Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel

The British government had given monopoly rights to Polson dairy to collect milk from Anand and supply it to Bombay city. Polson dairy was exploiting the milk producers; the prices of milk were arbitrarily determined. Amul the co-operative registered on 1 December 1946 as a response to the exploitation of marginal milk producers by traders or agents of the only existing dairy, the Polson dairy.


Angered by the unfair trade practices, the farmers of Kaira approached Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel under the leadership of local farmer leader Tribhuvandas K. Patel. Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel advised them to form a cooperative and supply milk directly to the Bombay Milk Scheme instead of Polson (who did the same but gave them low prices).

Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel sent Morarji Desai to organize the farmers. In 1946, the milk farmers of the area went on a strike which led to the setting up of the cooperative to collect and process milk. Milk collection was decentralized, as most producers were marginal farmers who could deliver, at most, 1–2 litres of milk per day. Cooperatives were formed for each village, too.

The cooperative was further developed and managed by Dr.Verghese Kurien with H.M. Dalaya. Dalaya's innovation of making skim milk powder from buffalo milk (for the first time in the world) and a little later, with Kurien's help, making it on a commercial scale, led to the first modern dairy of the cooperative at Anand, which would compete against established players in the market.

The Amul Model is a three-tier cooperative structure. This structure consists of a dairy cooperative society at the village level affiliated to a milk union at the district level which in turn is federated into a milk federation at the state level. Milk collection is done at the village dairy society, milk procurement and processing at the District Milk Union and milk and milk products marketing at the state milk federation. The structure was evolved at Amul in Gujarat and thereafter replicated all over the country under the Operation Flood programme. It is known as the 'Amul Model' or 'Anand Pattern' of dairy cooperatives.

That is the real development; no magic. That development sustain and continue to grow, even after those visionaries gone. This is all about empowerment. Empowering others to reach greater heights.

Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel empowered the milk producers from the village. Sardar empowered Tribhuvandas Patel. Sardar delegated responsibility to Morarji Desai. Then Verghese Kurian developed Amul.

Not just the end; the means has to be the right one. The current development of Gujarat cannot sustain for ever. Once Narendra Modi leaves Ahmedabad, Gujarat will go back to its original state of chaos and confusion.

Narendra Modi does not empower anyone. Narendra Modi adopted the totalitarian model using the modern technology. Modi's e-government is not about empowerment; it is totalitarian.

The best model and effective democracy is to empower the city, village governments. Not a centralized police state. Italy, Germany, Russia and China demonstrated a great development under totalitarian regime. That is what Gujarat achieved now.