for Indians, for Indian efforts, and for Indian successes. It is sad that all the issues that Korean faced, the opportunistic attitude of multinationals, lack of public leadership, bureaucratic bottlenecks, continue to be the biggest challenges India faces even today. However, what this book proves is that even after 50 years since the Chira Cooperative Union was formed, the basic tenets of success pretty much remains the same trust in people belief in oneself and pride in one's country.
3:14:
And with that, let's get into the book. Born in Calicut Kerala, Dr. Varghese Korean graduated in science and engineering from Madras University and Michigan State University, USA respectively. He began his career in dating at the government's creamery in Anan, Gujarat later joined the RA district Cooperative Milk Producers Union Limited, which is now called Amul. As chairman of the National Diary Development Board, he implemented Operation Flood. He has received countless awards, including the Ram Maxey Award in 1963.
3:46:
Walter Peace Prize, 1986, world Food Prize, 1999 RI in 1965, PMA 1966, and PMA Buan in 1999. That's a quick gist about him. I find prologue fascinating because it's like Margi Korean is writing for his grandson who is Sidharth. He says, my dear Sidharth, when did I write to you last?
4:11:
I have trouble even remembering. In today's fast paced world, we have become so addicted to instant communication that we prefer to use a telephone. But speaking on the telephone only gives us an immediate but fleeting joy. Writing is different.
4:27:
Writing, even if it is a letter, not only can raise our present concerns and views of the events taking place around us, but it becomes a possession that can be treasured and reread over the years with great abiding pleasure. And he continues a little later saying, I started my working life soon after our country became independent. The noble task in those days was to contribute in whatever way we could towards 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. It was then that I realized in all humility, that choosing to lead one kind of life means putting aside the desire to pursue other options. And those other options are very tempting.
5:22:
We'll get to that soon. This transformation took place within me 50 years ago when I agreed to work for a small cooperative of dairy farmers who were trying to gain control over their lives. To be quite honest, service to our nation's farmers was not the career I'd envisioned for myself, but somehow a series of events swept me along and put me in a certain place at a certain time. When I had to choose between one option or another, I was faced with a choice that would transform my life. I could have pursued a career in metallurgy and perhaps become the chief executive of a large company. Or I could have opted for a commission in the Indian RB and maybe retired as a general, or I could have left for the US and gone on to become a highly successful NRI. Michael, look at this self-confidence and assurance he has already.
6:12:
Yet, I chose none of these because somewhere deep down I knew I could make a more meaningful contribution by working here in Anand. Gujarat. Your grandmother, too made an important choice. She knew in those early days, life in Anand could not offer even the simple comforts that we take for granted today. However, she utterly supported my choice to live and work in Ireland.
6:40:
That choice of your grandmother to stand by me has given me an everlasting strength, always ensuring that I shouldered my responsibilities with poise. He moves on and talks about, um, I think one of the two most important persons in his journey, somebody that was a mentor to him throughout, which is Patel. I'll tell you more about him in a bit. I have often spoken of integrity as the most important of these values, realizing that integrity and personal integrity at that is being honest to yourself. He, he, he moves on talking about the core value that he has held throughout his career.
7:22:
I want to read this for you. I would like to stress even more strongly that my contribution has been possible only because I have consistently adhered to certain core values, values that I inherited from my parents and other family elders values that I saw in my mentor and supporter here in Anand Patel. I have often spoken of integrity as the most important of these values. Realizing that integrity and personal integrity at that is being honest to yourself. If you're always honest to yourself, it does not take much effort in always being honest with others.
7:59:
And in the end, if you are brave enough to love strong enough to rejoice in others happiness and wise enough to know that there is enough to go around for all, then we would have lived our lives to the fullest. I would like to dedicate these musings to you, Shar, and to the millions of other children of your generation in our country, in the hope that upon reading them, you will be inspired enough to go bravely out into your world and work tirelessly in your chosen field for the larger good of the country, for the larger good of humanity. Remember, rewards that come to you then are the only true rewards for a life well spent with my fondest love yours affectionately dadada. Let's get into his early years.
8:46:
I was born on 26th of November, 1921 in Icut Kerala, and was a third of four siblings. I was named GH after my Uncle Rao, Sahi Pgh, who had made a notable contribution to public life in his hometown ku. My father Putin. Okay, I'm gonna, I think I messed this up.
9:08:
Putin Paral, Korean served as a civil surgeon in British coaching. My mother was talented. She played the piano exceptionally well and highly educated. She came from an illustrious family, which laid a great store by learning. In fact, by and large, the Syrian Christian community with to which I belong, gaining much from the British policy of educating Indians, had achieved a high level of literacy. So you can see he is born in a family that is extremely well to do and has people in the places of par, which we will discover as we proceed as well. And how they don't help or help him.
9:48:
We'll find out, um, navigate Amul. But, uh, let's get back to when he was still in his adolescent years. When I turned 14, I joined Loyola College in Madras, now known as Chennai to study science. I was very young for my class, but I learned to cope with the studies. When I completed college in 1940, I was still too young to get admission in an engineering college. Remember, he's 19 and he is getting an admission in engineering college. So I did an extra degree a, b, c in physics at Loyola.
10:21:
After this, I enrolled at the Giy College of Engineering, which is also in Madras, which then served the entire South India. I was very young when I joined college and had to manage more or less on my own. I learned to fend for myself and became independent very early in life. Now in college, he isn't as academically inclined as, um, I would, I had assumed he would be.
10:45:
He's a very fun go lucky, chill dude, uh, who's big time to sports and partying and having fun. I enjoyed my years at both the colleges for not only was I academically inclined, but I reveled in sports too. My father had been an athlete of repute in his youth earning the nickname hundred yard dash Korean, and he passed on his love of sports to me, and he represented his college in a, in so many sports, um, tennis, badminton, cricket, boxing, and still not harming his excellent academic record. And, and back then in, uh, both the Guindy College of Engineering and Loyola College, boxing was a serious business. And so it took up a lot of his time.
11:28:
In fact, they say, as we trained rigorously with the coach and would often emerge full of cuts and bruises, black eyes and swollen lips and unable to eat. I also joined the University training Corps, which is sort of like the NCC is today. And I'm still proud of being selected as the outstanding T of the Fifth Battalion of the Madras UTC. Um, our ju was Captain case de May who later goes to become the distinguished general.
11:53:
Uh, my years at college were busy beyond imagination. Now you can see he is into multiple sports. He is having a lot of fun. At the same time, he is maintaining an excellent academic record, and that plays a very important role going forward. He, he was really serious about joining the Army because of, um, I, I like the words he's used, so I'll just read this for you. While I underwent training with the UTC, I became quite enamored with the discipline and exactitude inculcated by army life, and began toying with the idea of joining the army. But unfortunately, my father died prematurely when I was only 22.
12:32:
He goes back and tells how his close-knit Syrian Christian community and family handled this in a very graceful manner to make sure that the pain and the sense of loss was as limited as possible. Uh, his maternal grand uncle, which is Cherry and Maha, um, took his mother and him, uh, back to that, uh, native, which is
13:33:
Very soon since John Mathai was of my mother's age, they had been brought up like siblings in the same family home in Kut, master Mathai never married, but he looked after the entire family. He sent his brothers and sisters to England for education. He lived in a sprawling house on a hundred acre E State with a boat club gymnasium golf course, an excellent cook. Ever since I can remember, even before my father's death, we used to spend our summer vacations with Mathai master and what memorable days those were. Thanks to this large, closely knit family, I have intensely happy and glorious memories of childhood. Wow, that's a beautiful way to sum up, uh, his childhood. You can see he's very active, bustling, uh, seems like a hyperactive child who's always out there and, uh, either playing a sport or, or also has this other side, which is very academically driven and inclined. And I think that is why, and including his family's style, is that it leads him to his first job and his rebel gets him out of it. Here, this out, after I finished my engineering, my mother who had managed to distract my mind away from the army now definitely guided me towards trying my luck with a Tata iron and steel company, which is Tesco.
14:50:
I relented. And in 1944, I was selected by Tesco as a graduate apprentice. This was considered a very prestigious selection. Then because the company took only 10 a class apprentices, he was confronted with a peculiar problem because the job that he had applied for and got selected in, which is, which was very highly coveted, uh, there are only 10 a class apprentices that were hired in. And, um, the person he was reporting to was reporting to, uh, Verghese's Uncle, which is John Mathai, who was the director at Tata Industries. And he had put in a word, um, for the application of Varghese, um, and had no put a note saying if found competent. And of course, the subordinate had no choice but to obey. And this is what irked varghese, because he could have gotten in by his own merit because he felt he was extremely competent, self-assured and a good apprentice.
15:51:
But, um, here's where things became even more awkward. John Mathai would end up visiting Varghese Korean during his apprenticeship, and that made everyone around him, um, become aware of this is boss's boss's like super boss's nephew. As if John Mathai putting in a good word for me was not bad enough. One day he committed the unforgivable mistake of visiting me at the apprentices hostel.
16:17:
We apprentices were the lowest in the officer category, and no senior officer ever visited our hostel. Everybody noticed when John Mathai came to see me, they realized who I was. They were convinced that I would inevitably be marked for rapid promotions in the Tata group. Suddenly everyone was extremely good to me and was very careful around me.
16:37:
I found this unbearably oppressive and knew that I would have to do something about it soon. He is where he confronts John Mathia. And he has this confrontational attitude throughout where he feels if something is not right, he will bring it up in extremely direct way. There's no two ways with, well, on my uncle's next visit to Schaper, where he was doing his apprenticeship, um, I told him politely, I don't want to stay here. I want to get out. I am no longer Korean.
