Vashi Amar Rahe: A Tribute to a Cooperative Leader Who Shunned the Spotlight

By Dr Mukund Naware

The News That Was Hard to Accept

Narendra Vashi ( January 8, 1948 – 29 July, 2026)

Narendra Vashi passed away on 29 July 2026. The news was difficult to believe. Once confirmed, like many others, I felt a deep sorrow. Although Vashi is no longer with us, I hope the spirit with which he lived continues to inspire men and women working in rural development in general, and the dairy cooperative sector in particular.

Early Days at NDDB

Vashi began his career at the National Dairy Development Board as one of a 16-member batch of apprentices recruited in February 1972. The purpose of selecting these young men was to train them and post them in milksheds under Operation Flood to organise primary dairy societies on the Amul model. The larger plan was to form District Milk Unions that would eventually own and operate the feeder balancing dairies, ensuring year-round milk supply to the metro dairies.

To achieve this, NDDB leadership deliberately chose young minds full of zeal and dedication. The average age of our batch was just 24.
I was one of them, from Maharashtra. Others included Malhotra, Rathi, Belawadi, P.K. Sinha, Makrandi and several more.

Looking back on those days of training, I still feel the powerful impression left by our Chairman, Dr Verghese Kurien. By then he had already become a national and international figure. In our very first meeting with him, we heard the thrilling story of Amul’s formation from the man himself.

Later we were trained at Amul Dairy under Dr Chothani, who called himself a sewak of the kisan and made us work in the same spirit. During training we were sent to the Rohtak milkshed to work under him day and night. Vashi and I were posted together at Kalanaur Kalan. That rigorous training laid a solid foundation for Vashi’s career and character. Working for farmers became his life’s mission, wherever he went.

The Jalgaon Years

In the following year, after becoming an Executive, Vashi was sent to the Alwar dairy project in Rajasthan as a member of a team under Dr SP Mittal. His colleagues from those days still speak of the zeal with which he worked.

Late in 1973, Dr Chothani joined NDDB as Deputy Director and reorganised field operations. He decided to send a full-fledged Spearhead Team to the Jalgaon milkshed and offered me the role of Team Leader. He made it clear that it was a huge challenge and asked whether I would accept it. I said yes, but with one condition: that I be given at least one more person from our apprentice batch. He agreed, and the person he chose was none other than Vashi.

What followed was a period of about three years of intense work in Jalgaon. Vashi stayed on the project for more than two of those years.

Our time in Jalgaon was very much like the life depicted in the film Manthan. Team members stayed in hired premises in taluka towns. At its peak our NDDB team numbered 17, supported by ten supervisors we had recruited locally. As Team Leader, my first and most trusted colleague was Vashi.

He was disciplined to the core—always well-dressed, clothes neatly pressed, boots shining. He polished them himself every day with Cherry Blossom. He was highly punctual and carried a copy of The Times of India every morning.
We organised dairy societies on the Amul model with the same discipline. In every village there was a survey, a general meeting, staff training, supply of milk collection and testing equipment, a documentary film show, and a farmers’ visit to Amul. We selected hygienic collection points, installed centrifuge machines for fat testing, and shifted milk collection from the roadside to clean, covered premises. A team member would then stay for ten days to begin procurement properly. From that point onwards, every farmer was paid according to the quality of milk supplied.

Regular supervision was essential. During my training I had read a Gujarati book on malpractices in dairy societies titled Dudh Mandalio-ma Thati Uchapaton ane Tena Atkavo (“ दूध मंडळीओमां थती उचापतों अने तेना अटकावो”).

Without constant checks the new system would not succeed. Here Vashi was invaluable. He had a sharp eye for anything wrong. When we visited a society together, I would talk with the office-bearers while Vashi went through the registers and quietly spotted the gaps. I would remain calm; Vashi would get angry and take the society employee to task. If things were really bad, we even refused the cup of tea offered to us. This combined approach steadily improved the societies. By the time Vashi left the project, we had organised more than 200 primary societies. The result was visible: in its first year of operation, Jalgaon dairy received over 90,000 litres of milk per day.

