Operation Flood

What is operation flood?

Operation Flood was a rural development programme started by India's National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) in 1970. One of the largest of its kind, the programme objective was to create a nationwide milk grid

Why is it important?

It resulted in making India the largest producer of milk and milk products, and hence is also called the White Revolution of India. It also helped reduce malpractices by milk traders and merchants. This revolution followed the Indian green revolution and helped in alleviating poverty and famine levels from their dangerous proportions in India during the era.

How was it conducted?

The entire process was divided into three phases.

Phase - I  : Phase I (1970–1980) was financed by the sale of skimmed milk powder and butter oil donated by the European Union through the World Food Programme.During its first phase, Operation Flood linked 18 of India's premier milksheds with consumers in India's major metropolitan cities: Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai. Thus establishing mother dairies in four metros.

Phase - II : Operation Flood Phase II (1981–1985) increased the milksheds from 18 to 136; 290 urban markets expanded the outlets for milk. By the end of 1985, a self-sustaining system of 43,000 village cooperatives with 4,250,000 milk producers were covered. Domestic milk powder production increased from 22,000 tons in the pre-project year to 140,000 tons by 1989, all of the increase coming from dairies set up under Operation Flood. In this way EEC gifts and World Bank loan helped promote self-reliance. Direct marketing of milk by producers' cooperatives increased by several million litres a day.

Phase - III : Phase III (1985–1996) enabled dairy cooperatives to expand and strengthen the infrastructure required to procure and market increasing volumes of milk. Veterinary first-aid health care services, feed and artificial insemination services for cooperative members were extended, along with intensified member education.
Operation Flood's Phase III consolidated India's dairy cooperative movement, adding 30,000 new dairy cooperatives to the 42,000 existing societies organized during Phase II. Milksheds peaked to 173 in 1988-89 with the numbers of women members and Women's Dairy Cooperative Societies increasing significantly.

The architect of White revolution

Gujarat based co-operation "Anand Milk Union Limited", often called Amul, was the engine behind the success of the programme, and in turn became a mega company based on the cooperative approach.

Tribhuvandas Patel was the founder Chairman of Amul, while Verghese Kurien was the chairman of NDDB at the time when the programme was implemented. Verghese Kurien, who was then 33, gave the professional management skills and necessary thrust to the cooperative, and is considered the architect of India's 'White Revolution' (Operation Flood).

His work has been recognised by the award of a Padma Bhushan, the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership, the Carnegie-Wateler World Peace Prize, and the World Food Prize.