17:05:
Now I'm merely the boss's grand nephew. And, uh, John Mathia says, yes, very commendable. He said, nodding his head, but also extremely stupid. I'm told you are the best apprentice.
17:18:
You will certainly go right to the top here. However, Varghese Korean was very adamant and stubborn and decided to opt out of the apprenticeship and instead apply for a scholarship, which was offered by the British government for higher studies. This really irked John Mathai. And later on in, in the journey, they will have a tussle again.
17:40:
But, but for now, John Mathai, his uncle, tried very hard to tell him, no, this is, you're in the right job. You will flourish. You'll go all the way to the top. Do not leave.
17:49:
But then Vagi kina already made his mind. Here's a scheme that he applied for. The British government had announced a scheme to select about 500 young Indians to send abroad for specialized training to England, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, and the us. I applied hoping to go abroad and get a master's degree in methodology and nuclear physics. I was one of the lucky ones to get a call for an interview with the government's scholarship selection committee during the interview.
18:15:
This is even more crazy. Um, during the interview, he was asked, what is pasteurization? And very hesitantly and honestly, he admitted he did not know the answer, but it may have to do something with sterilizing milk. And that was the interview.
18:33:
Uh, the interview said, correct and you got selected for a scholarship in daily engineering. This completely shocked him 'cause he wanted to take up metallurgy, nuclear physics. Um, however, the only option was either it was dairy engineering or nothing. Um, so he had, but he had to find a way out of Tata Steel. So he took up the scholarship to go to us and qualify as a dairy engineer for the government of India's Ministry of Agriculture. And almost immediately he ended up hitting, uh, the idea of moving out of Tata Steel because he had admitted honestly that he knew nothing about dating or dairy engineering before being sent to us for eight months. He was sent out for, to Bangalore.
19:22:
There's Imperial Dairy Research Institute in Bangalore, which became, which now is called National Dairy Research Institute of India, for a formal introduction to like milk cattle and to try and understand the fundamentals of daring. But as soon as he reached the institute here in Bangalore, everybody almost instantly disliked him because here was a very coveted scholarship that was given to somebody who did not even know anything about dating. Nobody bothered to teach me anything. And one of the instructors in particular, code under Panny took a special dislike to me.
19:57:
But I had burned my bridge and there was no turning back. I struck up a friendship with two dairy technologists at Ani and Firo Mera, and spent a considerable time at restaurants, movie halls, and generally having a good time as far as I was concerned, I was merely marking time till I got my scholarship to go abroad in his entire eight months. He had no formal introduction to the basics of dating, uh, and he just chilled out, wild away his time. But then he also knew that he had made a very serious mistake by leaving the tatas because nobody included him because he, they all felt he's an outsider. He had taken over, discovered the scholarship, and he had no background in dating, so they were all hostile to him. So he just wild away his eight months in Bangalore. And in the winter of 1946, he leaves the US on a ship called Liberty and joins Michigan State University to study dairy engineering.
20:52:
However,
21:22:
Um, and so dating was never on his horizon. Here's a description of Michigan State University around 1946. Those days, Michigan State University was considered the world's best place for dairy engineering. As luck would have it, Firo Medora, my friend from the Imperial Dairy Research Institute in Bangalore, also joined the university as it is Friend Chen Alaya.
21:43:
Now, now these are important individuals who will help him later on in his journey in India, who was later to become my close friend and valued colleague, Dalia had come to Michigan State University on his own team since he came from a well-to-Do family, two other Indian students, Husan and Mansur also became close friends. We were a group of five Indians. Medora was a Parsi, Hussan and Mansour were Muslims. Aya was a Hindu and I was a Christian, A veritable object lesson in national integration. This is, this next part is hilarious because he is pretty much having the time of his life in us and doesn't give a hoot about studies and still excels in studies.
22:24:
Um, I don't know what to make of it, I'm just jealous at this moment.
22:48:
Finally, one day when I could not take his nagging anymore, I told him the liar, you get your degree, I will get mine. And then we will see, you'll get it huffing and puffing. I will get mine laughing.
23:12:
Those were good productive days at the university. I pursued tennis and even won a championship. I spent stimulating evenings with my friends, debated and argued vociferously whenever the competence of the third world was questioned or a racist remark was made. Not at all unusual in those days.
23:30:
I put the natives soundly in their place by natives, he means Americans. Of course, I studied too. My research was on a fascinating subject, ity and cast iron. And, and something he discovers here really stumped me.
23:46:
There had long been a belief among foundry men that there is herdity in caste iron. My research examined whether this was mere fiction or a fact, and my thesis proved that it was indeed a fact that Herdity did exist in a way it showed how you cannot get away from the past, even if it is in cast iron. So when you melt down cast iron and make it into something else, its past exists, even in the face of apparent change. And, and these findings, he says that these findings were very exciting and would've been pathbreaking.
24:18:
However, that one day his professor tells him that somebody else has beaten him in his research and they were extremely close and, and they would end up becoming millionaires if they would've been the first one to reach it. He was really fortunate that he didn't become a millionaire, otherwise he would've never left United States. So in 1948, along with his four other friends, he returns to India after receiving a master's degree in metallurgy in nuclear physics. Remember, it's a master's degree in metallurgy and nuclear physics are not daily engineering for which he was actually sent for. He says, it was the end of a wonderful carefree chapter in my life.
24:52:
When the five of us returned home, we saw with Hoder how the British had divided our country and it had been divided without even seeking our permission. Husan and Mansour moved to the newly created Pakistan, and the rest of us got down to the business of getting on with our lives in India. I duly reported to the government, which had sent me on the scholarship and was instructed to get in touch with the Minister of Education in Delhi. By this time, my uncle John Mathai, who used to be a director at the Tata Industries, had become the finance minister of independent India. I stayed with him in Delhi those days.
25:27:
And, and this is him, right? Like, like
26:11:
Most of the others have no jobs, but for you, we already have a job lined up. You'll have to report to a place called Anand. And he asked, where is Anand? Uh, it's somewhere near Bombay.
26:22:
Uh, explained the undersecretary. However, um, at at Michigan State University, there's a professor that took liking to him who was the dean of engineering. And through him, he had gotten another job with Union Carbide. And it was a thousand rupees, uh, basic salary of a thousand rupees.
26:41:
And it was in Calcutta where Union Cari was setting up a factory and he really wanted to get out of this mandatory government job, which he felt was inconsequential. He tried to negotiate with the undersecretary to explain it to him, but he did not want to take up the job. The, the undersecretary got very agitated. Um, and he is like, how can you talk like this? Uh, I'll sue you for rupees,30,000 rupees that we spent on your higher education if you refuse to take up this job at Anand.
27:11:
Now,30,000 was a lot. It seemed that I had no option. There was no way I could raise the money to repay the government. I would have to go to Anand.
27:19:
As I was about to leave the office, the under secretary asked me to wait while he gave me my appointment letter. I had promised my aunt that I would be home for lunch and I was already running late
27:45:
Anyway, give me your address in Delhi so that I can have the letter delivered to you. And this is what he wrote down c slash o, the honorable Doctor John Mapai and sped home for lunch.
28:08:
Here's where I respect John Mattai even more, because he wanted to get out of this mandatory job with the government and he tried to negotiate with his uncle, pointing it out that he was earning a thousand rupees. He had a better opportunity there in Calta, but his uncle did not relent. In fact, he told him, I told you not to leave the tatas. I told you not to take the government scholarship.
28:30:
You rejected my advice. You wanted to build your future with your own efforts. So go build your future. I will not help you.
28:38:
You have made your bed, my boy, now go lie in it. And he felt extremely cheated by the government of India because he was under the impression that he is getting a job as a daily engineer in, in an Imperial Dairy Research Institute in Bangalore, which was a very senior position. But when he returned to India and the officers of the dairy department, they got together and then they decided to post him in Anand, which was actually a job for a diploma holder. So he had this longtime grudge feeling that he was cheated out of the research and institute job, which he rightly felt was his. Instead, I was sent to this strange place called an where, unknown to me, a far more challenging life.
29:26:
Lay ahead the daily development advisor to the government of India. Zal r Koala later told me that in my confidential report, my superiors had written unlikely to be an efficient officer. Meanwhile, um, despite his very erratic cocky attitude with the undersecretary, the undersecretary was thoughtful enough to do something for him. But hear this out. Well, kudos to John Mathai for holding his ground here.
29:53:
This one. Meanwhile, when the undersecretary realized that I was John Mathai's nephew, he recommended a higher salary of Rupees 600 a month. For me, this required the finance ministry's approval, which the undersecretary felt would certainly not be difficult. Little did he know my uncle, the finance ministry will never agree declared my uncle. My aunt asked him why it bother him if I was going to get a better salary, it is my job to see he does not get it replied John Mathai. Such where the principles and standards of the government of India those days literally made a room take. Wow.
30:30:
This is how the principles and standards of government of India was right after independence. He goes on to say something that's happening in Anand, which he isn't aware of behind the scenes. At that time, the milk business in the region was almost totally controlled by a shrewd and remarkable posse. Gentleman called Jiji. He had never been to school, had no education, but was clearly a canny entrepreneur. The manner in which pathology came to monopolize the milk business in Anand is an interesting and instructive story.
31:08:
And this is where he's gonna cut his teeth. Just to give you an understanding of what the milk was like in 1942, 43, because a lot of britishers who were stationed in Bombay fell sick. They did an intensive investigation and the authorities concluded in one line, the milk of Bombay is more polluted than the gutter water of London. And this compelled the British government, um, to make milk unfit for consumption. And they appointed a milk commissioner and a milk department that was established. And this milk department ended up creating Bombay milk scheme, which this uncanny founder named Ji really capitalized. He had some unbelievable conditions.
