V. Kurien

India's Milk Revolution

India's White Revolution, whichhas quietly swept the country duringthe past few decades, deserves at­tention equal to that given to the bet­ter-known Green Revolution. The WhiteRevolution holds the promise of rais­ing the nutritional status of under­privileged sections of our people. Witha production forecast of 74 milliontonnes in 1998-99, India has becomethe largest milk producer in the world1•From being a major importer of dairyproducts in the 1950s, India has nowbecome an exporter. Milk has becomeIndia's most important farm commod­ity, the value of its output (in 1994-95)of Rs 500,000 million exceeding thatof paddy2. These achievements havebeen realised against great odds: anational herd of poor yielders, cropresidues and agricultural by-products

as the mail} feed, and a lack of ad­equate marketing support and finance.The true heroes of our rural transfor­mation are not the grain or oil seedfarmers, they are the women and menwho have raised the productivity ofour nation's cattle and buffaloes3.

PRESENT SCENARIO

The success achieved in the aug­mentation of milk production in thecountry is reflected by the fact thatmilk production has risen from a mere16 million tonnes in 1950 to 74.3 mil­lion tonnes in 1999. As against a percapita availability of 132 g per day in1950, the present per capita availabil­ity is almost 214 9 per day, despitetremendous increase in population in

the last 50 years. This milk was pro~duced by 70 million dairy farmers froma milch herd comprising 57 millioncows (31 million in milk) and 39 mil­lion buffaloes (25 million in milk) withan average milk yield of 1,250 kg.Almost the entire quantity (98 per cent)was produced in the rural sector. Only10 per cent of the milk produced (20million litres per day) was processedin dairy plants. The value of the out­put of the dairy plants was Rs 1,050,000million. On the consumption side, 44per cent of the total production wasconsumed in the rural sector either asliquid milk or after local conversioninto products; the remaining 56 percent was consumed in the urban sec­tor. The pattern of consumption in thecountry is shown in Table 1.

By far the major part (84.3 percent) of the liquid milk consumed inurban areas is supplied by the tradi­tional or unorganised sector of dudhiyasand milk shops. In the organised sec­tor, while cooperative dairies sell 90per cent of the milk they process asliquid milk, the private sector con­verts 80 per cent of its throughput intoproducts. The organised sector pro­cesses milk in 370 milk plants andproduct factories and is growing at anaverage annual rate of 10 to 15 percent. In the last 25 years, its through­put has increased by six times. Theaverage installed capacity of dairy plantshas also increased: from 10,000 to20,000 litres per day in the 1950s, itclimbed to 100,000 litres per day inthe 1970s, to 500,000 litres per day

and finally to 1 million litres per day(mlpd) in the 1980s and 1990s. India'sfirst automated dairy plant of 1 millionlitres per day capacity, the MotherDairy at Gandhinagar in Gujarat, wascommissioned in 1996. Amul-lIl, whichwith its satellite dairies has a totalinstalled capacity of 1.5 mlpd, wascommissioned in 19974•

Of the liquid milk consumed inIndia, a substantial part is used forwhitening coffee or tea5. For the eco­nomically weaker sections, this useaccounts for almost all milk consumed.The fat content of milk is not of muchconsequence for this usage, hencethe sizeable demand for lower costtoned and double-toned milks. Thevolumes of different types of milkmarketed by the cooperative sector isshown in Table 2.

India has made praiseworthy in­novations in liquid milk distributionsystems. Sachets and bulk vendinghave replaced bottles, lowering andeliminating packing costs. Currently,sachets account for 82 per cent andbulk vending for 14 per cent of themilk sold.

As seen from Table 1, 95 percent of the organised sector productsare accounted for by liquid milk, ghee,butter, dahi, khoa and paneer, all be-

CONTENTS•India's Milk Revolution 1

- V. Kurien •Foundation News 5

•Reviews And Comments:

Malnutrition And Obesity

6

- Prakash Shetty• Nutrition News

8

TABLE 1Consumptionand Valueof Milk and Milk Products, 1997-98-Products QuantityMilk equivalentPercentage('000 mt*) ('000 mt)

Liquid milk32,44732,44745.7

Buttermilk/separated milk24,14024,14034.0

Ghee** 9860aMakkhan (butter)

3300Oahi (curd)

