Amul's mentor is no more....

Dr. Verghese Kurien, the man behind the utterly, butterly, delicious or the taste of India is no more. There is much one can say about this man, yet it is this one brand that has stood the test of time and I hope shall remain so as a tribute to him. I had compiled a few of the Amul advertisements on my blog a month back since Amul continues to be our family's favourite.

The father of India’s ‘White Revolution’ Dr Verghese Kurien passed away early on Sunday morning at Muljibhai Patel Urological Hospital in neighbouring Nadiad town due to age-related problems, Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF) sources said.

I think the following is from his last birthday.

On Saturday, Dr Varghese Kurien, Founder of Amul, turned 90. After retirement, he settled down in Anand, the small town he made world-famous through the co-operative movement launched at the instance of his mentor, Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel. 

People were surprised to notice this morning when they saw quarter-page advertisements put out across many newspapers by the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF), which markets milk and milk products under the Amul brand: “You changed the lives of 15 million farmers’ families. You revolutionized the dairy sector. You gave India 200 Amul brands. We give you 90 candles,” the grateful Amul girl, attired in her trademark polka frock and hairband, told Dr Kurien in the advertisement. The Milkman affectionately held a calf in the ad as the smiling mother-cow looked on. 

The advertisement also acknowledged the many hats Dr Kurien wore: Founder Chairman of NDDB, GCMMF, NCDFI, IRMA, among others. And the many epithets he got accustomed with: Father of the White Revolution, The Milkman of India, and Architect of Operation Flood. “Thank you for making us the largest selling milk producer in the world. Thank you for engineering the dairy cooperative movement in India. From all of us at Amul.”

Verghese Kurien was born on 26 November 1921 in Calicut, Madras Presidency, British India (now Kozhikode, Kerala). His father was a civil surgeon in Cochin. He graduated in Physics from Loyola College, Madras in 1940 and then did B.E. (mechanical engineering) from the College of Engineering, Guindy (then the University of Madras). After completing his degree, he joined the Tata Steel Technical Institute, Jamshedpur from where he graduated in 1946. He then went to the United States on a government scholarship to earn his Master of Science in metallurgical engineering (with distinction) from Michigan State University.

Honours, awards and international recognition

Year	Name of Award or Honor	Awarding Organization
2012	Gangadharan Memorial Award	V. Gangadharan Memorial Trust
2011	Life Time Achievement Award	CNN-IBN
2010	Doctor of Science (Honoris Causa)	Karunya University
2010	Doctor of Science (Honoris Causa)	Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda
2007	Karmaveer Puraskaar	iCONGO- Confederation of NGOs
2007	Godfrey Phillips National Bravery Award	Godfrey Phillips India Ltd
2006	Doctor of Science	Tamil Nadu Agricultural University
2002	Lokmanya Tilak award	Lokmanya Tilak Trust
1999	Padma Vibhushan	President of India
1991	Doctor of Science	University of Guelph, Canada.
1991	Distinguished Alumni Award	Michigan State University, USA.
1989	World Food Prize	World Food Prize, USA.
1986	Wateler Peace Prize Award	Carnegie Foundation, USA.
1986	Krishi Ratna Award	President of India.
1966	Padma Bhushan	President of India.
1965	Doctor of Science	Michigan State University, USA.
1965	Padma Shri	President of India.
1963	Ramon Magsaysay Award	Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verghese_Kurien

Eureka!

Is it not a Eureka moment for India, when a chief minister (the ablest they say) says our children are malnourised only because of figure consciousness? How sweet! Imagine a child aged 2 or 4 looking at our zero figure, Kareena Kapoor and dreaming to be like her? Or the boys like Salman Khan? Or let us imagine that it is their mothers who are making these poor ones starve in order to attain the zero figure. If so, damn these mothers!

 It is surprisingthat the chief minister of Gujarat, Narendra Modi, who is considered a shrewdadministrator, well on top of the problems in his state, as well as a possible contender for the prime minister’s post, has blundered on the issue of malnutrition. In an interview to The Wall Street Journal, an American news daily, he has attributed his state’s high rates of malnutrition to vegetarianism and to the figure conscious Gujarati girls. He has reportedly said, ‘The middle class is more beauty-conscious than health-conscious –that is a challenge.’ While Modi may not be entirely in the wrong when heblames these factors for the shocking state of malnutrition in Gujarat, theseare surely not the primary reasons.

