White Revolution in India - Dairy Development and Impact

Verghese Kurien led Operation Flood (White Revolution) in 1970 to boost India’s dairy industry and make it self-sufficient. The White Revolution aimed to make milk affordable and profitable for farmers, improving their living standards and creating job opportunities. Through the National Dairy Development Board and Anand Milk Union Limited (AMUL), cooperatives were established nationwide to purchase milk from farmers at fair prices and provide them with equipment and technology at low cost. This effort led to a significant increase in milk production in India, making it a major player in the global dairy market.

Key features of the White Revolution

• Adoption of new methods for animal husbandry.
• Alteration of the composition of feed ingredients in different proportions.

What is White Revolution: Meaning and Background

In the early 1960s, the government decided to help farmers raise healthier cows to make more milk by introducing the Intensive Cattle Development Programme. This was the beginning of the White Revolution. The term White Revolution follows the idea of the Green Revolution, which was started to increase the production of cereals and pulses in the country. Back then, India didn’t have enough milk for everyone, so Prime Minister Indira Gandhi saw this as a chance to fix things. The White Revolution officially began on October 2 1970 in Motihari, Bihar. One hundred cows were brought in from New Zealand to help poor families get milk.

A new program called Operation Flood was launched in 1970 to make the White Revolution even better. The idea was to create a system across India that would help move milk from farms to people’s homes faster and easier. This way, farmers would always have a good income.

Thanks to the White Revolution, India no longer needed to buy milk powder from other countries. Also, farms started using better equipment and machinery to make milk production cleaner and more efficient. It also introduced cross-breeding and genetics picking that can further improve the quality and quantity of milk produced.

By selling milk directly, India went from making just 22,000 tons of milk powder in 1980 to a whopping 140,000 tons by 1989! The same thing happened with other dairy products. The new dairies built during Operation Flood made it easier to get milk to people, resulting in a boom in the production and consumption of milk in the country.

White Revolution in India – Objectives

Producers’ cooperative unions oversaw these facilities to make it easier for milk producers who reside far from the chilling centers to get their milk collected. Thus, there are no longer any middlemen. The cooperative society’s primary goal was to : 

1. Increase in milk production and milk products.
2. Establish a system to effectively transport and store milk at the chilling plants for better distribution.
3. Provide fair prices for consumers.
4. Provide high-quality food for the cattle.
5. Offer top-notch buffalo and cow breeds, medical care, and veterinary facilities.

Father of White Revolution

Dr. Verghese Kurien was the founding father of the White Revolution and the architect of the revolution. Born on March 28, 1921, he belonged to a farming family in the region of Kozhencherry, Kerala. He founded the National Dairy Development Board and became the institution’s Chairman from 1965 to 2008. He was the Executive Chairman of the institute from 2009 to 2012.

Verghese Kurien was a social entrepreneur. He was the brains behind the idea of Operation Flood, also dubbed the “billion-liter idea”. He, along with Dr Tribhuvan Das Patel, initiated the operation in the village of Anand in Gujarat state. They promoted the idea of a cooperative society with AMUL.

He was also the founder of Amul Cooperative Union Limited (AMUL), established in 1965. Currently, the brand has expanded into a business of ₹50,000 crore that connects more than 12 million milk producers and farmers in the state of Gujarat. It is because of his sheer efforts that milk production and dairy are the largest employment sector in rural India, employing almost one-third of the rural population.

3.5 crore dairy farmers were established by the revolution’s end and connected to approximately 74,000 dairy cooperatives. AMUL also helped these farmers gain the financial resources to get the latest technologies that could help them increase their production.

As a direct result of the White Revolution, thousands of milk corporations have been established nationwide.

At present, the dairy industry is one of India’s best self-sustaining industries. India’s dairy products are in high demand across the world. Our milk producers regularly supply milk and its adjacent products to countries such as the USA and Europe.

Importance of the White Revolution In India

• As a result of Operation Flood, the dairy producers were given control over the resources they had generated. This allowed them to manage their growth effectively.
• A “National Milk Grid” was established to link milk producers with the nation’s customers in over 700 cities and municipalities.
• Improved rural residents’ standards of living and aided in the development of the rural economy.
• The White Revolution contributed to a decrease in trader and merchant malpractice. It also made India the world’s greatest producer of milk and milk products and contributed to the eradication of poverty.
• The revolution ensured customer pleasure by reducing seasonal and regional price fluctuations. It also made sure that a significant portion of the money that consumers pay goes to the producers.