A New Path – Building Vasudhara

Even while working for NDDB, Vashi had decided to strike out independently. He applied to the Gujarat Dairy Development Corporation, which was recruiting key personnel for areas not covered under Operation Flood. They selected him promptly. In early 1976 he joined them and was posted in Valsad district to promote a milk union. There he created history.
I was told—and I tend to believe—that in a meeting with the NDDB leadership he was advised that Valsad was not a viable area for a dairy project of that size. Had it been viable, NDDB would have included it under Operation Flood. Vashi disagreed and accepted the challenge.

What Vashi achieved there is now well known. It took nearly fifty years, but it proved that perseverance and patience matter more than rigid five- or seven-year plans. I am certain he followed the same disciplined working style he had shown in Jalgaon. To help him, he also brought two outstanding extension workers from the Jalgaon team—Rasik Patel and Cheha Rabari. Later, another former NDDB officer, V.G. Patil, joined the Valsad Union. Together these men placed the Valsad Milk Union on a sound footing—the institution we know today as Vasudhara.

Later Meetings

After Vashi left NDDB I met him only a few times.

The first occasion was towards the end of 1986. I was travelling from Mumbai to Anand with a few officers of the Maharashtra Dairy Federation to attend the Dairy Industry Conference. As we were to pass Chikhali, the headquarters of the Valsad Milk Union, I decided to stop and invite Vashi to travel with us. He was not in the office; he had gone to a village meeting. We found him there, addressing farmers. He came out briefly, happy to see me, but showed no interest in the conference. “There will only be useless talk,” he said. He preferred to spend those days talking to his farmers. I understood at once that he was still the same Vashi I had known ten years earlier. He invited us to visit Vasudhara on our return journey, and we did. He arranged our stay and I met his wife (a lawyer) and their daughters. After that, I never met his family again. Vasudhara had become his first family.

The following year Vashi telephoned me and the next day came to Mahanand Dairy. He met the Managing Director of the State Dairy Federation with a proposal for a temporary milk supply arrangement between Vasudhara and Mahanand. His intention was clear: such an arrangement would give him breathing space to concentrate on organising primary societies. It was a sound, futuristic idea, but interstate issues and bureaucratic indifference prevented any positive outcome. That visit did, however, give us a chance to sit at my residence and talk about the old days in Jalgaon, when my son Nikhil was just a year old and Vashi was very fond of him.

Our third and last meeting was in 1998 at the Jalgaon Milk Union, where I was then Managing Director. The Union was under rehabilitation and needed higher turnover. One possibility was to offer drying capacity to any organisation that had surplus milk. Vashi had surplus milk but limited processing capacity, so he came to discuss an arrangement.

Our team was ready with detailed calculations; some factors were negotiable. Vashi, however, was remarkably liberal. He was prepared to accept whatever we proposed. At one point he said openly that if Jalgaon Milk Union earned a few paise per kilogram of powder, it would mean Valsad farmers had paid that amount to Jalgaon farmers. Our entire team was stunned. If that was his approach, there was hardly any need for negotiation. Yet he had come because he genuinely wanted an arrangement that helped both sides.

Vashi was as liberal as a farmer who accepts the pluses and minuses of life as they come. I call him magnanimous. That remains my last lasting impression of him.

A Leader Who Shunned the Spotlight

Vashi kept himself away from the limelight—a rare quality. He did not publish papers. I never saw him in seminars or conferences. He did not chair technical sessions or deliver speeches. He was almost never seen at Dairy Industry Conferences. The only exception I know of was the 2020 DIC, when he was given the prestigious Dr Verghese Kurien Award—an honour he richly deserved.

Valsad Milk Union and Vasudhara Dairy are Vashi’s creations.

Today Vasudhara operates with five dairy plants and several chilling centres, collect over 11 lakh litres of milk daily, and have an annual turnover exceeding ₹ 3200 crore. Valsad Union has 940 all women milk producers cooperatives societies organised under a special drive.

These figures matter to social scientists. For Vashi they were simply the measure of a mission accomplished.

In his passing we have lost a cooperative leader of rare excellence. I also learnt that Chehabhai Rabari, his trusted colleague, passed away six months earlier, when he saw Vashi’s health declining.

My condolences to their families.

For our rural projects to succeed, we need more people like Vashi.

Let that spirit live forever.

Search

Search