32:03:
Hear this out, Ji or Paulson, which was the name of the diary, found this arrangement with the British government quite satisfactory. He demanded a processing charge from the government, which the government agreed to give. He demanded additional equipment as a grant, and that too was provided. Then Paulson made one more demand. He told the government that for him to do his job more efficiently and supply Bombay with more milk, they should pass a legislation whereby in all the villages around Ireland, no one besides him could collect milk. This too was done, which meant that contractors appointed by Paulson monopolized milk procurement. Paston was a very shrewd founder in the Paulson factory.
32:53:
He went to the extent that every single machine did not even have the manufacturer's name plate, so nobody could buy those machines and copy his methods. And he was an old-timer. And his methods of doing business were very old fashioned. Um, some were actually very conventional, but impractical ways. Um, like in his Bombay office, uh, he kept us late behind his desk. And one of the daily tasks of one of his staffers was to write down the number of cans of cream that came into Bombay Central from Gujarat, and the cans that came into Victoria Terminus from Maharashtra. Once he had the figures, peon would turn around in his chair, goji ate, which is thing deeply for a while, and then decide to keep the price of butter steady or increase it by one ana per sea and cream by half an ana. He conducted this exercise every day.
33:45:
Now you can see this even in the movie that Anand, uh, co-produced, which I'll talk about later. And for a really long time, butter was not called as butter just called Paulson. Uh, so it was synonymous with the brand. It's like we don't say noodles, we say Maggie sort of synonymous with the brand. Such was the monopoly that Paulson had back then.
34:09:
And this was right around the cusp of our freedom. And the farmers were being exploited in this monopolistic arrangement of Bombay milk scheme. This was a time when India was struggling for its freedom from British rule. RA's farmers complained about their exploitation to SAP Patel, a prominent leader of the Freedom Movement and deputy prime minister of independent India, who came from Kasad Village just a few kilometers from Anand. Shar Patel was the man who abolished the rule of the Rajas and Rajas overnight and welded the country into one nation.
34:43:
He was the Iron Man of India, a great administrator and patriot. He firmly believed that a revolution in marketing the farmers produce, which would be beneficial to the farmers was necessary. Sadar Patel was convinced that in order to save themselves, the farmers needed to control the procuring processing and marketing of milk. His, his was his vision.
35:03:
Sadar Wabi Patel's vision has always been a source of great inspiration. After fighting for and winning freedom, he recognized that independence was more than a political task. He knew that 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. Shar Patel believed that the way to address these problems was to build rural institutions and institutions of research and teaching that would serve the farmers' economic interests, institutions that would cater the needs of the rural people. And Shar Patel urged the dairy farmers to organize milk cooperatives, which would give them control over the resources they generated. He assigned Muji Desai, his deputy back then to coordinate this effort.
35:50:
Uh, it's very interesting how they selected bu as Patel, um, here this out. There needed to be a chairperson, um, who would volunteer and run this. And so when Raja Desai asked for volunteers to stand as chairperson of the organization, a few people volunteered, but Mji by looked around and spotted bu one das per tail sitting quietly in the gathering. Bu one das was a then a young and committed freedom fighter and the elected vice president of the Kaira District Congress Committee, don't you want to be the chairman? Muji by Muji Bai asked him, no.
36:24:
Sahi replied to
37:21:
I can't overstate how important his in, in influence has been. Once the cooperatives were started to form and, um, Ji Bahai and
37:53:
Predictably problems cropped up. Paulson would discover flies in the milk. He would say it did not smell fresh. He would not give a fair fat test or payments. He tried every trick he could to break the cooperatives. And this is where
38:27:
It sounded very simple, but to remove a monopoly is extremely hard. Shar told farmers, urged them saying that we will have to fight Paulson and if we have to fight, there will be losses that have to be born. The losses will be yours, not mine. But if you're prepared to struggle to bear the losses to fight the Milk Commissioner of Bombay and his department, then I'm prepared to lead you.
38:54:
And because the farmers are fed up, they're being exploited by Paulson diary. They, they had no choice but to team up with Shar Bai Patel and fight. Once they decided they were ready to fight the government, Sahar Baaba Patel sent Raji. They decided to carry this the struggle.
39:12:
This is how it happened. It was Moji the Asai who led this initial farmer's movement against the Bombay milk scheme. He demanded that the Bombay milk scheme accept milk from the farmers' cooperative directly and not merely the milk supplied to it by pulse and diary. As was expected, the demand was rejected.
39:30:
And so he declared that the farmers would go on strike against the government's Bombay milk scheme. This was the famous 15 day milk strike of Chira District during which all the milk that was collected by the farmers was poured on the streets, but not a drop was given to Paulson. Paulson's milk collection came to a grinding halt and the Bombay milk scheme collapsed
40:14:
He is like, look at their leader
40:34:
They are only doomed to failure. And this was what Bu Patel was secretly hoping the Milk Commissioner would give them the benefit of the doubt. And throughout the year leading up to the struggle, he trudged tirelessly, mile after mile from village to village, almost singlehandedly persuading the farmers of Cira district to form cooperative milk societies. At the end of this year, there were five societies which were registered. And byDecember, 19406, 3 1 DA and the dairy farmers registered the RA District Cooperative Milk Producers Union Limited.
41:10:
So very long form, uh, abbreviation, but this is the start of a mole as we know it today. Soon after this strike was successful, India had achieved independence and Sadar Patal became the deputy prime Minister of Free India. Bu Patel went to Delhi to meet him, to inform him about the difficulties that the farmers were still facing. In Anand, there was an acute need to have their own dairy. And Saba Patel and Raj, the Prasad, uh, who was the Minister for agriculture as well, they were able to give a creamery, which was built during World War I, uh, which was, which existed in Anan. It was a very old government research creamery. And it was built in 1914 and fallen into disuse.
42:00:
This was the same creamery that was used to make cheese for the British troops in Mesopotamia, uh, during World War I. And which the National Dairy Research Institute, which was also an anan, had acquired from the government of India on lease. So part of this was given off to the Cooperative Union for a rent of9,000 rupees per year. The challenge was this was a World War I dairy and it was in an awful state. There was just like a boiler when the pressure was built up, would start a steam engine, which would then drive a shaft across the length of the diary, painfully working the ancient mechanism. There were all kinds of police and belts and pumps, all very impractical, antiquated stuff. So this wasn't really useful for the cooperative union, but this is what the government could do back then.
42:49:
And around the cusp of this time is when our hero, the gentleman you and I are studying today, enters, hear this out. And it was, I think a sheer accent of fate. Like he said, what turned out to be a strange pre-planned act of destiny? I had always imagined that I was cut out for bigger and better things for a glamorous, fast-paced life in a big city, a job with a prestigious firm and the pleasures of the luxurious lifestyle that go with it.
43:18:
AAN did not figure anywhere in my scheme of things, but I had to honor the contract with the government of India, which had enabled my higher studies in the us and therefore here I was an aand, a fish out of water. Here's the description of Aand. Back in the day in 1949, AAN had a population of approximately10,000 people. It was the anti-thesis of my life in New York.
43:41:
This is ese speaking by the way, which I had then just left behind. New York was bustling and busy. AAN was dull and sleepy. New York was vibrant and liberal. AAN was excruciatingly unexciting and conservative. It was so conservative that nobody was prepared to rent me a house or even a room
44:01:
I seemed to have all the possible disqualifications. I was an outsider, a malali. In addition, I was a Christian and a non-vegetarian, an outrage for the strictly vegetarian Gujarati community. And to top it all, I was a bachelor
44:42:
From comfortable lodgings in glittering New York to a garage in dreary island, the garage had a large greasy pit in the middle where mechanics must have once stood to tinker with the undersides of cars. But I was an engineer and I could not allow such things to get in the way of basic comfort. I filled up the pit. There were no windows, so I created them. There was no bathroom. So I put up three corrugated sheets and a makeshift bathroom was ready. This is how I started my life at Anand. Nobody gave me anything.
45:13:
And in the long run that did me a lot of good. Again, he's fending for himself. My personal note was his last line. Nobody gave me anything and that did me a lot of good is a pattern throughout his life. And because it was so dreary and Aaron was such a dull place for him, uh, here's what he did. As a way to escape and indulge those days, I would frequently escape to Bombay, stay at the Taj Hotel and live it up for a few days.
45:41:
This was my rest and relaxation time and it was sacrosanct because it was the only thing that kept me going in this godforsaken place. So he was not appointed to the cooperative, but he was appointed to the government research creamery and both of them shared the same campus. The government research creamery where I was supposed to work actually did not conduct any research whatsoever. Our assignment here was to manufacture small quantities of milk powder from buffalo milk.
46:09:
This hardly required any research, but in that typical bureaucratic way, the government had managed to turn it into a production. In reality, not even the first step of the project had been set in motion. When I came to Anan, even the roller dryers were not working due to a minor fault, which took me exactly 10 minutes to set right. It certainly did not need someone with a master's degree in engineering to be able to do that.
46:33:
Once the roller dryers were working produ producing milk powder was hardly achievement. The challenge Korean faced was his supervisor was like a lazy ass. Um, he just didn't bother to work and neither did anybody else in this creamery was willing to work. Once they had this roller working, they ended up producing about five tons worth of milk powder.
