Correct Answer : 26th November
National Milk Day is celebrated in India on November 26 to honour the memory of Dr Verghese Kurien, who is fondly known as the father of the White Revolution.
Kurien was also called the Milkman of India as his ideas and efforts to build a system of farmer cooperatives helped transform the country from an importer of dairy products to the world’s largest milk producer. National Milk Day also highlights the importance of milk in human life and its benefits.
Significance : National Milk Day is important as it raises awareness about the need for milk in human lives. According to the data available on the NDDB website, milk production in India has increased from 84.4 million tonnes in 2001-02 to 121.8 million tonnes in 2010-11 and 198.4 million tonnes in 2019-20.
History: The White Revolution
In 2014, dairy majors of the country along with the Indian Dairy Association decided to celebrate National Milk Day in India on November 26 to pay tribute to Dr Verghese Kurien on his birth anniversary.
Kurien was deputed to a creamery in Anand, Gujarat, where he worked as an officer in the dairy division for five years. Kurien met Tribhuvandas Patel in Anand when the latter was trying to unite the farmers to form a cooperative movement in a bid to fight exploitation.
Kurien was inspired by Patel, who formed the Kaira District Cooperative Milk Producers’ Union Limited in 1946. This later came to be known as Amul Dairy. Despite pressure from the competing dairy business, Polson Dairy, Kurien supported Patel’s movement.
It was Kurien’s friend and dairy expert HM Dalaya who introduced a way to make milk powder and condensed milk from buffalo milk. Till then these processed items were being made from cow’s milk only..
Source : Cnbctv18
