National Milk Day on 26 November

November 26 is celebrated as India's National Milk Day. The day marks the birth anniversary of India's most successful dairy entrepreneur Varghese Kurien, the founder of dairy firm Amul. The idea of observing National Milk Day was first mooted by Indian Dairy Association (IDA) in 2014 on the lines of World Milk Day observed on June 1 under the aegis of UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). The first NMD was observed on 26 November 2014 by all Indian diary sector majors including National Dairy Development Board (NDDB), IDA along with around 22 state level milk federations.

Some facts on Milk & National Milk Day:

• India is the world's largest milk producing country, with 16 percent of total global production, followed by America, China, Pakistan and Brazil.
• Dairy is one of the biggest industries in India with over 10 million dairy farmers in around 96,000 co-operatives.
• Operation Flood: As a social entrepreneur he had started billion-litre idea-Operation Flood which was the world’s largest agricultural development programme. 
• Operation had helped to transform India from a milk-deficit country into the world’s largest milk producer. 
• Milk Co-operatives Movement: He had founded around 30 cooperative institutions of excellence (like AMUL, GCMMF, IRMA, NDDB) which are owned, managed by farmers and run by professionals.