Launched in 1970, Operation Flood was the world’s largest dairy development program and a landmark project of India’s National Dairy Development Board (NDDB). It transformed India from a milk deficient nation into the world’s largest milk producer with about 17 percent of global output in 2010–11. Within a few decades, it doubled the milk available per person in India and made dairy farming India’s largest self-sustainable rural employment generator.

Significance Of The Indian Dairy Sector

1. It is estimated that there are 75 million dairy farmers in the country, a number larger than the entire population of countries such as the UK, France, Italy or Thailand.
2. It is especially important for women who account for over 60% of the days devoted to animal rearing and those with little land for whom it is an overwhelmingly important source of income.

Operation Flood And The Dairy Development Board

1.The National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) was created in 1965, fulfilling the desire of the then prime minister of India — the late Lal Bahadur Shastri to extend the success of the Kaira Cooperative Milk Producers’ Union (Amul) to other parts of India. 2.The White Revolution or Operation Flood launched by NDDB under the leadership of Dr Verghese Kurien, based on the Anand model of cooperative dairying that preceded it, is often regarded as one of the most successful examples of Indian innovation in the 20th century. 3.Operation Flood’s objectives included:

1. Increased milk production
2. Augmented rural incomes
3. Fair prices for consumers
4. Increased income of, and reduced poverty among participating farmers while ensuring a steady supply of milk in return.

An Effort That Brought Together Institutional, Technical And Market Innovation

Institutional Innovation

1. NDDB has integrated more than one lakh dairy co-operatives in what it calls the Anand Pattern, linking the village society to the state federations in a three-tier structure.
2. They organized farmers into a cooperative in the best sense of the word. They established a network of farmers and local dairies to collect and process daily milk produced.
3. Cooperatives together decided to end the menace of middlemen in the dairy sector by procuring, processing and selling the dairy products themselves by using cooperatives.

Technical Innovation

1. Adaptation of modern technology to local contexts was the bulwark of Operation flood’s early success. For example, the ability to make milk powder from buffalo milk was at that time regarded as impossible.
2. Technology-enabled dairies to smoothen supplies of the dairy products, that are seasonal, throughout the year.

Market Innovation

1. Since the beginning of operation flood dairies and the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) have evolved with the Indian consumer.
2. As consumer diets changed, first gradually, then rapidly, Indian dairy cooperatives have kept pace, with offerings of processed products, butter, ghee, cream, sweets, chocolate and ice cream, with innovations in last-mile delivery.
3. Operation flood is often credited with altering consumer perceptions that fresh milk purchased directly from milk vendors was safer than those that came in packets.

Political will

1. The cooperative movement in India also owes much to Sardar Patel and Morarji Desai for their commitment to cooperatives, especially dairy cooperatives. They are the examples of political will that is expected from today’s politicians.
2. In 1964 the then Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri, on a visit to Anand to inaugurate a cattle feed plant, chose to spend a night in the village. His goal was to fathom the ingredients of Amul and to see if these could be replicated in other parts of the country. His visit led to the establishment of the National Dairy Development Board in 1965.

Impact Of Operation Flood On Society

1. Operation Flood has its impacts on poverty alleviation. On one hand, it provided affordable dairy products to consumers and on the other hand, it helped farmers to secure their income from highly perishable products.
2. All three phases of Operation Flood were implemented to reach around 18 million farmers.
3. A significant proportion of beneficiaries were women and the functionally landless. It led to women empowerment.
4. It was also a pioneer in prioritizing food safety at a time when these concerns were less well articulated.
5. The cooperatives responded to the evolving needs of the farmer, expanding the range of input services and development activities upstream, including cattle feed, breeding, artificial insemination services, animal health and nutrition.

India is the world’s largest producer of milk, with some of the world’s smallest producers, but dairy cooperatives today thrive in only five or six states. Only around 22% of all milk produced is processed by the organized sector and most of the milk is consumed in liquid form or khoa, channa and paneer, all highly perishable. Considering the high employability of the sector we must replicate the Operation flood throughout India. Dairy is an obvious focal point for the government’s goal to double farmers’ incomes by 2022.