The efforts of retired dairy engineer from Shimul (Shivamogga, Davangere and Chitradurga Co-operative Milk Union Ltd) D V Mallikarjun have finally paid off.
The Centre has decided to issue a postal stamp on Verghese Kurien, popularly known as ‘Milk Man of India,’ who transformed India from a milk-deficient nation to the world’s largest milk producer, surpassing the United States in 1998.
In order to express gratitude to Kurien on behalf of farmers of the country who benefited from dairy farming, the Shivamogga man had submitted a proposal to the Centre in 2018, appealing to the authorities concerned to release a postal stamp on Kurien.
After a gap of over three years, the Centre has approved his proposal and it has been communicated to Nirmala Kurien, daughter of the late Kurien, who is in Chennai now.
Mallikarjun told DH that he had written to the prime minister’s office seeking status of his proposal, sent in 2018, in March this year. After a month, he received a letter from the ministry of communications, department of posts, stating that the proposal was under consideration.
“Today, I came to know from Nirmala that the department of posts had approved the proposal and it would release the postal stamp on November 26 this year to mark the centenary birth anniversary celebrations of Kurien.”
He said that it is an honour for 16.5 million farmer families of India and the dairy sector.
“I am glad that my three years of efforts have been rewarded finally. Kurien deserves Bharat Ratna, for transforming India to be the number one milk producer in the world.”
He said the concept of milk co-operative societies was the brainchild of Kurien and it helped farmers get regular income throughout the year.
Mallikarjun had donated a bronze bust of Kurien to Michigan State University in the US in 2017, to be installed there, as he was an alumnus of the institute.