46:56:
But then there was no thought of selling it. In fact, vagi started complaining that how difficult it would be to sell this good quality milk powder. And his supervisor immediately tanked him down saying that no, no mis biscuit manufacturer would be happy to buy it from us. He was very skeptical. So this is where one, he would escape to Bombay and get his indulgence.
47:19:
He would fee get the rest and the relaxation, and he would party. Once in on his visit, he decided to just pay a visit to a biscuit manufacturer and he was able to sell those five tons of milk powder in like for like one rupe per pound. There was like an immediate purchase order that the biscuit manufacturer gave him. And with that in his pocket, he returned to Anand and he said it was as simple as that. A little bit of creative thinking and initiative on my part.
47:45:
And the work was accomplished. It made the shearing competence of my colleagues at the research creamery in Anand even more intolerable to me. I could see that they had no interest in doing anything, not even the most elementary of jobs. They employed 20 people to run two small roller dryers when in any other country, 20 such roller dryers were run by one man. Wow.
48:09:
That just shows how inefficient creamery was. Remember, he had a job offer of a thousand rupees a month. So he had joined this creamery at the salary of three 50 rupees a month. But even this he was not okay with because he was not doing any work, he was sitting idle.
48:27:
So for eight months he was just sitting idle at Anand. He was about to give his resignation and just around and just before that he was like, I need to find something to do because this is what anyone with good education would do otherwise. The so-called like good education is worthless. Eight months of sitting around and drawing a salary.
48:46:
Were just not okay for him. This bit just highlights how to hire even when you have nothing working for you and to ama resources to make things happen. Hear this out. It's about hiring, it's about raising funds and it's about sheer doggedness to solve a problem.
49:05:
Under the leadership of BU Patel, the cooperative began operating from the dismal half of the government creamery they had rented. They labored painfully to get the rusty World War I equipment to function. However, the machines would break down at regular intervals. Since I was a foreign returned engineer who worked at the government creamery next door, bu began asking me for expert advice.
49:31:
In any case, I had hardly any work to fill my time at the dairy. And instead of wiling away the odds playing cards with others as idol as myself, I would walk across the cooperative and fix the machines for them. This became a pattern until one day after I had patched up one of the machines for the umpteenth time, totally fed up. I told bu, scrap this dairy with this antiquated equipment.
49:55:
You will never make a success of the business. I can continue to help you to fix it up, but this is no way to run your milk cooperative. Why don't you borrow some money and buy modern dairy plant equipment?
50:13:
But then he realized after speaking to multiple colleagues, there was no other way but to follow Korean's advice. So he went to borrow some money and here's how we borrowed, uh, the40,000 rupees. He went to his brother-in-law to raise the amount of rupees,40,000 for a plate pasteurizer, which Korean had recommended him. His brother-in-law reassured him,
50:44:
I don't need this money so you don't have to worry about it.40,000 rupees in early 1940s was a lot of money. Uh, BUAs a man of integrity paid him back every pesa with interest once the cooperative was in a position to do so. On my next visit to Bombay, BUAs requested me to order the plate pasteurizer on behalf of the cooperative.
51:07:
So when he went to Bombay, uh, I must have been quite a sight, unshaven, shabby and unkempt. Peterson, who was the manager, uh, at l and t from where he had to buy this machinery. Peterson looked at me a little oddly and asked me if I knew how much the machine would cost. I assured him that I did, at which with the typical arrogance of the colonizer, he asked to see the money
51:39:
I added Peterson was obliged to take any order and promised to deliver the plate pressurizer as soon as possible with the job completed. I enjoyed the rest of my holiday before returning to the boredom of my job because he was so restless and because there was no work for him to do and he was not okay trying the three 50 or piece salary, he sent his resignation letter to the secretary, uh, ministry of Agriculture, government of India. And every time he sent it, he pointed out that you are paying me money for no work. This is where bu saw an opportunity. He knew that Korean was resigning. And so he went back to Korean and he said, I hear you are leaving. Um, have you found another job?
52:22:
And Korean told him, no he hasn't. He's going to uh, he was going to Bombay to look for a job and he has through one DA's master stroke. He goes, in that case, why don't you stay here till you get another job? You convinced us to order all this expensive equipment, which is coming in next week, and now you are leaving us in the lurch. None of us here know how to erect all those fancy machines.
52:43:
Why don't you stay here, set up the equipment, get it working, teach our people how to run it, and then go. And bu Andaz was a very difficult man to refuse. In the months that I had known him, I had come to realize that he was an exceptional person of tremendous integrity and totally committed to the cause of the farmers. I considered it an honor to work with him and agreed to stay on for two months on a salary of Rupe 600 a month, two months.
53:08:
I thought it would be in a adequate time to set up the equipment and get the plan to working efficiently. Little did I realize that this two month contract was to be merely the beginning of my lifelong association with bu Andaz and the milk cooperatives of Chira District. Bu Andaz gradually involved me deeper and deeper in the workings of the cooperative. And that is fascinating, especially when you're starting up. You have known, in fact, the whole country is being built from the ground up.
53:39:
53:59:
Tune of fate. Call it what you may. That
54:34:
As Korean was learning, dating, he realized Indian buffaloes have a unique problem, which is that they give twice the milk in winter than in summer. Back in those days, how much ever milk they would produce, they had to send it to Bombay, otherwise it would get spoiled. And so this became a problem, how to accommodate the changing volumes of milk. Now, there was a supply and demand fluctuation between summers and winters.
55:00:
And the milk commissioner of Bombay was completely displeased because he was like, the people of Bombay don't drink one bottle of milk in summer and two bottles in winter. It's your problem, not mine. I cannot take the milk. And and Korean would reply saying, Mr.
55:17:
Krody, who was the milk commissioner, buffaloes give double the milk in winter. I don't know how to plug their rus. I'm afraid you'll have to accept all the milk. Now the challenge was there was no other way to repurpose the milk. Two other in products because Bombay milk scheme would import milk powder from New Zealand and convert it into liquid milk to meet the city's demand. Even despite sending more milk during winters, Bombay milk scheme would still use this milk powder, which was imported from New Zealand and make even more milk. So the supply from Aand was still inadequate to meet the requirements of Bombay.
55:57:
This became a challenge. Korean would confront Kodi saying that, are you the Milk Commission of Bombay or of New Zealand? Why are you importing milk powder from another country instead of taking milk from our own farmers? And this would be a heated argument between both of them and Korean couldn't unravel.
56:18:
What were the incentives for RI in doing this with New Zealand instead of taking the surplus milk from the Cooperative society? And he says, it was around this time that I discovered some of the intriguing benefits of importing. For some it meant a trip abroad for others, inflated invoices and other devices about which the less said the better. Suffice it to say that I was unable to stop the import. I complained to the government of India too.
56:45:
But all my arguments fell on deaf ears. I began to see then that when the government enters business, the citizens of India get cheated. The greatest repercussion of the government entering into business is that instead of safeguarding people from vested interests, they themselves become the vested interest. And this has been a perspective that gets reinforced throughout Korean's career of five decades.
57:14:
The governments change, the bureaucrats change, the politicians change. But this central tenet that the citizens of India get cheated when the governments enters business is seen throughout the book. By 1952, the Chira District Milk Producers Union Limited was into its fifth year of operation from a modest 200 liters a day. In 1948, milk collection had now reached20,000 liters per day. The milk collection area was expanding and dispatches of pasteurized milk from anon to the Bombay Milk scheme by insulated railway vans were increasing with the growing demand for milk in Bombay and the potential to procure milk deeper from the hinterlands. I realized that very soon you'd need a new dairy with enough land to accommodate a rail siding. I knew that as general manager, it was crucial for me to expand my knowledge and hone the skills needed to run a modern dairy. The chance do so fell into my lap most opportunistically.
58:13:
And here's what happens. The same year, two central government ministers, the finance minister and the agriculture minister end up coming to Anand to inaugurate a new institute of agriculture. And the agriculture secretary and Korean have a confrontation that leads to an amazing result. The agriculture secretary congratulates Korean about the work he's been doing and Korean just flips things around and confronts him. I'm very happy that one of the fellows we sent abroad has come back and done something worthwhile.
58:49:
Um, he was referring to the Government of India Scholarship that had financed my graduate work at Michigan State University. I deliberated for a moment and then told him, you took me from a steel plant and sent me abroad. To study dairy engineering when I didn't even know what a cow looked like, was that anywhere to select people for specialized overseas training? I learned nothing of use. I merely had a good time. So don't take credit for what I have done or for the fact that you sent me abroad.
59:22:
Not at all. Uh, I replied, it's very tragic. What should we have done then? Ask the undersecretary. You should have taken a fellow like me now who's worked for three or four years in a daily and has picked up some knowledge and knows what to look for. I said, if you can send me out now I can learn something really worthwhile. It makes sense because now he's an insider. Well, if that's the right thing for you to do, why don't you go somewhere?
59:47:
Sahai the undersecretary said, go How and where is the money? And our conversation ended there. It was probably then that the undersecretary, which is Vishnu Sahai, got the idea of sending me to New Zealand on a senior fellowship under the Colombo plan. My fellowship lasted fromOctober, 1952 toApril, 1953.
60:07:
I spent the first five months in New Zealand, the haven of Dar and another two months in Australia. And the beautiful thing is, even while he was in New Zealand, the professors there realizing that he had studied in United States and had gotten a master's degree. They treated him as an equal and they gave him unparalleled access to their know-How in fact, I think he ended up visiting like a hundred dairies in New Zealand. He says, New Zealand I soon learned had no private dairies. The New Zealand Cooperative Dairy Company managed all dairy plants. Each unit manufactured a specific product.
