SSC
Who is regarded as the architect of Operation Flood, which brought about the White Revolution in India?
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Answer: Option A — Verghese Kurien
Detailed Solution
Dr Verghese Kurien (1921-2012) is known as the "Father of the White Revolution" and the "Milkman of India". As chairman of the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB), he planned and led Operation Flood, which turned India from a milk-deficient country into the world's largest producer of milk.
Operation Flood:
- It was launched in 1970 by the NDDB and continued in three phases until 1996.
- It was one of the largest dairy development programmes in the world, partly funded by the sale of donated dairy products from Europe.
- Its aim was to create a "national milk grid" linking milk producers in villages across India with consumers in more than 700 towns and cities.
- It used the "Anand pattern" of village-level dairy cooperatives, district unions and state federations, removing middlemen and giving farmers a fair price.
Kurien's work:
- Born in Kozhikode, Kerala, Kurien trained as an engineer and came to Anand, Gujarat, in 1949.
- He worked with Tribhuvandas Patel, founder of the Kaira District Cooperative Milk Producers' Union (Amul), set up in 1946 under the inspiration of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.
With dairy engineer H. M. Dalaya, he helped develop the technology to make milk powder from buffalo milk, a world first.
He was the founding chairman of the NDDB (1965), the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF, which markets Amul products) and the Institute of Rural Management, Anand (IRMA).
He received the Ramon Magsaysay Award (1963), the World Food Prize (1989), and the Padma Vibhushan (1999).
His birthday, 26 November, is celebrated as National Milk Day.
His autobiography is titled "I Too Had a Dream".
India's dairy today:
- India is the largest producer of milk in the world, producing about a quarter of global output.
- Uttar Pradesh is the largest milk-producing state.
Why not the other options?
- ✗Tribhuvandas Patel founded the Kaira (Amul) cooperative.
- ✗M. Dalaya was the dairy engineer who worked with Kurien on milk powder from buffalo milk.
- ✗Amrita Patel succeeded Kurien as chairperson of the NDDB.
Quick tip
Remember: Verghese Kurien = Father of the White Revolution (Operation Flood, 1970, NDDB, Amul); 26 November = National Milk Day.
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Agriculture in India — Preparation
This question tests your understanding of Agriculture in India, a key topic in the General Knowledge section. The detailed solution above uses a step-by-step approach to show the reasoning, and where available, a shortcut that helps you solve similar questions in under 90 seconds during the actual exam.
This topic covers agriculture in India: cropping seasons (kharif, rabi and zaid), major food and cash crops and their leading producer states, irrigation, the Green, White, Blue and other agricultural revolutions, and allied activities such as animal husbandry and fisheries. Questions usually ask which crop belongs to which season, which state is the largest producer of a crop, and which revolution relates to which product. For example, the White Revolution relates to milk and was led by Verghese Kurien, and the Blue Revolution relates to fisheries. Producer rankings can change from year to year, so check the latest data for those questions. Practise the agriculture in India questions below, written in the style of the general awareness sections of exams such as SSC, banking, railways, CUET GAT, MAH CET and CLAT. Each question comes with a detailed explanation that adds related facts, so every question helps you revise more than one point.