The Amul Spirit

Anand is known across India as the “Milk Capital” — the birthplace of Amul and the cradle of the White Revolution, one of the great success stories of independent India. It was here, from 1946, that dairy farmers organised into a cooperative — the Kaira District Co-operative Milk Producers’ Union — to free themselves from exploitative middlemen. Under the visionary leadership of Dr Verghese Kurien, the “Father of the White Revolution,” the model grew into Amul (Anand Milk Union Limited) and, through Operation Flood, transformed India into the world’s largest producer of milk. The cooperative put the power — and the profits — directly into the hands of millions of small farmers, many of them women. The “Amul spirit” is this idea of farmer-owned cooperation, and Anand celebrates it: the Amul Dairy plant and its museum, and the nearby IRMA (Institute of Rural Management) and NDDB, tell the story of how a small town changed rural India. The famous “Amul Girl” advertising mascot is a beloved national icon. For the visitor, understanding the Amul spirit is to understand modern Anand — best experienced with a visit to the Amul Dairy and its museum. (The Amul cooperative story; dairy plant and museum at Anand; a defining modern heritage of the district.)