60:42:
Part of my training obliged me to visit each plant in turn and study its production process. I must have visited a hundred dairy plants. I made it a point to speak to every class of worker, even the truck drivers who transported milk and its byproducts between dairy plants. I learned about heat balance sheets, heat transfers, waste management, and everything that goes into the successful making of milk powder.
61:07:
The most valuable part was that I had to learn about manufacturer of milk powder from cow's milk, even as I would have to come back to India and organize efforts to make milk powder from buffalo's milk. Since most of our milk came from buffaloes, not cows. Just to give you context, back in 1950s, it was considered impossible to make milk powder from buffalo's milk. However, you had actually done it on a small scale in the research creamery, Korean has been a magnificent negotiator and collaborator across countries.
61:44:
Despite going and studying in New Zealand and understanding their dating methods, he would come back and find ways to get both the governments, the Indian government and the New Zealand government to work with each other and help strengthen the cooperatives and the efforts of the farmers. Um, and they realized after a point when Korean was back that they would need a modern dairy. And so he, he sat down and calculated about it would take about 40 LA rupees to build a modern dairy in Anand. When he told this to, he was stunned, and he told that it'll be very difficult to raise such a huge amount. But then Korean played his cards right.
62:25:
He emphasized how important a new dairy would be, and he also used the car that if he won't be building a new dairy, he'll have to leave the job and find something else to do. So bu realizing that he would lose such a valuable professional went into board footing and to figure out the 40 apes. And he said EO was a man of extraordinary ability, leadership and integrity. Yet he recognized that his strengths needed support and had to be complimented by the skills of professionals.
62:54:
He heed and respected my advice as a professional, just as he expected me to he and respect his views. When it came to the cooperative side of business, he knew RA's farmers and how they thought. What is important is that although he was one of RA's most important political leaders, he never interfered with the operations of the cooperative. He supported me and my team helping to ensure that we made our best contribution to the cooperatives success. This is fascinating forethought on the part of T das and very strategically played by Korean to make sure that UND das gets into action mode.
63:32:
So at this point, while UND das was out there figuring out how to raise for LA rupees for the modern dairy, Korean realized you need a technologist to work with him to make this dairy happen. So he relied on Ari Aya, um, another individual who had studied with him in us. He convinced him to come and work, uh, because Aya was not just a dairy man, he was a brilliant dairy technologist as well. When he joined us, I told him that our division of labor would be very simple. I had the gift of the gab.
64:04:
He had the expert knowledge of dairying. I would do the talking. He would do the work. He must have approved this because he stayed with us in AAN for 35 years. This is a classic Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak kind of a relationship that both of them share.
64:18:
One is gonna build and the other is going to sell. This is a powerful combo. It just helps that Bu Patel made sure the lights were on and they were insulated from politicians, bureaucrats, and the government. At this point.
64:32:
There's somebody that's also critical to Korean. Once Shar Waba Patel passed on, his daughter became an urgent supporter of the Cooperative Society. Her name is Man Ben. Uh, she never married. She was always dedicated to the efforts of s by Patel while he was alive. And after that, she carried his legacy. Here's how Korean describes money ban.
64:56:
And this just gives me chills because this is how our freedom fighters were. Money Ban was a woman of tremendous honesty and loyalty. She had dedicated her entire life to her father. She told me that when Shar Patal passed away, she picked up a book and a bag that belonged to him and went to Java La Naru in Delhi. She handed them to Naru, telling him that her father had instructed her that when he died she should give these items to Naru and no one else. The back contained 35 accrues that belonged to the Congress party and the book was the party's book of accounts. Naru took them and thanked her money bin, waited expectantly, hoping he would say something more, but he did not.
65:37:
So she got up and left. It just like makes me respect our freedom fighters like Sal Patel, who made sure every single Rupe was accountable for, I just told you how big an amount for Telac rupees was in that time. And to return 35 ACPE and the Book of Accounts, knowing that there's nothing else that's gonna take care of her. 'cause she wasn't married, she was by herself. And it also shows the side of Jamal Al Naru, where he, he doesn't care to ask how are you going to take care of things?
66:11:
What is next for you? Uh, but just abruptly ends the meeting. This aspect bothered ban, um, until the time that she died. Despite all of this, till her last days, she was supporting the cooperative efforts. It's fascinating how a lot of landmark milestone moments in the cooperatives are celebrated or inaugurated or launched on the birth date of
66:59:
But look at his dedication. He's getting married to Molly. It's a it's an arranged marriage. Here's how he juggles work and marriage.
67:06:
The ceremony took place at 10:00 AM and at 4:00 PM the same day we were on the train for Bombay that we had to meet Bu and Aya, the technologist who were on their way to catch their flight out of the country. After that, we pulled the train from Bombay, which reached Aand at four 30 in the morning. The wedding had been such a whirlwind affair that I had no time to inform my colleagues at Anand. As a result, there was nobody at the station to receive my bride and me a quiet homecoming. My house was literally across the road from the station. And so Molly and I picked up our bags and walked home. Home was a modest house with a bedroom, a drawing room, a kitchen, and a guest room, which was then occupied by an official visitor from Denmark.
67:49:
And this is how he, he started his family life in Ireland. Another bit about Molly, which I believe has been a pillar of support to Korean as I read through this, because his house became the defacto place for hosting V vvi ips whenever they would visit on, and it would be very often. And so Molly had to take care of them, provide them regular meals, uh, take care of their house guests as house guests, and look after them. And so it, it would've been unbelievably hard for somebody who is, again, like it was, it was hard for Korean to adjust in a Gujarati vegetarian environment.
68:28:
But for Molly to adjust and take care of these guests, uh, a new environment would've been really hard. Korean has such founder mentality and Molly has been supportive of him through and through. Just makes me respect how important a role and critical role women played in the life of Korean and founders in general. Here's what Korean confesses I could not have been an easy person to live with during that period. And I still recall how on occasions during our little disagreements, I would tell Molly that I should never have married because at least then she would not be occupying space in my house, which was so desperately needed to host more official visitors to the cooperative. But Molly, with her poised and serene manner and an enviable inner strength put up with my impatient and idiosyncratic ways.
69:19:
Wow. One person that came as a support to Molly and Korean was money, ban money being became almost part of a family, a surrogate mother to us. One of the first bits of advice she gave Molly was, you must always remember that you are Korean's second wife. His first wife is the dairy. Don't ever forget that. And don't make yourself miserable by being jealous and never, never try to snatch your husband away from his first wife.
70:05:
And here's what Korean realized were the incentives for New Zealand. Um, in saying that, uh, I was to learn yet another valuable but sad lesson that the technical advice of experts is all too often dictated by the economic interest of the advanced countries and not by the needs 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 powder. We showed them how it could be done as a Korean wanted to utilize the supply demand mismatch between winter and summer and utilize the excess milk to make milk powder out of it and to reduce the amount of imports from New Zealand. And so came an opportunity, actually a challenge that GH was able to convert into an opportunity, use the excess milk and convert it into milk powder. But there lay a hurdle, and this is where his ingenuity comes through so beautifully, both Dalia and GH geese, they went to Bombay to meet the minister in charge of daring to pitch to them that this could be possible. However, during the meeting, they couldn't come to a conclusive decision and they had to break for lunch.
71:29:
And instead of going for lunch, they instead went to the l and t office, which was also in Mumbai. And they asked them to give them a powder plant, which can be used to demonstrate that milk powder can be made from buffalo milk. And they negotiated their way with the manager showing him that, Hey, if this works out, there is a big order waiting for you. So the manager worked over time to figure out a way to get a powder plant ready by the next morning and available for them. And once they had that locked in, they went back to the minister and invited them the next morning to show them, to demonstrate to them that milk powder was possible from Buffalo milk. The minister agreed to do so reluctantly. He, he, here's what I love about the deity.
72:20:
There was still a big hurdle to solve. Remember the incentives that Kudi, who had always been a obstacle maker for ese, uh, were inclined towards importing milk powder. And he tried everything he could to stop from this happening. Um, and I just want bring that out clearly because these are the challenges that will come about and how GH was able to just outsmart him
72:54:
The l and d uh, manager was able to arrange the powder plant. The next day morning, GH asked Kudi to get skimmed buffalo milk and of course invited the, um, the Minister of daring as well to this meeting. And at this laboratory, which was in ri, both Alaya and Varghese, they proceeded to make buffalo milk into, uh, milk powder. But Karri was very skeptical.
73:22:
Like I told you, the incentives were aligned towards him to import. So he asked, what about its solubility? And GH was prepared for this question. He simply took that milk powder and added it in a beaker of distilled water, and it dissolved completely.
73:37:
And then Chloe asked, Hey, but what about the taste? And Verghese offered this reconstituted milk, uh, which is in the beaker to the minister to drink. And the minister found it absolutely fine, and he firmly felt that, okay, now we can produce milk powder from buffalo milk. And UNICEF will support RA to set up a powder plant that he really needed. But Kdi wasn't done.
74:05:
He continued to interrupt and thank goodness for the minister's impatience that he interrupted him again and said, no, that's it.
74:31:
The interesting underlining fact of this is, uh, which GH and Diya both knew but did not reveal was it was only much later that Diya confided to me that it was a blessing that Dy did not seem to know too much about the technical aspect of dating. He explained that making milk powder from skimmed milk buffalo is not very different from making powder out of skimmed cow milk. The problem can occur in the condensing unit where uns skimmed buffalo milk may curle, but since the condensing unit operation was not part of our demonstration in Bombay, Curie was none the wiser. And that has how they had very specifically bracketed the demonstration. Of course, this problem was something that Varghese and team will eventually solve when they implement this scheme, but it's wise to see how he was able to bracket just this, just enough that it proves his point in the best way possible. Here's another highlight that I have. We learned another useful lesson with adequate support.