4,8994,8996.9Khoa and condensed milk

9804,6156.5Milk powder, including infant

2432,6273.7food

Paneer, chhana and cheese

2281,3491.9Ice cream and kulfi

544260.6Cream

181420.2

Others (milk equivalent)3550.5

Total71,000100.0

*mt: metric tonnes **Ghee (27.5 per cent) and makkhan (6.5 per cent) are derived during the productionof buttermilk/separated milk. Some quantity of ghee is also obtained during themanufacture of skimmed milk power (SMP).Source: Milk production in 1997-98. Annual Report,Departmentof Animal Husbandryand Dairying, Ministry of Agriculture, Government of india. Pattern of Consumption:Dairy, India 1997.

ing traditional. The remaining 5 percent of the 'western' type of productssuch as table butter, cheese, babyfood and milk powders are gainingimportance, especially among urbanconsumers. These products also haveexport potential.

AMUL AND THE ANAND PATIERN

India's White Revolution had itsorigin in a single small enterprise startedin Gujarat State. In 1946, at the sug­gestion of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel,the farmers in Kaira district formed acooperative union to supply milk di­rectly to the Bombay Milk Scheme(BMS), cutting out private dairy andmiddlemen who were then supplyingto BMS. The Karia Union began withtwo societies and a daily milk collec­tion of not more than 200 litres of milk,under the chairmanship of ShriTribhuvandas Patel6. Right from theinception of the dairy cooperative it­self, a vital link was established be­tween the producer and Bombay'smarket, ensuring the incentive of astable and remunerative price to thefarmer. The bulk of the milk is pro­duced during the winter flush seasonwhile demand remains relatively con-

stant throughout the year, peaking inthe summer when production is low­est. The trade exploited this situationby paying the producer 50 per cent ofthe summer prices during winters thustaking away the incentive to producemore milk. By installing drying equip­ment, the cooperative was able toconserve surplus flush season milk,marketing it during the lean season.In winter, the cooperative paid thefarmers 80 per cent of the lean sea­son price, which meant they earned50 per cent more for their year's pro­duction7. As the demand grew, thecooperative installed processing fa­cilities to match it. The basic principleof matching the rising demand by en­hancing supplies has characterisedpre- and post-Operation Flood devel­opments. In fact, the shift in the sup­ply function from the policy changesintroduced with OF resulted in an evenlarger shift in the supply function andstable real consumer pricesS.

The structure of the Anand pat­tern was established from the begin­ning. Initially it included two tiers, theprimary village Dairy CooperativeSocieties (DCS) of milk producers atthe base, with a cluster of such soci-

2

eties forming a District Milk Produc­ers' Union entrusted with procurement

Juand processing. As Kaira District wasC, JOined by other unions in Gujarat, an

apex Federation of Unions was cre-ated to market their milk and milkproducts. The organisations at eachlevel are governed by their own by­laws and are managed by democrati­cally elected boards. The facilities atall levels are entirely farmer owned9By appointing qualified technologistsand professional managers, the co­operatives also made sure that thefarmers' productive genius was linkedto modern management and technol­ogy6. I consider myself fortunate tohave had the opportunity of beingassociated with this cooperative en­terprise almost at the beginning andworking with Shri Tribhuvandas Pateland to lead the team of highly-skilledand dedicated professionals that wewere able to assemble.

From the modest beginning in1946, Kaira District Cooperative MilkProducers' Union, or Amul as it be­came popularly known, has made ex­ceptional progress. Virtually every vil­lage has a cooperative to which mem­bers bring their milk every morningand evening. The quantity of milk ismeasured (or lately, weighed) and asample is drawn from each farmer totest the fat content of his supply Intune with its policy of bringing thelatest technological advance to thedoorstep of the farmer, each societyis provided with an electronic fat tester.Based on the quantity and fat contentthe amount to be paid is calculated.Payment for morning milk is made inthe evening; that for evening milk ismade the following morning. With theintroduction of computers, many so­cieties weigh and measure fat simul­taneously and milk is paid for immedi­ately on receipt. The Union has

TABLE 2Daily Milk Marketing in Urban AreasQuantityType of milk

('000 litres/d)

Double toned (1

.5)448

Toned (3.0)

2,911

Standardised (4.5)

1,791

Full cream (6.0)

