Farewell, Milkman

In his departure as throughout his career as the milkman of India8217;, Kurien acted with the supreme confidence of a man who knows he is right. Many see this quality as arrogance. Perhaps it is but because Kurien has been demonstrably right more often than he has been wrong, he has managed to prevail up to the very end.

At this distance from the beginning of the cooperative movement, it is easy to forget the obstacles and pitfalls and to see only the grand achievements. But it is well to remember that the social, political, economic and even the physical environment at alltimes placed severe constraints on the development of cooperatives.

Under someone less sure of himself and of his ideas and methods, it is unlikely Anand would have become what it is, would spawn 175 other cooperatives in 22 states and turn India into the world8217;s largest milk producer.

Looking back over the Kurien decades, it is safe to say that the marriage of the cooperative movement to modern marketing was the most significant factor in the success of dairies in India. It meant the introduction of new methods and the opening up of new opportunities. It led to higher levels of organisation at every stage of growth.

As professional managers became essential to the successful functioning of the NDDB, the umbilical cord that tied cooperatives to the government had to be severed. Whereas the pattern of development in sugar cooperatives in Maharashtra, for example, bound them ever more tightly to party-political machines, the milk cooperatives thrived as the distance between government and the NDDBincreased. Kurien was nothing if not combative when it came to autonomy in decision-making.

As he asked recently with only slight exaggeration, how is it a cooperative if you put in a government official as the managing director? 8220;Cooperatives have never had a chance in India. Amul was an exception.8221;

Today, the NDDB8217;s virtual monopoly in collection, processing and marketing dairy produce is beginning to be challenged by the private sector, including multinationals. Kurien was seen to oppose liberalisation of the private sector but denies the charge. He says he is arguing instead for liberating the cooperative sector from the dead hand of politicians and bureaucrats. In that aim he is absolutely right. Successive governments have taken far too long to free cooperatives and vested interests continue to obstruct reform. One hopes Kurien will continue his battles from the outside as fiercely as he did from within.