Min, Minhaj Ameen, is transitioning from Agroecology Fund to Consortium for Agroecological Transformations (CAT) in India – for enabling food systems transformation.
70 years ago, Homi Bhabha envisioned a self-reliant India powered by nuclear energy. India now has a reactor that not only produces electricity but also generates more fuel than it consumes.
Radar may not find Supersonic Jets. Heat, heat signature, may be given away through Infrared Search and Track (IRST).
AMUL crossed Rs 1 trillion turnover in FY26. From processing 250 litres of milk in 1948 to 1000 villages, 2.3 lakh farmers to 300 lakh litres a day from 36 lakh farmers. First came Kaira District Co-operative Milk Producers’ Union Limited, Anand, (abbreviated KDCMPUL, AMUL) officially registered on December 14, 1946, in response to a milk strike against local trade cartels in 1946. First Village Society was in Ajarpura (August 7, 1947). Tribhuvandas Patel, the founder chairman, AMUL, hired Verghese Kurien in 1949 as its Manager/General Manager. Incidentally, Kurien also served as Chairman, AMUL, for a brief while in 1994. Kurien, joined by HM Dalaya, could spread AMUL in more villages. Dalaya could achieve a tech breakthrough to make skim milk powder from buffalo milk. Amul ad campaigns, by Sylvester daCunha and his team – Kumar Morey, Bharat Dabholkar, started in 1966. BY 80s, we .had the AMUL girl. It is going strong even today. More unions – Mehsana, Banaskantha, Baroda, Sabrakantha, Surat – came up soon. Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF), federation of several unions in Gujarat, came into existence in 1973, and took charge of the AMUL brand. Manthan film, 1976, was financed by over five lakh rural farmers in Gujarat.
Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri visited AMUL, and spoke to farmers about their cooperative in Ajarpur on 31 October 1964. He triggered the creation of the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB), in 1965, to replicate AMULs, Anand Pattern Cooperatives. With headquarters at Anand and Kurien as Chair, independent of government control. Dairy Board’s Operation Flood (OF) started in 1970. The document was drafted by Michael Halse. OF is financed entirely out of the money which the cooperative earned by selling skimmed milk powder and butter-oil, gifted by World Food Programme. Subsequent OF phases were funded by the World Bank. By 1995, when OF was declared closed, with 176 unions and 100,000 cooperatives, India emerged as the largest producer of milk in the world.
Education could lower the risk of dementia later in life. Further, having a job that involves high levels of decision-making or creativity, could help keep the mind sharp and active. Taking part in mentally stimulating activities throughout the lifespan can help preserve late-life brain health and boost the brain’s ability to cope with age- or disease-related changes. Retiring late, reading, learning, socializing, volunteering et al do help in these. Can we remain active mentally, physically?
Who are we serving? Who are the gainers and who are the losers from our work? Smallholders, excluded communities, precarious workers, community collectives, or civil society?
Can we appreciate we are all leaders, and we are here to serve? Can we see our story as a story of leading? Can we learn from our happiest best? Can we invoke the child in us? Can we think with our whole mind? Can we see joy in trusted relationships? Can we bridge the doing-knowing? Can we define, articulate our purpose and values and go in their direction?
Can we see the inner leader within us? Can we own the purpose and work we do?
Yes, we can. If we coexist, flowing. Knowing ourselves, the served. In N? Jitanaayakayoga for 7L.