He also says that it is because of vegetarianism. But in this case how about Punjab?

There are more vegetarians in Punjab than in Gujarat and yet Punjab, along with Kerala and north east states like, Manipur, Mizoram and Sikkim are the states where there are less malnourished children.

It must be hard to swallow the truth since India has been up in the chart since years for having the most malnourished under-5 children. We are way up above the poorest African countries too!

The World Bank estimates that India is ranked 2nd in the world of the number of children suffering from malnutrition, after Bangladesh (in 1998), where 47% of the children exhibit a degree of malnutrition. The prevalence of underweight children in India is among the highest in the world, and is nearly double that of Sub-Saharan Africa with dire consequences for mobility, mortality, productivity and economic growth.^[

Now let us look at the Infant Mortality Rates or the number of Infants dying under one year of age per 1000 births in the same year.

Even here, states like Gujarat which claims development paints a dismal picture. One can download the Family Statistics Report 2011 to get the complete picture.

Health is wealth. The nation's wealth lies in it's citizens and if good health cannot be provided to our furture generation then this nation will continue to lag behind in every other area of development.

The effect of undernutrition on young children (ages 0-8) can be devastating and enduring. It can impede behavioral and cognitive development, educability, and reproductive health, thereby undermining future work productivity. Since growth failure occurs almost exclusively during the intrauterine period and in the first two years of life, preventing stunting, anemia, or xerophthalmia, therefore calls for interventions, which focus on the very young.

Whether or not children are well-nourished during their first years of life can have a profound effect on their health status, as well as their ability to learn, communicate, think analytically, socialize effectively and adapt to new environments and people. Good nutrition is the first line of defense against numerous childhood diseases, which can leave their mark on a child for life. In the area of cognitive development, "when there isn't enough food, the body has to make a decision about how to invest the limited foodstuffs available. Survival comes first. Growth comes second. In this nutritional triage, the body seems obliged to rank learning last. Better to be stupid and alive than smart and dead" (Sagan and Druyan).

But then the paradox is that a section of the society is facing obesity too.

Hope Modi realizes that his state too ranks pretty high in the obesity list (7th in the country). 

So who is beauty consious? Himself?

Source:

http://www.unicef.org/nutrition/index_statistics.html

http://apps.who.int/nutrition/landscape/report.aspx?iso=IND&rid=161&template=nutrition&goButton=Go

http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/TOPICS/EXTCY/EXTECD/0,,contentMDK:20207804~menuPK:528430~pagePK:148956~piPK:216618~theSitePK:344939,00.html

Human Development Report 2011

http://www.millenniumpost.in/NewsContent.aspx?NID=7412

http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_narendra-modis-beauty-pill-hard-to-swallow_1735020

http://www.indexmundi.com/map/?t=0&v=2224&r=xx&l=en

http://www.globalhealthfacts.org/data/topic/map.aspx?ind=48

http://www.who.int/healthinfo/EN_WHS2012_Full.pdf

Onam Wishes....

A very happy Onam!

Since we do not have a holiday out here for Onam, the elaborate sadhya will have to wait until Friday. Until then I had mini sadhyas for dinner. This way some of the items like ingicurry (long shelf life) can be made in advance. Tomorrow I shall have to make a few items to complete the sadhya on the banana leaf (if the same has not run out in the stores). This made me wonder why we never attempted to eat in the banana leaf while in Kerala since it is available in the backyard. Next time I plan to eat often in the banana leaf. If not anyone else I am sure our daughter will keep me company since she loves a good spread on the banana leaf. I know a friend who refrigates the  banana leaf and then packs rice in this to be eaten at home. Just like the "pothi chore" that we have during train rides. She says it brings back sweet memories and the taste is great too.

Yesterday we celebrated Onam at our work place by making instant payasam. It turned out to be tasty and today we hope to have a real sadhya with a repeat of the paysam. There is one more malayalee with me. The payasam did boil over :) One had to do with the kettle to make the payasam.