504

Total

5,654

Figure in parenthesis indicate the fatcontent.Source: NDrB

always ensured that productivity en­hancement measures are available toits members. Modern plants producehigh protein concentrate feeds andmake them available at the coopera­tives. The Union provides animal healthcare and breeding facilities. Artificialinsemination service with good qual­ity semen was introduced throughtrained village society workers. A mobileveterinary service was provided forveterinary first aid. Above all, the bestincentive for enhanced production wasthe Union's undertaking to buy theentire quantity offered by the farmerirrespective of the season. By the year1965-66, Amul had 518 DCs with 110,000members. It collected 65,905 tonnesof milk and could process 500,000litres of milk a day. It sold products ofa total value of Rs 92.2 million2. Theseproducts ranged from milk to babyfood, whole milk and skimmed milkpowders, condensed milk and cheese.

OPERATION FLOOD

In contrast to Amul's remarkableprogress, the government tried vari­ous animal husbandry and dairy de­velopment schemes during the pe­riod 1951-70 at a total cost of Rs 11,400million, but none of them yielded thedesired results; many were dismal fail­ureslO It was at this juncture that thethen Prime Minister of India, late ShriLal Bahadur Shastri, paid a visit toKaira district on October 30-31,1964.He came at Kaira Union's invitation toinaugurate a modern cattle feed plant,then - as now - the largest in thecountry. Spending a night in a villagein the company of farmers and unac­companied by officials, the Prime Min­ister saw and heard first hand fromthe farmers the transformation broughtabout by the Anand pattern of milkcooperatives. On his return to Delhi,he set in motion the effort to createAnands in all parts of India. The Na­tional Dairy Development Board (NDDB)was formed in 1965 and was chargedwith the responsibility of building co­operative dairies in India on the Anandpattern.

In the beginning, the NDDB facedmany obstacles. The Dairy Board hadfew financial resources; state govern­ments and departments had little in­terest in turning over their responsi­bilities to farmers and, even more, inbecoming employees of farmers. InGujarat, farmer initiatives, supportedby the Kaira Union, resulted in signifi­cant progress; elsewhere little change

occurred. It was about this time thatmountains of powder and lakes ofbutter oil were accumulating in Eu­rope. It was, we feared, just a matterof time until some kindly Europeangentleman decided that this shouldbe donated, or sold at subsidised prices,to help the 'poor people of India'.Were that to happen, it would havebeen the death knell of our nascentdairy industry. It was to face this po­tential threat that the idea arose ofusing food aid to generate the finan­cial resources necessary to createAnands throughout India. Fortunatelythere were individuals of wisdom andforesight in both India and Europewho supported the idea. So, donatedcommodities were reconstituted asliquid milk and sold at prices compa­rable to those in the domestic market.The funds that were generated wereused to finance the development ofour cooperative dairy industry. Thus,what was a serious threat was suc­cessfully turned into an asset6.

Operation Flood, the programmeto replicate Anand and create a floodof milk in India's villages, was launchedin.1970. The Amul experience hadestablished, tested and proved theguiding principles for dairy develop­ment: a three-tier cooperative struc­ture owned and controlled by farm­ers, professionally managed, provid­ing the inputs,for production enhance­ment, purchasing all the farmers' milk,processing and marketing it in urbanmarkets. As the World Bank recentlyacknowledged, there was thus alreadya model in place to implement dairydevelopment and the programme in­volved institution building as distinctfrom institution creationS.

The targe'ts for the first phase ofOperation Flood included:• organising village-level dairy co­operatives with the required physicaland institutional infrastructure to sup­port production and procure milk• creation of union-owned and man­aged modern production enhance­ment, processing and marketingfacilities• establishment of metro dairies. Thethrust was to link Bombay, Calcutta,Delhi and Madras with the country's18 best milksheds, capturing com­manding shares of these urban milk­markets.

Operation Flood's second phase,implemented during 1981-85, targeteda rapid expansion to 136 milksheds

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linked to over 290 urban markets witha total population of over 15 million.The numbers of societies, membersand volumes of milk procured, all morethan doubled The third phase, imple­mented during 1985 to 1996, involvedstrengthening the basic infrastructureand measures for production enhance­ment and animal healthcare and nu­trition and thus consolidating the gainsof the first two phases.

