Newsmaker: Verghese Kurien

The farmers' CEO

Verghese Kurien

Very often, people have seen Verghese Kurien, 83, the legendary pioneer of India's dairy movement and the architect of Operation Flood, embark on the same flight as his estranged protege Amrita Patel. They have also seen Patel, chairperson of the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB), go up to Kurien and engage him in small talk.

That's why when Kurien, chairman of the Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF), and Patel are embroiled in a yet another free-for-all spat, it hits the headlines. This time though, it is another institution that Kurien had toiled passionately to establish "" the Institute of Rural Management, Anand (IRMA).

Early this week, the Gujarat High Court reinstated IRMA director Prathap Reddy, who was given the boot by IRMA's lifetime chairman Kurien, for alleged "impropriety".

Although Kurien has time till May 1 to file another petition, there is little doubt that he will give up without a fight. His critics claim, that there isn't much love lost between Reddy and the IRMA Board, but what they are against is the way that Kurien sacked Reddy, without any consensus.

Those close to Kurien claim that this is another fallout of the ongoing war with Patel. It all began two years ago, when Patel, who succeeded Kurien as the NDDB head in 1998, decided to strike joint ventures with other milk cooperatives in the country to market their products.

Fearing, that this was tantamount to a sell out, Kurien resisted it as only he could. He felt that it was against the very charter put down by NDDB.

Set up in 1965 as an apex body for dairy development in India, entering the marketing arena would mean even more government control for the state cooperatives. "The chairmen in most other co-operatives is a bureaucrat. That's why I am not in politics and not even from Gujarat. That's why I am the chairman," he had said.

Hailing from Calicut, Kerala, Kurien today speaks Gujarati like a local.

While many believed that Kurien was resisting any competition to Amul, others rallied around him for standing up to the powers that be. He had the skills and the gumption to manage the environment, reveals a bureaucrat who has had many run ins with the "milkman".

Today, thanks to Kurien who vociferously kept politicians at bay, (GCMMF) is the only co-operative to be run solely by farmers. The state governments are stakeholders in other cooperatives.

"For Kurien, what matters are principles and values and he will go to any length to uphold them," says a manager who has worked with him for over two decades.

For a mechanical engineer who had a short stint at Tisco as a graduate trainee, Kurien went to the US to study dairy engineering on a government scholarship. On his return, he was assigned to a public sector creamery in Anand, as part of his bond. And for someone who wanted to rush back to the capital as soon as his one-year term was over, today Kurien is an Anand native.

Adds another manager who has worked with him, "Unlike many businessmen who say one thing and do another, Kurien always stands by his convictions."

And his principles have meant always working zealously for the upliftment of the farmers. That multinationals are anathema to Kurien is a well known fact. Ironically, in the 1950s, Kurien went to the Nestle headquarters in Switzerland to ask for technology knowhow to kickstart the dairy projects in India

"But he is as British as they come, discussing wine and cheese with you. He is as frugal as he is sophisticated," reveals an admirer.

In 1998, after 33 years, when he was stepping down as chairman of NDDB, the government was all set to replace him with a bureaucrat. But Kurien is believed to have fought tooth-and-nail to push Patel, his long time managing director, into his job.

Ironically, two years ago, when Patel's term was up, Kurien is believed to have lobbied heavily against her extension.

Even so, both his successors "" Patel and B M Vyas, managing director of GCMMF, have lived in Kurien's shadow for very long. Both espouse a lot of Kurienspeak, but are increasingly ascertaining their individuality, some of which isn't going down well with the mentor, say insiders.

So today, when most octogenarians have hung up their boots, Kurien is still going strong. There are many who believe that having withdrawn from NDDB, Kurien should let his successor run the show without any interference. "He should learn to let go," says a manager who has since moved to a multinational.

Kurien continues to put in four to five hours daily in his spartan office, based in the sylvan surroundings of the IRMA campus. Managers say that he is up by 4 am, to scrutinise all the papers that were placed on his desk the previous evening.

He can keep you enthralled, as his eyes light up when he is talking about "my farmers who are like my family". And what do the farmers he represents think of him? All their homes display a framed photograph of Kurien.