The children in our building have been creative. Lack of flowers did not deter them from making a "pookalam" without flowers.

At least the children are outside doing something instead of watching the crap in the TV. If they were in Kerala, they could have walked around and collected the flowers for the pookalam but here they would need to buy them from the stores.

Anyway, I could see that they were thoroughly enjoying the activity. It does look like a "kolam" but for the moment it is their pookalam.

Air power

Yesterday this news caught my eyes...

Tata Motors successfully tests air powered cars

 

The Indian car maker has completed testing of 2 air powered cars that run on, as the name suggests, compressed air.

Still in prototype stage, the car based on AirPod technology, can attain speeds in vicinity of 65km/h. The air required for propulsion is either sucked in while driving using electric motors or you need to drive into a air pumping station for your fill of Air.

 CNET says thus:

The company, which built the 'world's cheapest car' and then covered it in gems and also makes terrifying war vehicles completed testing on two vehicles that are powered by compressed air back in May. A joint-venture with MDI, the prototype-stage 'AirPod' cars apparently cost just €1 per 200km, or £0.00631899077 per mile.

CNET also calls this car a Robot Ladybird. Yea it sure looks like one!

Those who might be thinking if this idea is viable let me tell you how this car works:

First, energy has to be stored in it by squeezing the air tightly using a mechanical air compressor. Once the compressed air is released, it expands. This expanding air can be used, for example, to drive the pistons that power an engine. The idea of using compressed air to power a vehicle isn't new: Early prototypes of an air-powered vehicle go back to the middle of the 19^th century, even before the invention of the internal combustion engine.

The first air cars will almost certainly use the Compressed Air Engine (CAE) developed by the French company, Motor Development International (MDI). Air cars using this engine will have tanks that will probably hold about 3,200 cubic feet (90.6 kiloliters) of compressed air. The vehicle's accelerator operates a valve on its tank that allows air to be released into a pipe and then into the engine, where the pressure of the air's expansion will push against the pistons and turn the crankshaft. This will produce enough power for speeds of about 35 miles (56 kilometers) per hour. When the air car surpasses that speed, a motor will kick in to operate the in-car air compressor so it can compress more air on the fly and provide extra power to the engine.

Another advantage of air cars is that the fuel should be remarkably cheap, an important consideration in this era of volatile gas prices. Some estimates say that the cars will get the equivalent of 106 miles (171 kilometers) per gallon, although compressed air will probably not be sold by the gallon. A more meaningful estimate is that it may take as little as $2 worth of electricity to fill the compressed air tank, though you'll also need gasoline to power the electric motor that compresses air while driving.

Now the first disadvantage would be the speed. But for most Indian roads 65 km/hr is good. We were fined when we went above 70 km per hour. It happened on our way back from Trivandrum via the MC road and while we were near Pandalam. We had just taken a turn and were stopped by the highway police. They fined us IRS 300/- and did give us a reciept. We did have company since many were caught that day.

According to the Web site Gas 2.0, an air car in the United States would create about .176 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions per mile based on the average mix of electric power sources during refueling. By comparison, a Toyota Prius Hybrid, which combines a battery-powered electric motor with an internal combustion engine, generates about 0.34 pounds of carbon dioxide per mile. So, while the air car is not quite pollution free, it still represents an improvement over one of the most popular hybrid cars on the market [source: Nuccitelli].

And now the latest:

"Tata Motors (an Indian car manufacturer) is changing things up with the first car to run on air, the Airpod. The Airpod's technology was originally created in France at Motor Development International but has since been bought by Tata in hopes of bringing it to the Indian consumer car market. With virtually zero emissions and at the cost of about a penny per kilometer, it is definitely one of the most environmentally and economically friendly vehicles in the world. The tank holds about 175 liters of compressed air that can be filled at special stations or by activating the on-board electric motor to suck air in from the outside. Costing about $10,000, this car could beat out most smart cars from the market."

 

So is it time to look for our fortune else where? I mean, if air is going to power a few cars wont oil become less rewarding? 

Anyway, let me wish the Tatas the very best since it is one Indian company that I have much faith.