Verghese Kurien

Hello! My name is Verghese Kurien. I was born a long, long time ago, on November 26th, 1921, in a city called Calicut in India. When I was a boy, I loved to read books and learn all about science and engineering. I was always very curious and wanted to understand how everything worked, from tiny toys to big machines. My love for learning was so big that when I grew up, it took me all the way to America to go to school and study even more!

After I finished my studies, I returned to India. In the year 1949, I arrived in a small town called Anand to work at a dairy owned by the government. When I got there, I saw something that made me feel sad. The local dairy farmers worked so hard every single day. They woke up early to take care of their cows and collect fresh milk. But when they sold their milk, they were not paid a fair price for all their hard work. I knew this was not right. I had planned to leave Anand soon, but I looked at the farmers and decided I had to stay and help them.

Then, I had a wonderful idea! I thought, what if all the farmers worked together like a big team? If they joined together, they could own the dairy themselves. That way, they could make sure everyone was treated fairly and got the right amount of money for their milk. We started a group called a cooperative, which you might know by its famous brand name, Amul. It was a simple idea, but it was very powerful and changed so many lives. We even discovered how to make milk powder from buffalo milk, which was something no one else in the whole world had ever done before!

Our idea worked so well that we wanted to share it with the entire country. So, in 1970, we started a huge project called Operation Flood. You can picture it like a big, wonderful wave of milk flowing all across India! This special project helped millions of farmers earn a good living for their families. It also made sure that children all over India had plenty of healthy milk to drink and grow strong. Because I helped with this important work, people started calling me 'The Milkman of India.' That name always made me smile.

I lived a long and happy life helping farmers. I lived to be 90 years old. Today, when you see Amul butter or cheese in the store, you can remember my story and how a group of farmers working together made a very big difference. My story shows that when we help each other and work as a team, we can solve even the biggest problems and make the world a better place.