Amrita Patel is an Indian businessperson associated with cooperative dairy sector as well as environmentalist. She headed

National Dairy Development Board The National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) is a statutory body set up by an Act of the Parliament of India. It is under the ownership of Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying of the Government of India. The main office is in An ...

from 1998 to 2014 which led the world's biggest dairy development program

Operation Flood Operation Flood, launched on 13 January 1970, was the world's largest dairy development program and a landmark project of India's National Dairy Development Board (NDDB). It transformed India from a milk-deficient nation into the world's larges ...

. She chaired several other institutes and has been a member of board of banks. She was awarded

Padma Bhushan The Padma Bhushan is the third-highest civilian award in the Republic of India, preceded by the Bharat Ratna and the Padma Vibhushan and followed by the Padma Shri. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is given for "distinguished service ...

in 2001.

Early life

Amrita Patel was born on 13 November 1943 at 1 till 11 jan 2020 because of cancer,

Safdarjung Road Safdarjung Road ( hi, सफ़दरजंग मार्ग) is a main road in New Delhi, India, named after the 18th century Tomb of Safdarjung near it. At the north end, the road stretches from the junction of the Teen Murti Marg, Akbar Road ...

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament House ...

. She was the youngest among five daughters of civil servant and politician Hirubhai M. Patel and Savitaben, a Gujarati family. When her father retired, her family moved back to Anand in

Gujarat Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...

in 1959. She received her higher education from

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

and completed her study in Bachelor of Veterinary Science and Animal Husbandry. In 1965, she joined

Amul Anand Milk Union Limited (AMUL) is an Indian dairy state government cooperative society, based in Anand, Gujarat. Formed in 1946, it is a cooperative brand managed by Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd. (GCMMF), which today i ...

, a dairy cooperative, and was trained under

Verghese Kurien Verghese Kurien (26 November 1921 - 9 September 2012), known as the "Father of the White Revolution" in India, was a social entrepreneur whose "billion-litre idea", Operation Flood, made dairy farming India's largest self-sustaining industry a ...

Career

After four decades of work in Amul, she served as the chairperson of the

(NDDB) in from 1998 to 2014. As the managing director of NDDB, she led the

, the world's biggest dairy development program. She also became a chairperson of the

Mother Dairy Mother Dairy is a wholly owned subsidiary of the National Dairy Development Board which is a statutory body under the ownership of Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying of the Government of India that manufactures, markets and s ...

, Delhi; the President of Indian National Committee of the International Dairy Federation and later a member of Planning Commission of

Government of Himachal Pradesh The Government of Himachal Pradesh also known as the State Government of Himachal Pradesh, or locally as State Government, is the supreme governing authority of the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. It consists of an executive branch, led by th ...

. She has been a member of the Boards of

Reserve Bank of India The Reserve Bank of India, chiefly known as RBI, is India's central bank and regulatory body responsible for regulation of the Indian banking system. It is under the ownership of Ministry of Finance, Government of India. It is responsible for ...

and

National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) is an apex regulatory body for overall regulation of regional rural banks and apex cooperative banks in India. It is under the jurisdiction of Ministry of Finance, Government of India ...

(NABARD). She advocates the protection of environment and ecology. She was the chairperson of the Foundation for Ecological Security working in the field of ecology. She is the Chairman of the Sardar Patel Renewable Energy Research Institute, Anand as well as Charutar Arogya Mandal.

Recognition

She was awarded various awards for her contribution in development and management of dairy sector including the Financial Express Lifetime Achievement Award, Jawaharlal Nehru Birth Centenary Award for Nation Building (1999-2000),

World Dairy Expo World Dairy Expo is a five-day event showcasing dairy cattle and the newest technologies available to the dairy industry. The show is held annually at the Alliant Energy Center in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. Considered the largest and most ...

’s International Person of the Year (1997), Indian Dairy Association Fellowship, Krishimitra Award, Foundation National Award from Fuel Injection Engineering Company, Sahkarita Bandhu Award,

Borlaug Award The Borlaug Award is an award recognition conferred by a fertilizer company, Coromandel International, for outstanding Indian scientists for their research and contributions in the field of agriculture and environment. The award was created in 1 ...

(1991), Indira Gandhi Paryavaran Puraskar (2005), Mahindra Samriddhi Krishi Shiromani Samman (Lifetime Achievement Award, 2016). The Government of India awarded her

, the third highest civilian award of India, in 2001.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Patel, Amrita Recipients of the Padma Bhushan in trade and industry Businesspeople from Gujarat Businesswomen from Gujarat Living people 1943 births Indian women educational theorists 20th-century Indian educational theorists 20th-century Indian businesswomen 20th-century Indian businesspeople 21st-century Indian businesswomen 21st-century Indian businesspeople People from Anand district Indian ecologists Indian environmentalists 20th-century women educators