Milkman from Anand

Four decades ago, the then president of India, Dr Rajendra Prasad, laid the foundation stone of a modern dairy, the dairy of the Kaira District Cooperative Milk Producers' Union. The inspira tion for the dairy, which came into existence after a struggle against great odds, was provided by Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and Morarji Desai. Tribhuvandas Patel, with his dedication and integrity, was the power behind the farmers' organisation.

Varghese Kurien, then hardly 33, gave the professional management skills and necessary thrust to the cooperative. Over the years the cooperative pros pered. Later, Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri was to give further impetus to the dairy cooperatives by inviting Dr Kurien to replicate what came to be known as the Anand Pattern, after the township of Anand, in Gujarat.

The fascinating saga of the success of first AMUL and then Operation Flood, which was to make India a major milk producing country, has been told by M.V. Kamath in all its complexity. It is an exciting piece of work and a story that has never been told before, rich in anecdotes and revelations of how India's White Revolution became possible.