75:34:
Confrontation at the right time pays off. UNICEF agreed and the Chira Cooperative Union got its l and t powdered plant. Well, the thing was, um, UNICEF want was onboard after the government gave a green signal after they proved that you could make milk powder from buffalo milk, but they were very clear about giving the machinery which was needed of another company, which ese protested. And he got the l and t um, NE powder plant, which was actually ideal for the powder plant. Uh, again, to realize that sometimes even in charity, there may be incentives that are misaligned.
76:17:
And if you can confront it confidently, you will get the adequate support. The inauguration was done on 31st ofOctober, 1955. And a lot of things were not fully there yet because it was a very tight deadline. Varghese had alternatives arranged to demonstrate again that the power plant and everything is working fine to the chief guests who was um, JHA Lru and in Gandhi, like a classic engineer, has always had a backup option and tried to make it as foolproof as possible. Well, he did not have to use the backup plan. When the inauguration happened for this plant, the machinery worked just fine. However, something that really touched me was when the Prime Minister was leaving the premises, Moji Bai, who was also part of the entourage, said to him, Mr.
77:09:
Korean has not just built and commissioned this dairy in record time, but this is the first milk powder plant in the world that makes milk powder from buffalo milk. It was one of those moments that I have treasured all my life. Joha turned to me, embraced me, and said, Korean, I'm so glad that our country has people like you, people who will go ahead and achieve even that which seems unachievable. Damn, I'm having goosebumps. We can never forget, however, that the Kaya District Cooperative Milk Producers Union could not have built this new dairy without generous help from others.
77:48:
UNICEF gifted US daily machinery worth eight LAC rupees. Remember, this is during the time when Jha Al was the Prime Minister. And in return for this, we had to distribute 12 LAC rupees worth of milk or milk powder free to children and expectant mothers. That was the deal that, um, where geese was able to crack with unicef.
78:08:
Here, here's more to it. The government of New Zealand donated equipment worth three la rupees under the Colombo plan, as well as the services of one of their best engineers to help install the equipment. And of course, the government of Bombay gave a loan of rupees 10 lacks the rest of the money. The dairy ultimately cost about 48 Lac rupees. Remember, it was about a estimated at 40 lac rupees and it ended up finally costing 48 LAC rupees exceeding by Rupees eight lack.
78:35:
The budgeted sum came from the Chira cooperatives own funds. It was the largest dairy in all of Asia. Shar dream of the farmers owning their dairy had finally been realized. Wow, gives me chills.
78:53:
Um, I don't know why I delayed recording this episode so much, but what a powerful story. Here's another highlight, and here's my note to that. Highlight that this is such a powerful example of responding instead of reacting, hear this out 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 mustache 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 cream dripping.
79:34:
There was cream dripping from his mouth onto his chin, and he faltered, no, no Sahi. I'm not drinking. I'm not drinking. I just turned around and walked away.
79:43:
But the very next day I told the manager that every worker had to be given half a liter 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. What a classic way he could have reprimanded. Uh, complained fired the person, but he instead saw the deeper problem that was evident and you responded to it by institutionalizing it across the space.
80:14:
This is a story of how the name Amul came about. It was during this period that my wife's brother-in-law came Philippe, who ran his own company. Philip Tea and Coffee urged me to start thinking seriously about the finr points of marketing, Kaira cooperatives products over many and involved discussion at his house in South Bombay. I was initiated into the min minutia of running a business details such as branding, distribution, and the need to retain and advertising agency. I returned to Aaron and spoke to my colleagues about all this. And to begin with, we tried to find an appropriate brand name.
80:50:
Several heads were put together. And during an intense brainstorming session, a chemist in our laboratory suggested Why not Amul A MUL? That is, it seemed to me just what we were looking for in terms of portraying the image and the ideals behind our cooperative venture. The word came from the Sanskrit word, AMIA, which means priceless and denoted and symbolized the pride of SWSI production.
81:13:
It was also short catching. It could rather effectively be used as an acronym for a Milk Union Limited. Certainly easier on the tongue than RA district Cooperative Milk Producers, union Limited
81:39:
As he progressed in working in building a mul, his belief in cooperative societies became stronger and stronger. And this highlight really comes across that I was getting involved deeper and deeper into the working of the cooperative. In the course of reading and studying what cooperatives were and what they stood for, I became convinced that the cooperative structure is tailor made for the dairy industry. It was a little wonder then that in the us the capital of capitalism, 85% of the dairy industry was cooperative in New Zealand, Denmark and Holland, a hundred percent. And in earth.
82:15:
While West Germany, 95% of the dairy industry was cooperative. So with Amul, we had proved the point that it was applicable in India too. The more I worked with Kaira farmers and the more I saw the hard life they and their families led, the more committed I became to their cause. As the chief executive of their 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 do.
82:52:
He further goes on in the next highlight. I've written this as the note, a deeper look into a cooperative. And this is how a cooperative works. From the very beginning, I was convinced that a cooperative two must be a business enterprise and it has to run as a business enterprise. If a cooperative forgets this, it'll fail.
83:13:
It'll collapse. I ensure from the start, therefore that Amul always operated as a business enterprise, but at all times, keeping in mind that the business was to maximize the price paid for the milk, not in order to maximize the dividend. As in the case in the private sector, we did this by manufacturing value added products, which allowed us to give farmers a higher milk price every year from liquid milk, we went into the production of milk powder and very soon into butter. Until then, the manufacturer of butter had been almost totally monopolized by Polson.
83:47:
In fact, I heard from doing my research that butter was called Pulson. Like you wouldn't go to a shop and say, give me butter. You'd say Give me Polson. That is how monopolized Pulson was in the Mumbai area.
84:00:
Back to the highlight. Very soon with modern technology at our disposal, we broke into the butter market and soon amul butter became a roaring success. Sadly, for Paulson, however, Amul triumph in butter presaged their doom. Here's a highlight that just made me go, whoa. So far we see that Varghese has a lot of rivals, whether it's in the government, it's in the bureaucracy, or even in the market.
84:27:
It's like a pivotal point that at least for me, and as I've highlighted it, Ava, who's the assistant of PE said, um, you have no idea what this man Korean has done here. You must go and see the cooperative dairy. His curiosity aroused, peon came to visit us. I took him around the plant myself and explained everything to him.
84:50:
He was simply stunned. Then he did something that really touched me. He put both his arms around me and said, in all sincerity, may kuda bless you for all you have done here. Peon was indeed a very fine man.
85:04:
He never did his business in a bad or malicious way. There was always a very healthy competition between Paulson and Amul. And we had cordial relations throughout. We had agreed that we would never force him out, but his business died out naturally when it could not withstand the competition from a mole. This makes me go, wow, um, even having respect and admi admiration for your competitors and expressing it. Very thoughtful. So there was a big butter war that happened between Paulson and Amon, which is given in very detailed manner in the book, which I recommend you to read.
85:46:
Um, but I wanna just jump right at the end of it. Uh, where Vagi says There was no stopping the cooperative once it won the butter war against Paulson. The butter war is worth really reading. It's a lot of details I don't to get into. I feel like it becomes an audio book and not a podcast.
86:07:
So I'll pause myself, I'll restrain myself. Korean has always been critical of the bureaucracy and the government, and it shines through in this highlight in India, all along, development as a process was always affected from the top down style of functioning naturally because along with our freedom, we had inherited a bureaucracy which was designed by the British to rule not to serve. The British way of doing things had always been to get things done through a government department. And after independence, we Indians merely continued this system. Unfortunately, we forgot that the biggest asset of India is its people. Any sensible government must learn to unleash the energy of its people and get them to perform instead of trying to get a bureaucracy to perform. And, and here's a note that I wrote to it.
87:01:
India's biggest assets are its people. I love that line. India's biggest assets are its people. And this really connects with the past episode on Ki Biani where for him it's like for the mass, for the mass, everything has to be for the biggest possible chunk of the masses that could be addressed.
87:22:
And here's a highlight where he goes deeper into it. 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 AAN has always been let the people's energy be unleashed.
87:37:
Now, when he talks about it's not designed to be unleashed, let me pull that highlight out in many ways. Rajiv Gandhi's famous statement about only 15 PE reaching the bottom when a hundred PE are released on the top said it all, the solution can only line creating democratic structures which people themselves command instead of the bureaucracy. The place for the IAS officer is in the secretary at and not in the field. The IAS officer is basically an Ira ra, he's transferred at regular intervals and it is almost impossible for him to show commitment when he knows he's going to be transferred in a short span of time. I have never understood how, for instance, the agriculture secretary can be a person who does not know about agriculture. Somebody who passed some competitive exam 35 years ago is today suddenly plays in this post when until yesterday, he was perhaps the law secretary and the day before that he was a defense secretary. What a strange system this is of administering the country. I'm convinced that ias in its present form will have to be abolished sooner or later.
88:43:
There is no other solution. If we depend as we have too long dependent on bureaucracies and politicians and not on our people to deliver the goods, then there is very little that we will achieve as a nation. The bureaucrats and politicians will only become stronger. It'll do well.