In the 25 years since the launchof Operation Flood, national milk pro­duction has more than trebled andper capita availability almost doubledA robust infrastructure with rural pro­cessing capacity of 19.4 mlpd and 67mlpd equivalent of chilling capacityto ensure good quality of milk hasbeen set up. For the urban consum­ers, milk marketing facilities of 7.2mlpd are in operation. The entireOperaton Food programme was fi­nanced by funds generated from thegifts of butter oil and SMP from theWorld Food Programme and the Eu­ropean Economic Community, supple­mented in the last phase by WorldBank loans. The internal resourcesemployed increased from phase tophase. Future dairy development willbe self-financing without dependenceon external aid or loan". Today, OF isa huge undertaking involving (in 1998­99) 10.1 million farm members sup­plying an average of 13,659 metrictonnes of milk per day through morethan 81,000 cooperative societies to170 milk producer union's who pro­cess and market it as liquid milk andprocessed products. In 1997-98, thesystem included 13,377 Artificial In­semination Centres and 787 mobileveterinary clinics.

SUPPORT ROLE OF NODS

As the prime mover of the OFprogramme, in addition to financingthe unions on a grant-cum-Ioan ba­sis, NDDB provides extensive sup­port for their successful performance.It coordinates its activities with thoseof the Technology Mission for DairyDevelopment and other governmentagencies. NDDB assists the unions inrecruitment and training of person­nel; technical help is provided in de­sign and selection of equipment aswell as in construction of dairy plantson a turnkey basis.

Research in products, processesand biotechnologies, both in-house

TABLE 3Regionwise Distribution of Milk Production, Human Population andPer Capita Availability, 1995Region

PopulationMilk productionPer capita(million)

(mmt)Availability (g/day)

Northern

261.929.4308

Western + Central

202.814.0189

Southern

212.813.5174

Eastern

235.99.4109

Total National

913.466.3199

Source: Dairy India, 1997.

and in collaboration with other gov­ernment and non-government agen­cies, supports the cooperative dairyindustry. Product research is aimed

at diversification, extension of the prod­uct range and shelf life through suit­able packaging. Frozen slicedpaneerand continental cheese are recent

additions to the long-established prod­uct range of baby food, processedcheese, condensed milk, milk pow­ders and a number of traditional milkproducts. Processes have been es­

tablished for the mechanised and hy­gienic production of traditional prod­ucts including ghee, paneer and lassi,and sweets such as peda, gulab jamun,shrikhand, and mishti dohi, as well as

flavoured milk drinks'2. These prod­ucts are now marketed in long-lifepackaging

We have come a long way fromthe early days of Amul when somemultinationals and exporters of milkproducts to India, with vested inter­ests, declared that buffalo milk was

unsuited even for powder production,let alone baby food and condensed

milk. Amul met that challenge andproved them wrong'3. It has been am­ply demonstrated that the Indian dairyindustry is capable of making prod­ucts of a standard equivalent to thebest in the world2. In fact, based onthis performance the Codex had toamend its definition of milk from the

mammary secretion of the cow alone

- as was the case till recently - to thatadopted in the Indian Prevention of

Food Adu/tration (PFA) Rules, namely,the mammary secretion of milking ani­mals'4. International Dairy Federationhas approved cow and buffalo milk asraw material for a variety of cheeses.

Research in biotechnology hasyielded valuable results, in all the threeareas of production enhancement,

namely, feeding, animal health and

breeding. Simple and inexpensive in­novations such as bypass protein feed,urea molasses blocks and the urea

treatment of straw, all improve thenutritional quality of the animals' nor­mal feed. Through the Foot-and;Mouthcontrol project 42.1 million vaccina­tions have been carried out.

Indian Immunologicals, a sub­

sidiary of NDDB, produces a varietyof vaccines including rabies and theile­riasis as well as a number of veteri­

nary formulations2. Upgrading of Surtiand Murrah buffaloes as well as cross­breeding of Bas zebu with Bas taurusis being undertaken in a number of

research institutions. DNA finger printingis used to select bulls with desirable

breeding traits. Field-based techniquessuch as embryo transfer are adoptedfor the rapid multiplication of breed­

ing stocks. Farmers are progressivelyinvesting in crossbred cows becauseof their high yields. Increase in thesupply of cow milk is having the salu­tary effect of an even intake of milk bythe dairies throughout the year'S

Milk production in India is sub­ject to not only seasonal variationsbut also to regional disparities as canbe seen from Table 3. The National

Milk Grid (NMG) is designed to movemilk from surplus to deficit areas. Ad­equate storage facilities for frozen butterand milk powder have been set up atstrategic locations. India's achieve­ment in dairy development has at­tracted the attention of other develop­ing nations who are dependent onimports and are keen on indigenousdairy development. Sri Lanka has setup Kiriya Milk Industries of Sri Lankain collaboration with NDDB. The DairyBoard has set up a dairy in the formerSoviet republic of Kyrghyzstan'6.

