Saturday 29 June 2013

The Story of Dr.Verghese Kurien


It was on 13th May 1949, a young engineer who had just completed his Masters Degree in Dairy Engineering arrived at Anand to serve the bond period against the government scholarship for his education. His name was Mr. Verghese Kurien, later to be known to the whole world as Dr. Verghese Kurien. At the start of it all, he served there just to complete his required period and was ready to leave Amul after that but he was persuaded to stay back at Amul by Mr. Tribhuvandas Patel – the founder of KDCMPUL. He along with Mr. Patel started developing co-operatives in the Kheda district. The role of co-operatives was to procure the milk from the farmers and to pay the farmers their appropriate amount according to the quality of milk. Further detailed operation cycle of the co-operatives is explained in the following section. Mr. Kurien however wanted to give KDCMPUL a unique name which could be easily pronounced by all and which could also help in growth of the union. Suggestions were asked from various employees and farmers for an appropriate name. Soon, a quality control supervisor recommended the name “Amulya” which is derived from a Sanskrit word meaning priceless and implies unmatchable excellence. The name was modified to “Amul” to make the union also a part of this name and hence brand AMUL- Anand Milk Union Limited, came into existence.
Verghese married Molly and they had one daughter Nirmala Kurien and a grandson, Siddharth.He was an atheist.Verghese Kurien died on 9 September 2012 after a brief spell of illness in Nadiad, near Anand in Gujarat, India. He was 90. His wife Molly died on 14 December 2012 in Mumbai after a brief illness.

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