White Revolution’s Commencement and Timeline

The White Revolution in India was divided into three phases, each with its own well-defined goal. These phases, along with their goals, are explained in detail below.

Efforts were made to ensure that this industry is not seasonal; it provides a network for farmers to sell milk and its products year-round.

Phase 1:

Phase 1 was kickstarted in 1970, and continued till 1980. This phase was mainly funded through the money donated by the European Economic Community (EEC) through the World Food Program (WFP). Before the start of the phase, certain goals were set up for the Program. Those goals were:

• Improve the organized dairy sector in metropolitan cities Mumbai (then Bombay), Kolkata (then Calcutta), Chennai (then Madras), and Delhi through marketing.
• An increase in producers’ share in the milk market.
• The speeding up of the development of dairy animals in rural areas to increase both production and procurement.

By the end of this phase, Operation Flood linked 18 of India’s premier milk sheds with consumers in India’s major metropolitan cities: Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, and Chennai, establishing mother dairies in the four metros.

Phase 2:

Phase 2 of Operation Flood went on from 1981 to 1985. During this phase, various advancements happened:

• The milk sheds were increased from 18 to 136, thereby exponentially increasing milk production.
• AMUL and the National Dairy Development Board established milk outlets in 290 cities nationwide.
• To establish a system that could connect the milk farmers and streamline the process of collection of milk, 4,250,000 milk producers and farmers were divided into 43,000 local cooperatives.
• These cooperatives were selling milk locally, thereby ensuring that local farmers’ produce could reach the local market.

Phase 3:

This was the final phase of the Operation Flood. Started in 1985 and carried out till 1996, the phase’s goals were to put the finishing touches to the program’s efforts till now. The goal was also to provide the farmers with the required infrastructure and machinery that could help them increase the milk produced.

• Operation Flood’s Phase 3 concluded India’s dairy co-operative movement, adding 30,000 new dairy co-operatives to the 43,000 existing co-operatives organized during Phase 2.
• Phase 3 also increased emphasis on research and development in animal health and nutrition.
• The number of milk sheds peaked at 173 in 1988–89, with the numbers of female members and female Dairy cooperative societies increasing significantly.

White Revolution’s Association and Impact

One of the largest impacts of the White Revolution in India was that it limited India’s dependency on other countries’ exports of milk products. It transformed the country into the largest producer and exporter of milk and its adjacent products. After the revolution, cow breeding practices were adapted to get better yearly yields. It also impacted families in rural countries by encouraging them to take on dairy farming as a viable business.

In the years 1950-1951, India used to produce 17 million tonnes of milk. That has now increased to over 112 million tonnes since 2009-2010. Also, during the White Revolution, the milk available in the country amounted to 125 grams per person. Now, it has increased to 263 grams, even after the explosion in the country’s population.

After Operation Flood, various research centers were also established to further the scientific development of the field. The most significant of these centers are at Anand, Mehsana, and Palanpur. Along with these places, regional centers were set up at Erode, Jalandhar, and Siliguri. Currently, with the efforts of the White Revolution, 14 million farmers and dairy producers across the country are connected through 1,35,439 dairy cooperatives set up at the village level.

Along with an increase in the development of the industry, the government also started an insurance scheme for dairy farmers. In February 2006, 100 districts across the country were chosen to implement the first stage of the Livestock Insurance Scheme. Under the scheme, farmers will be protected from the financial losses that can be incurred at the sudden death of their livestock. Health initiatives were also started to ensure livestock protection against diseases.

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White Revolution’s Relation to Dairy Development

The White Revolution in India was effective as it changed the way farmers were producing and distributing milk. The farmers also needed support to get better livestock and land. The equipment also needed to be updated and installed from scratch.

White Revolution’s cooperative model made it possible to incur the expenses required to develop the industry. The model also made finding and setting up markets that sold the dairy products produced easier.

With the introduction of cross-breeding fostered better genetics in the livestock, gaining better milk production. Also, the cloak production of milk in villages could now meet the milk requirements of the country.

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