Remembering Kurien: The Man Who Changed Countless Lives

Tushaar Shah , Emeritus Professor, Institute of Rural Management, Anand

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In 1977, I was ready to leave NDDB.

I had joined as a young economist. Within two weeks, I had seen a senior officer publicly dressed down by the CEO. In another division, five young officers were doing sit-ups for arriving late.

IIMA had taught me Douglas McGregor’s Theory X and Theory Y. Theory X assumes people need to be controlled; Theory Y assumes they are capable and self-driven.

NDDB seemed firmly Theory X.

Then, on the last day of our induction, I met Verghese Kurien.

He was 55, Chairman of NDDB and Amul, and at the peak of his powers.

Twelve of us sat before him for a debriefing. For the next 45 minutes, none of us spoke. And none of us wanted to.

Dr Kurien took us from his “garage days” and Tribhuvandas Patel persuading him to make Anand his home, to building Amul brick by brick.

Then came the bigger story: why Amul pattern cooperatives—not government milk schemes or multinational companies—were the way to transform Indian dairying.

He explained why NDDB built 18 Amuls—and why India needed 200 more.

I had heard CK Prahlad, IIMA’s strategy guru say, “Strategy depends on the context.” It sounded trite.

Kurien made those words come alive.

“People will tell you there are many ways to skin a cat. But here in NDDB, we have only one—the Amul pattern.”, he said.

My doubts disappeared.

I stayed. Anand became my home.

During Operation Flood II planning, I worked in Kurien’s office. He would sometimes call me in simply to tell hilarious stories about his encounters with the powerful like Nehru, Kosygin, Morarji and Shastriji.

“There is a clear division of labour. In Amul days, Dalaya did the work, and I did all the talking.”

And economists? He hated us.

For a presidential address of economists’ annual conference, he made me write: “I hate economists because they are never where action is but descend later only to find fault. May their tribe perish.”

He got a standing ovation!

But my most memorable moment came at IRMA’s first convocation presided over by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

I was interpreting his welcome speech into Gujarati for tens of thousands of farmers in Amul lawns.

At one point, Kurien said: “For 40 years I have been working as an employee of farmers.”

I translated: “40 વર્ષોથી હું ખેડૂતોના સેવક તરીકે કામ કરી રહ્યો છું.”

He interrupted, tersely:

“नहीं, नहीं, मैं सेवक नहीं हूँ…”

I froze and fumbled for the right word.

Indiraji, sitting nearby, helpfully supplied the word:

“कर्मचारी.”

“हाँ, कर्मचारी, कर्मचारी—सेवक नहीं!”

The sea of farmers burst out laughing heartily.

I wanted the ground to swallow me.

Looking back, what made Kurien extraordinary was his ability to make people believe in a purpose—and then make them work for it.

Some people influence your career. A very few change the course of your life.

Vergese Kurien was one of them.