The story begins with the frustration of Indian farmers, particularly those in Gujarat, who were facing exploitation by milk contractors and the Polson company, which had a monopoly on the dairy market. The farmers were forced to sell their milk at a low price, and the company would then sell it at a much higher price, reaping huge profits.
Tribhuvandas Patel, a leader inspired by Mahatma Gandhi, decided to take action. He formed the Kaira District Co-operative Milk Producers' Union Limited in 1946, with the help of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. The cooperative was designed to be a farmer-owned and farmer-controlled organization, with a one-person, one-vote system.
Dr. Verghese Kurien, a young engineer, joined the cooperative in 1949 and became its Executive Head in 1950. He worked tirelessly to improve the cooperative's operations and introduced new technologies, including pasteurization and milk powder production.
The cooperative, later renamed Amul, faced stiff competition from Polson, but eventually, Amul's policies and products gained popularity. Amul's success led to the formation of the National Dairy Development Board and the launch of the Operation Flood program, which transformed India into a milk-surplus country.
Today, Amul is a ₹460 billion company, with over 3.6 million farmers as its members. The cooperative has been instrumental in uplifting hundreds of thousands of farmers from poverty and has become a model for rural development.
The story of Amul has been immortalized in the film "Manthan," which was India's official entry to the Oscars in 1976. The film was crowdfunded by 500,000 farmers, each contributing ₹2.
The success of Amul has inspired many, and its model has been replicated in other parts of India. However, the narrator laments that the cooperative model has not been successfully replicated in other sectors, leading to the exploitation of farmers in other industries, such as tomato and onion farming.
Here are the key facts extracted from the text:
1. Farmers in India, including those in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Gujarat, and Haryana, have been dumping their tomatoes on the road due to frustration over low prices.
2. Tomatoes are perishable and cannot be stored for long, spoiling easily.
3. Most farmers in India do not have access to cold storage facilities.
4. Farmers are often quoted non-negotiable prices for their produce, which can be as low as ₹2-₹3 per kg, or even ₹0.25 per kg in some cases.
5. The problem is not limited to tomatoes, but also affects other crops such as onions, garlic, sugarcane, wheat, and corn.
6. In 1945, dairy farmers in Gujarat were facing similar problems with milk contractors.
7. The dairy farmers, led by Tribhuvandas Patel, decided to start their own cooperative, Kaira District Co-operative Milk Producers' Union Limited.
8. The cooperative was formally registered in December 1946.
9. Dr. Verghese Kurien, a dairy engineer, joined the cooperative in 1949 and became its Executive Head in 1950.
10. The cooperative started producing milk powder in 1955, using a spray drier invented by Dr. Harichand Megha Dalay.
11. The brand name "Amul" was suggested by a chemist in 1957, derived from the Sanskrit word "Amulya," meaning "priceless."
12. Amul started producing butter in 1957, but it was initially unsuccessful due to its different taste and color compared to Polson Butter.
13. Amul added salt and coloring agents to its butter to compete with Polson, and the strategy proved successful.
14. The Amul girl, created in 1966, is the world's longest-running outdoor advertising campaign.
15. The Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation was formed in 1973, and Kaira Union agreed to give its brand name "Amul" to the federation.
16. Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri continued Pandit Nehru's vision to protect the milk cooperatives from bigger companies.
17. The National Dairy Development Board was founded in Anand in 1964, and the Operation Flood program was launched in 1969-70.
18. India became self-sufficient in milk production by the 1970s and surpassed the USA as the world's largest milk-producing country by 1998.
19. The success of Amul has uplifted hundreds of thousands of farmers from poverty and created India's largest self-sustainable rural employment program.
20. The cooperatives in India have not been able to spread out to other sectors as successfully as Amul.