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LOOKING AHEAD

India enjoys a competitive ad­vantage due to the low farm gate priceof milk. In much of India, milk produc­tion is symbiotically integrated into

agriculture. The farming system pro­vides low cost residues as feed and

fodder for animals. Milk production,in turn, supports draught power andorganic fertilisers. For two-thirds of

the 280 million rural Indians engagedin agriculture, the farming system gen­erates employment for only a minorpart of the year. Dairying sets rightthe imbalance in employment. It as­sures a regular income to landless as

well as small and marginal farmers.The buffalo is an efficient converter of

low-grade fibrous feed into high valuemilk4 Economic liberalisation and the

dairy industry's rapid growth has at­tracted Indian business and multina­

tionals. Their entry carries the riskthat big business will transform the

dairy industry production by the massesto mass production2.

Operation Flood has been oneof the largest and most successfulrural employment schemes in the world.Cooperative dairying means regularincome to lakhs and lakhs of small

farmers. Cooperative dairying has notbeen merely the modernisation of milkproduction but has larger technologi­cal, economic and social dimensions.It has created and nurtured demo­

cratic structures at grass root levels6.Such gains should not be endangered.Above all, the future of India's dairyfarmer is a trust that each of us holds.We cannot and must not let them

down2. The dairy industry's future de­pends on expanding and meeting thedomestic demand and carefully buildinga sustainable export for Indian milkand milk products. The tendency toexploit our competitive advantage byunbridled emphasis on exports shouldbe curbed.

Since it is apparent that the gov­ernment is not inclined to playa rolein regulating the industry, we shouldevolve voluntary self-regulatory mecha­nisms to govern our performance,thereby attaining and maintaining thehighest standards of quality of prod­ucts2. India will have a surplus of milkfrom time to time, but it is a surplusonly to the extent that a substantialsection of our population cannot af­ford adequate milk and milk prod­ucts. The benefits of increased milk

production has given the middle class

a range of products at reasonableprices. Access to these has not yettrickled down to the urban and ruralpoor. These are the sections of ourpopulation who need milk the mostand whose consumption of milk isvirtually nil. There should be no curbon increased milk production. At theinternational level, nations that canproduce a surplus should aid thosewho are yet unable to fully feed them­selves. Just as it was in OperationFlood, surplus food can and shouldbe used as an investment to increasethe production and productivity ofthosein need at present. India should beprepared to commit her experience,human resources and, to the extentshe can, her commodities, to achievethis goal. This is the way she cansalute those who helped us create theWhite Revolution6.

References

1. Barry Wilsons's Dairy Industry Newsletter, Vol10, No 10, September 8, 1998.

2. Dairy India 1997, Fifth Edition. P.R. Gupta (Edand Pub), New Delhi, 1997.

3. Kurien, V.: Keynote Address, xxv Dairy Indus­try Conference, March 24-25, 1994, New Delhi.Indian Dairyman, 46:3, 1984.

4. Aneja, R.P. and Puri, SP.S .. India's dairy riddleunravelled. Dairy India, Fifth Edition. P.R. Gupta(Ed and Pub) New Delhi, 1992.

5. Aneja, R.P.. Dairy product and process devel·opment under Operation Flood. Proceedings of the

Workshop on Indigenous Milk Products, January15-19, NDDS, 1991.

6. Kurien, v.: Should dairying be encouraged indeveloping countries? 24th International DairyCongress, Melbourne. Australia, 1994. An Unfin­

ished Dream, Tata McGraw-Hili Publishing Co Ltd,New Delhi, 1997

7. Aneja, RP. Processing and distribution of buf­falo milk. Proceedings of the 23rd International

Dairy Congress, Dairying in a Changing World,Montreal, Vol 1. 1990

8. Candler, W. and Kumar, N.: The impact of dairydevelopment in India and the World Sank's contri­bution.lndia: the Dairy Revolution, The World Sank,Washington, DC, 1998.

