Success of Cooperatives: The Milk Cooperatives and Operation Flood

The most successful experiment in cooperation in India is found in milk cooperative sector. This experiment that started in Kaira (also called Kheda) District of Gujrat eventually led to the ‘White Revolution’ that spread all over India. Peasants of Kaira, Gujarat which supplied milk to Bombay felt cheated by the milk traders and then they met Sardar Patel who was from the same region to redress their grievances. At the initiative of Patel & Morarji Desai, the farmers organized themselves into a cooperative union; pressurize the Bombay government with "Milk Strike" to buy milk directly from their Union. These farmers registered themselves in Anand, Gujarat in Dec, 1946.

Gandhian freedom fighter Tribhuvandas K.Patel, convinced the farmers to form milk cooperatives, later became its chairman and remained so for 25 years. Dr. Verghese Kurien was CEO of this Union from 1950 to 1973. Meanwhile in 1955, the Union chose "Amul" as the name for its range of products, which competed with MNC companies of dairy products like Glaxo and Nestle.

The "Anand Pattern" of Kaira cooperative union gradually spread to other districts in Gujarat in 1974. The Gujarat cooperative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd. Anand was formed as an apex organisation of the unions in the district to look after marketing, According to one estimate, due to the activities of cooperative, 48% of the income of rural households came from dairying.

The Kaira cooperative success made the movements spread to the rest of the country inevitable. In the 1964, the then Prime MinisterShastri wrote to all the Chief Ministers of the country to set up cooperative dairies on the "Anand Pattern".To perform this task NDDB (National Dairy Development Board) was created in 1965–Mr. Verghese Kurien was at its helm as its honorary chairman.