Dirt on our faces

There was an article in the newspaper that the present BJP-controlled Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF) was threatening to withdraw small perks being provided to Dr. Kurien (Verghese Kurien, the milkman of India and the giant of the milk revolution in the country). This, after he stopped accepting any salary ever since he turned 58 and performed honorary services for the GCMMF for the next 28 years, and to the NDDB for the next 24 years till he quit both offices.

In many blogs and responses to newspaper reports on this issue, I saw comments which referred to the dangerous precedent that conferring privileges on a retired person would bring. I guess, the point was not about the privileges, but about how we treat people who have given their lives in building institutions which has continued to serve the country decades after they were formed. In almost all the rural areas I have worked in or visited (from Rajasthan to Gujarat to Maharashtra to Karnataka), I have seen the magic of the milk co-operatives being repeated endlessly, and also thriving. It guaranteed employment for so many rural households much before a Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme was even dreamt about. It made affordable nutrition possible for homes across India, by ensuring that one of the most perishable goods could reach people in an effective and affordable manner, by creating the large network of producers, collectors, processors, distributors, retailers and consumers.

After all these achievements, Dr. Kurien has still not stopped. He is still ‘a man with a mission’. The way Dr. Kurien is treated is just another example of the way we treat our visionaries and luminaries (including freedom fighters). Another snub to the 88-year old man may not mean much to someone who has weathered so much in his life. But disrespecting him is like shovelling dirt on our own faces – on those who do it, and those of us who stand by watching it being done!