9. Madhav Rao: The Anand pattern - a model fordairy development in India, Proceedings of the

International Seminar on Dairying as an Instrument

of Progress - the Indian Experience, January 18­21,1989, National Dairy Development Soard, Anand.1990.

10. Khanna, R.S.: Historical developments and evo­lution of dairying in India. Souvenir, XXV Dairy In­dustry Conference, March 24-25, New Delhi, IndianDairy Association. New Delhi, 1994.

11. Kurien, V.: Address at the Plenary Session.Proceedings of the International Seminar on Dairy­

ing as an fnstrument of Progress - The IndianExperience, January 18-21, 1989, NDDS, Anand,1990.

12. Punjrath, J.S.: Indigenous milk products of In­dia: the related research and technology require­ments on process equipment. Proceedings of the

Workshop on .Indigenous Milk Products, NDDS,January 15-19,1991.

13. Heredia, R.: The Amul India Story, Tata McGraw­Hill Publishing Co Ltd, New Delhi. 1997.

14. Codex General Standard for the use of DairyTerms, Codex Standard, 206-199.

15. Vyas, K.. Levelling out lean - flush procurementvariations Dairy India, Fifth edition. P.R. Gupta (Edand Pub). New Delhi, 1997.

16. NDDS's new boss tells of India's 'new milk

targets. Dairy Industries Newsletter (UK). Vol 11.No 4. 1995.

COMMENTS

Dr Kurien has been the architectof India's successful Milk Revolution.His remarkable success was achievedthrough his efficient management, co­ordination and effective utilisation ofavailable indigenous resources, Thiswould incidentally underline the im­portance of enlightened and dedicatedleadership.

Though, thanks largely toDr Kurien's efforts, India today is thelargest milk producer in the world,milk production still falls far short ofnational requirements for adequatenutrition. As against the present pro­duction of about 74 million tonnes,national requirement will be as highas 173 million tonnes by 2020 Milkproductivity per animal in India (1,250/lactation) is still very poor comparedto international levels (2,038 kg/lacta­tion) due to gradual breed deteriora­tion, Thus, while we have every rea­son to feel gratified with the successachieved so far, there is no room forcomplacence, We must build on thesolid foundation laid by Dr Kurien.

- CG

FOUNDATIONNEWS

Twenty-first Anniversary

The Foundation celebrated its 21 stAnniversary on November 29, 1999,The occasion was marked by the in­auguration of a 'Diet Counselling andResearch Unit' (DCRU) by Dr Uton M,Rafei, the Regional Director-Generalof WHO (SEARO). He also releasedthe Foundation's Five-year Report.

5

Foundation Day Lecture

• Dr S. Padmavati, Director, NationalHeart Institute, on 'Nutrition and ChronicDegenerative Diseases', on Novem­ber 29,

Study Circle Lectures

• Dr D,J.P. Barker, University ofSouthamptom, UK. on 'Foetal Originsof Cardiovascular Disease', on Octo­ber 14, 1999.

• Dr N. Kochupillai, Professor andHead, Department of Endocrinology,on 'Nutritional Support in Primary Dis­orders of the Gastrointestinal TractComplicated by Endocrine Manifes­tations', on December 22,1999,

• Nutrition/Health Education for Chil­dren and Adolescents in Schools

The Foundation has recently launcheda programme to impart need-basedNutrition and Health Education to chil­dren and adolescents in schools, inorder to bring about a positive changein their diets and lifestyle practicesthrough lecture-cum-demonstration anddiscussion sessions. During the lastthree months, more than 600 studentsfrom eight leading public schools ofDelhi have participated in these ses­sions, In addition, half-day nutritionseminars/workshops are also beingorganised for school teachers,

Fund Raising

The Foundation is grateful toDr Rajammal P. Devdas for her gener­ous contribution to the corpus fund.

DR REG PASSMORE

The passing away of Dr RegPassmore is a grievous loss tothe world of Nutrition Science.He was the Acting Director ofthe Nutrition Research Labora­tories at Conoor in the 1940s,and was a genuine friend of In­dia, I had been in constant com­munication with him all theseyears. I still cherish the last let­ter he wrote to me on January25, 1999. Nutrition scientists allthe world over will remember himas the author of probably themost outstanding textbook onnutrition. He was an erudite scholarand a sound physiologist. In­dian nutrition scientists will misshim greatly.

- CG