DailyPost 1584
DR. VERGHESE KURIEN – A SOCIAL ENTERPRISE
If Business & management schools and also schools of governance were to teach the life and times of one individual it has to be Dr. Verghese Kurien. Might be the NGO movement can take a cue out of his life for its own advantage. The same could be said for the the social reformers who intend to make a positive, proactive and a lasting impact. It can also be a working model for democratisation of different type, far beyond franchise and promises. The real democracy of the empowerment type. He was a developmental administrator par excellence. He cherished and practiced his entrepreneurial mindset, though he was never ever technically one. A life worthy of being taught in our schools and colleges.
Lessons learnt should be a paper introduced, where we learn out of the valuable experiences of people who have made a difference to the nation and can certainly make a difference to our lives as well. A formula for a normal professional outside the gamut of normal history makers of the political type. In the world which is so enmeshed, these are the valuable lessons which will keep us in good stead and also help perfect the tools to navigate the Indian ecosystem in a diligent manner. Will the Indian system of today be able to produce another stalwart of this nature, one would be disinclined to say yes. Has the world taken so much of a downslide or have we stopped producing such people?
The crux of this thought is simply mind boggling. In his autobiography I Too Had a Dream he says, “In every crisis if you look carefully, you will spot an opportunity.” He found one every time and made a success out of it. “My insistence in finding and seizing the opportunity has become a source of annoyance for many of my colleagues because it means unlike most people, I never try to side sidestep a crisis.” This gives a clear cut feeling that sidestepping has been the norm in this country since decades. Immense tragedy to have created a DNA that negates our very existence. The duplicity and hypocrisy is way beyond the perception of a rational thinking average man.
In the approach which he took, lies his success. A life which has barley any parallel in this country. A social revolution is what he brought about. Milk was just a tool. Economic independence and pride for women. A future to look forward to. A dream still unfolding everyday for over 35 lakh milk farmers. He said, ”the more monstrous the crisis, the more I am tempted to rush to it, grasp it by its horns and manoeuvre it until it gives me what I want.” What he achieved out to this attitude, thought and practice was extremely commendable, what was even more commendable is that the Battle By The Horns was being fought for the community, which he had made his own.
EVERY MAN IS DESTINED TO BECOME A SOCIAL ENTERPRISE, WE DECIDE AGAINST IT.