89:01:
To keep in mind that the principal enemy of Aand was always the milk commissioner and the milk departments of government far more than any paulson or private traders. That's a very bold statement to make in a published document. Just goes on to say how much animosity he had towards bureaucracy and how dysfunctional bureaucracy was back then. There's a fantastic story about Nestle and natives that I want to share with you. So in 1956, uh, he gets a rather delicate assignment from the Ministry of Industries, uh, government of India, where they want ese to go to Switzerland, uh, at the invitation of Nestle, but to figure out what the hell they're doing in India because under the excuse of producing condensed milk, they were importing milk powder, but also sugar and tin plates for the cans. So ese goes to Switzerland and gets greeted by one of the MDs who's Kreer, that's his name, Kreer. So he gets greeted by Kreer and some other officers and, and the discussion becomes pretty heated.
90:14:
And, and maybe I'll just read this out for you. I told them that my government had given them a license to set up a plant in India so that they would produce condensed milk from Indian milk, not from imported ingredients. The managing director, which is Reba, told me that it was not possible to produce condensed milk from buffalo milk, which was available in India. I said to him, if you don't know how to make it come to me, I will teach you because I believe we can make it out of buffalo milk. I know it is more complicated than making it from cow's milk and there are problems, but they are not insurmountable problems. So argh assured Rieber and his entire Nestle team that come to India set up a plant and we will make condensed milk from Buffalo milk. Criber had his own reservations.
91:02:
He wanted to completely own the plant, which wasn't allowed back then because the government had a limit of 49% ownership only for a foreign entity. Korean figured out a way for Nestle to enter India like they could set up Nestle India. And then there's Nestle Ali Manana, which is the headquarters in Switzerland. Um, Nestle Ali Manana could own 49% and 51% could be owned by Nestle India. So in a way, it's completely owned by Nestle and, um, Korean paved out a way for them to enter India. And so Krier agreed to set up a plant in India. He could bring in any experts to facilitate this within the country.
91:41:
But here's what the government of India secretly hoped that in five years, Indians would be trained for the purpose of making condensed milk from buffalo milk. And the experts that Krier would bring in could be replaced. And once Korean expressed this to Krier, here's what Krier replied. K creeper's response to this was that the production of condensed milk was an extremely delicate procedure, and they could not leave it to the natives to make at this. Korean lost his temper.
92:13:
He caught on his feet, thumbed the table loudly and said, please remember that you're speaking to a damned native. If you're suggesting that even after five years of training, the natives are not fit to occupy any position of authority. Nestle, you are insulting my country. My country knows how to do without you. And he stormed out of the meeting which any self-respecting Indian would have the would would do.
92:40:
So when he returned back to India, he communicated with the minister who had sent him that this is what had happened. So the solution they came with was to ban the import of condensed milk and Amul will figure out a way to make condensed milk. Well, the moment they did this, Nestle Director Krier had to come to India. It's so beautiful. I'll maybe just read it out for you. Some weeks later, I received a phone call from Man Sha, who was the minister, uh, who sent Korean on this mission, uh, in Delhi, Korean.
93:10:
Do you remember this company called Nestle? He asked. I told him that I did. Well, he said they're here and they want to see me. They have already met my officers and it appears that they now want to set up a plant in India.
93:22:
I remember all the things you told me. So I've decided to tell them that I will not see them unless they produce a letter of introduction from you. No doubt they will come to see you. And now it is up to you Korean to decide whether Amul can meet all of India's requirements in condensed milk or whether Nestle can be given room to play any role. If you give that letter of introduction, I will see them. If you don't give it, I will not see them and they will go away. It is your decision. Wow.
93:51:
Look at the trust the ministers have on ese Korean. The Nestle team arrived in an to see me. There were four executives, and among them was creeper. As soon as they entered my room, I said, before we sit down to our discussions, I think you should go to our dairy. Look at our condensed milk plant, then we will talk. They did, as I had suggested.
94:11:
When they entered my room again, I had my opening shot ready. Well, Mr. Krier, I said, what do you think of the natives? Now, Krier turned red in the face with the grace to sound humble. He said, sir, I have come here to apologize to you for a rudeness when you visited us. I apologize on behalf of Nestle Ana and on my own behalf, will you please accept our apologies.
94:36:
We want to participate in India's daily development, and we will do it only according to the rules you may lay down. So Korean, of course, gave the letter of introduction, which subsequently allowed Nestle to set up a plant in Moga. And here's what Korean knew from the outset, which he says, I knew that once they gained entry into our markets, they would do exactly as they pleased. A multinational never plays by the rules in somebody else's country. And this is one of the many reasons why our own economic policies needed to be looked at Again later on in this chapter, he ends it perfectly, which I think is a matter of pride for every damn Indian listening to this right now, it just makes me just like room take
95:40:
Um, natives for the win. That's what I've written as a note, but it is definitely possible to discipline foreign capital and foreigners. And so-called experts, uh, across the world in India by Indian methods. We move forward when there is an emergency crisis in the country. In 1962 when there is a, uh, there were clouds of war against China and the government needed support. Uh, the government, uh, needed about 2007 50 tons of milk powder. And here's what a senior bureaucrat from the Prime Minister's office asked him, what can the government do for you?
96:21:
And Vagi says, what do you mean? And then he said, loans, grants, anything you want to, of course, to make this happen. And Vagi said, Mr. Shiva Raman, you said, there is an emergency and if Amul uses this emergency to squeeze money out of the government, then it is an unworthy organization. I want nothing from that day onwards. Shiva Raman was an ally that just gives me chills. My goodness, what a guy.
96:48:
What values? And here's where he uses the government bureaucracy in the best way possible for himself and to deliver on the promises that's possible. Like on his way back to Anand, after having this meeting with the Prime Minister's office, he stops by at the secretary, uh, of agriculture of the Gujarat government and tells him, I have made a commitment. And that commitment is on behalf of the Gujarat government. And that's how he wins. Um, complete support from the Gujarat government.
97:20:
And they make this happen. Most of AOL's milk powder ends up getting redirected to the war efforts, and the local supply reduces drastically. And this is where Paulson ends up increasing the rates and Korean retaliates by getting the Gura government to reinforce that you cannot increase the prices from last years based on your production and saves the day for the consumer and the farmer, and still has an upper hand with Amul. Amazing, uh, worth reading the book for this story. So the story of Amul really is not just the story of garnering profits for the farmers. They had a lot of second order and third order consequences as well.
98:08:
The farmer has a couple of acres of land, sometimes less, which he looks after, and his wife looks after their one or two buffaloes. She invests a lot of time and energy in caring for the cat, and therefore, for all practical purposes, those are her animals. With the dairy business picking up in Chira, her income through milk soon became equal to her husband's income through his land. And that led to a different kind of equation between them. In many ways, the milk collection at the village societies transformed the very social fabric of those communities because there's a single vessel and irrespective of your cast creed and background and social social status, you are in a single line and you're putting your milk in a single vessel that completely shifted the social fabrics of a lot of villages. And it comes across so beautifully in the film that Aand farmers produced like, oh, oh, lemme tell about, oh, the Q thing is right here.
99:11:
So let me just read it out for you from the very beginning. The Village Cooperative Societies insisted that the Q for Milk collection would be formed on a strictly first come first serve basis. Imagine the situation where five and a half black farmers members stand in line at nine 60 Village Milk collection centers across the district irrespective of sex, religion, and caste. What does it do to a high caste Brahman to stand behind the ian because he came after him. What does it do to the Ian to stand in front of the Brahman because he came earlier? Is it only an orderly milk collection?
99:45:
Is it not a blow to the caste system? What does it do to both of them to watch their milk flow into the same can in another situation, a villager whose buffalo has run dry buys the milk from the center that has been collected from both the Ian and the Brahman. Do these experiences not break down caste prejudices? Of course, we were never so naive as to believe that the caste system would be eradicated overnight. It is unfortunately much too strongly and deeply embedded in the Indian system. But what the process certainly did was to begin chipping away at such abhorrent biases and some new practices such as a Q system, regardless of caste hierarchy were accepted because of the milk collection and payment system, which we put in place through the cooperatives in Anand. My heart is so warmed right now just to reading this.
100:35:
And here's the next highlight. Very early in the cooperative history, we realized that a team of dedicated veterinarians was whited to the project. Soon one of Kra union's biggest strengths was this group of veterinarians who visited every village once in 15 days and treated all sick animals without charge. Take the case of dystopia where a pregnant buffalo cannot carve because the uterus is twisted. Every villager who owned a buffalo knew that this was almost always fatal for the animal. There was a time in our villages when all that the villagers could do was to commiserate with the woman who owned the buffalo, in a sense, go and just console her that nothing can be done. Now through telephones, they send for the cooperatives veterinarian their veterinarian. Day or night, Monday or Sunday, the veterinarian gets there within hours of being called, he sees the problem immediately and he rolls up his Steve and gets to work. He lies behind the buffalo, puts his hand into the vagina, he rolls one way and has the buffalo roll the other way, and he successfully brings the calf out.
101:39:
And here's a second order consequence. This efficiency shown by our veterinarians led the villages to question the inefficiency of medical facilities provided to them. Therefore, the cooperative union thought of beginning healthcare programs for the villagers, especially for women and children. And the
102:00:
Here's, here's a beautiful line that I just spotted while I just moving ahead. It was certainly not only about milk. What then was the Kaira cooperative? It was certainly not only about milk, it was very soon becoming an instrument of social and economic change in our rural system.
102:16:
It was evolving into a program that involved our farmers in their own development. True development is not development of a 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.
102:50:
Oh wow, what a statement. 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. Amul demonstrated without a doubt that the biggest asset of India is its people.
