In 2014, all the dairy majors of the country, along with the Indian Dairy Association, resolved to observe Kurien’s birthday, November 26, as National Milk Day. Verghese Kurien is known as the ‘Father of the White Revolution’ in India.
Milk is an important source of calcium, protein and other nutrients and benefits a child’s health. While the country has an abundance of milk today, the situation was quite different around the mid-20th century.
Here are 5 lesser-known facts about ‘Father of the White Revolution’ Verghese Kurien
- Verghese Kurien was born into a well-to-do Syrian Christian family in Kozhikode, Kerala, on November 26, 1921.
- Kurien was only 14-years-old when he graduated in Science from Loyola College in 1940 and obtained an Engineering degree from Guindy College of Engineering in Chennai. Later, as destiny would have it, he studied Dairy Engineering, although he was unhappy with it at the time.
- A keen military cadet and boxer at college, Kurien initially wanted to join the army as an engineer.
- Patel bought new machinery, increasing the capacity of the cooperative from 200 liters of milk in 1948 to 20,000 liters in 1952, and the Anand model of cooperative started growing.
- The word ‘Amul’ was suggested in 1957 by a chemist at the laboratory. It comes from a Sanskrit word “Amoolya” which means priceless. It also stood as an acronym for Anand Milk Union Limited.
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