For some, Friday the 13th can actually prove lucky. Way back in 1949 it was on this day that Verghese Kurien, a self-assured 27-year-old engineer from Michigan, had thrown up his hands, disillusioned with a shabbily run dairy institute he was to serve in dusty Anand. He even put in his papers but circumstances forced him to stay on, and emerge as the father of the country's "white revolution".

Daring the Indian farmer to dream, Kurien showed him how to make it a reality. He ushered in a concept of cooperatives where dairy farmers could own and manage profitable agri-business enterprises with their produce, however small it may be. It was Tribhuvandas Patel, assigned by Vallabhbhai Patel the task of "making the Kaira farmers happy", who had persuaded Kurien to stay on, telling him how badly the dairy institute needed him. Says Kurien: "Without Tribhuvandas, there would not have been a Kurien."

As a man he is considered self-centred, authoritarian, even offensive, but he is a thorough professional. As head of the National Dairy Development Board, he was the boss. A rank outsider with a sophisticated lifestyle who didn't speak the language of the locals. Yet the farmers regarded him as their "Dudhwallah", the "milk man" who built a model institution of economic democracy.

Kurien often bordered on abusing the bureaucracy but could secure maximum support from it when in difficulty. He was a great strategist and believed people wanted good service, not cheap service. He had a unique ability to conceptualise and communicate, making an impact on farmers, national leaders, the scientific world, consumers and the international community.

Through his Anand model, Kurien provided great promise. He made a point that development policies could flow from such models, and if lessons could be generalised, the country could transform itself from a deficit to a surplus state. Dairy technology had earlier revolved round processing cow's milk, and not buffalo milk. But considering millions of farmers owned buffaloes, Kurien showed how buffalo milk could be used for making milk powder, baby food and condensed milk. He established brands which became household names. Kurien provided a model of rural development not only for the country but also for the world community. A model where a strong, even arrogant, leader, a skilled technocrat, a professional manager and a hardworking small farmer could become a team to reckon with through the simple process of organisation.

P.M. Shingi is professor, Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. He has co-authored Agri-Business Cooperatives.