103:08:
Over five decades ago, I was compelled to come to Anand. What began as bonded servitude turned out to be five decades of reward and satisfaction. The only credit I can claim is that I had the good sense to remain in Anan in spite of opportunities that came my way to go to Delhi or other places. I chose to remain in AAN as an employee of farmers all my life. It was the wisest decision I have ever taken. And here's the highlight.
103:38:
I've written an employee of the farmer. It's what a true definition of his role. And more importantly, this makes me realize of another quote from Warren Buffet and Charlie Munger, which is, once you find an idea that is good, stay the ground, don't get excited and go looking for another idea, stick with it. Here's a quote, which is directly in line with what I just shared with you.
104:03:
I opted to remain an employee of farmers all my life. Not because I could not get a good job in the city of Bombay or any other city anywhere else. It was only because I felt that I had the best job that I could ever get. Nor did I do it out of any great nobility of character. I did it because I realized I had a job, which gave me the greatest pleasure, the greatest satisfaction. The idea of working for a large number of farmers translated itself into the concept of working for social good. I soon realized that money is not the only satisfaction that one can seek, that there are several other forms of satisfaction.
104:41:
And all of these are available to me at an, there is such an evolved way to look at your work and the impact it makes s Korean wherever you are. While ESE was busy working as the employee of farmers, his personal life was getting haywired because he was finding so little or no time. He had a daughter and money ban. I remember money ban who has, who's been like a foster mother for VA's family. One day she takes him to task here. This, this is so hilarious.
105:15:
This is what Bunny Ban says. Do you know that I was known as one of the three witches of Delhi and Varese Korean inquires, which of the other two money? Ben, um, Kumar Am and Fatima, uh, she replied, and do you know how I became a witch? No money, Ben. Um, he said, being very intrigued.
105:35:
Hear this out. My father was always very busy fighting for the independence of India money. Ben began explaining he had no time for me. He was always busy.
105:46:
And in our traditional Gujarati families, the father cannot even hug or cuddle their daughters. My mother died very early and although my father loved me very much, he could never show it. So I was brought up without any love and I never got married. When you are brought up without any love like I had been, you become a witch. Do you want your daughter to become a witch? No money.
106:09:
Ben. I said in some order, in that case, get home by six o'clock she ordered me. Mah has been waiting here for you for a long time. Eight hours for your daily, eight heart for your family, and eight heart for sleep.
106:22:
If you don't follow this, your daughter is bound to become a witch.
106:37:
He got resistance everywhere. He tried to take the anum, paton or the Amul model like he was called by the chief minister, um, of Maharashtra to set up and create Anan in Maharashtra. And he seemed more than agreeable and willing to do it. So he, so the chief minister puts him in touch with the agriculture minister, and the minister in turn arranged a meeting with the milk commissioner. And so Vagi and the milk commissioner are sitting down and discussing how Anan works, how a mo works, and here's what the milk commissioner says. So according to you, the dairy should be owned by the farmers. Then what should I own? You will dismantle my department.
107:18:
I know what you have done in Gujarat. And there is no milk commissioner there. There is not even a milk department there.
107:27:
There is no milk commissioner or milk department in Gujarat, but there is milk in Gujarat
108:24:
He approached state governments after state governments to try to impress that milk cooperatives is the way forward for organizing the sector. And pretty much all of them had the same response. Um, that, well, geese outlandish ideas would've worked in ra, but they would not work in their state. So finally, Varghese realized that it was not possible to do what the prime minister wished, which is to create aans across the country. To create aans in the country would prove to be extremely difficult only because the bureaucracy would not permit it. Here's where his fundamental belief gets reinforced.
109:04:
Um, and he concludes that. If by now my intermittent interactions with the government had revealed to me one truth, it was that the work of government should only be to govern the government ought not to get into businesses. The government's rules and regulations were certainly not meant to run dairies. They were meant to administer the country. And that is why every time the government tried to run something similar, it faltered like the deli milk scheme, Calcutta milk scheme, Bombay milk scheme. They turned out to be utter disasters.
109:36:
This is what Shas 3G, Alba Shaji, who was the prime minister when he was discussing this, understood. And that is why there was a National Dairy Development Board created in Anand itself. And well, it really tried to do it and across the country and didn't happen at that time, uh, during chassis G'S time, of course, eventually, now that we have hindsight, we have milk cooperatives across the country and it's the norm. Amul is everywhere available. Uh, but back then, during Chassis's time, this was not the case.
110:06:
Operation Flood or, uh, the billion liter idea. There's a beautiful set of words here. India's quest for food, security and milk. And this, I don't know, the coincidences of a lot of turning points happened to come and conjecture 31st ofOctober, 1968, which was of course Saba Patel's birth anniversary.
110:29:
And his birthplace is also very close to Anand. So this marked the launch of the important project, which was Operation Flood. He played a very critical role in early, uh, in early to late 1940s in creating the milk cooperative in Ireland. And he has inspired farmers, almost, um, insulated through and through GH in the initial incubation time from the government, bureaucracy and a lot of local politics and, uh, dominant players. So his vision was what that, that has led on. And, and like some 20 years later, the success of that cooperative, which
111:34:
Why? Because in 1950 to 51 per capita consumption of milk in India was 1 24 grams per day. And by 1970, this figure had dropped 207 grams per day, probably one of the lowest in the world, and certainly well below the minimum recommended nutritional standards. And because of these facts, the government really lapped up the operation flood. And the proposal that ese Korean and the Amul team had made was approved and in a way in which the cooperative method could be scaled to a national level. So for the operation flood, they calculated that the cost of doing this 1 billion liter plan would be about six 50 crows.
112:20:
This is still early 1970s that you're talking about, which is humongous amount of money. However, uh, what geese being an opportunist through and through, he observed a very interesting phenomena in the international dairy market. So here's what happened In the late 1960s, there was a glut of milk products in the developed world in the sense that they had overproduced a lot of milk products and the market wasn't supporting them, um, regionally. So they had, because milk products perish, they had a very tight shelf life with an oversupply of products, and they did not know what to do with it. And that is where Korean saw an opportunity to capture six 50 crows of funding for operation flood.
113:09:
The plan was to use donated milk products from overseas. So he wanted to take over the entire, um, overproduction, uh, internationally as a donation into the country and and to facilitate protection of high yielding cattle resettlement of city kept cattle, and to obtain a commanding share of the market for the liquid milk schemes in four major Indian cities. This was a project operation flood, which very soon came to be referred as the 1 billion liter idea. So at one, at one side, there was the EEC, which is European economic community, which had grown mountains of milk, powder, and lakes of butter, oil, like how it's described.
113:51:
And that had a potential problem, which is if you directly pump it into India, it could completely cripple the dairy industry. And they were trying to look for a solution because their regional demand was not sufficient. It was already the surplus was too big and these products don't age well. So, so it was just a matter of time where this could be captured, brought in India in a way in which it would facilitate the local Indians as an aid to help India's starving millions. In doing so, what would happen is if all of this surplus would be given to India as an aid and just pumped into the country, then it would really disrupt the entire aspirations of a lot of farmers and villages because they wouldn't be able to match the price of free. And this is where there was an opportunity. If the government accepted the aid as it shortly would and put it to consumption by poor people or children, it would thereby stimulate a demand without making any attempt to fulfill that demand with internal production thereafter.
114:56:
How could our farmers ever hope to compete with donated or concessional milk and butter oil sold to satisfy our urban consumers in every crisis here, this how this is like the ascend in every crisis. If you look carefully, you'll spot an opportunity. My insistence on finding and seizing that opportunity has often been a source of annoyance for many of my colleagues, because it means that unlike most people, I never try to sidestep a crisis. Rather, the more monstrous the crisis, the more I'm tempted to rush at it, grasp it by the hos, and maneuver it until it gives me what I want. He got together, his colleagues at Amul and figured out a way to convince the European leaders to donate all the excess commodities that they had produced, but not just to meet the urban demand.
115:46:
Instead, here's what was their pitch. We plan to convince them that they should gift the commodities to the NDDB, which is National Dairy Development Board, which would sell them at prices comparable to our farmers prices for reconstitution to milk, and then for sale in our metros, again, at prices comparable to a farmer's prices. We would u thus utilize the donated commodities to build a market for quality milk in our cities. So they hustle around for a while, go back and forth with the government, both state level and national level, and finally get the operation flood approved. And all it required was to forward one single file from the government to Rome, which took a lot of back and forth and tussle. But finally it happened. We got deep in operation flood once the proposal went to Rome, and a lot of other countries also wanted to capitalize on this oversupply as aids.
116:41:
But here's the pitch that really shook me apart. Imagine scaling your entire statewide work to the whole country, and you require six 50 crows. This is very critical for your fund and for the country. And you go to a meeting in Rome, you spot this opportunity that a lot of others have also spotted it, and they have also sent their representatives to pitch for this aid.
117:04:
And you go, without preparing the speech, hear this out. 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 thoughts leads me to quickly put those notes aside and speak extemporaneously.
117:26:
I had not prepared a written presentation for this gathering in room either yet. I was so completely immersed in the concept of operation flood and so convinced that I delivered an intensely impassioned speech completely off the cuff, but straight from the heart. I must have given a pretty good performance, and my arguments must have been convincing for I received an astounding response. The impact of my presentation was tangible for almost all those present came up to congratulate me. Two responses in particular delighted me. The head of the Australian delegation shook my hand warmly and said, I came here determined to oppose your project.
118:04:
But after you spoke, how could I? And I felt another sense of victory when a Pakistani delegate came to me and said, Dr. Kian, my brief was very simple, oppose everything that India proposes. But after you spoke, I simply could not do that. So please understand that my silence is my support. That gives me chills.