The National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) was founded to replace exploitation with empowerment, tradition with modernity, stagnation with growth and transforming dairying into an instrument for the development of Indian farmers.

The National Dairy Development Board was created in 1964 in response to the Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri's call to "transplant the spirit of Anand in many other places". He wanted the Anand model of dairy development - with institutions owned by rural producers, which were sensitive to their needs and responsive to their demands - replicated in other parts of the country.

The Board's creation was routed in the conviction that our nation's socio-economic progress lies largely on the development of rural India.

Thus NDDB's mandate is to promote, finance and support producer-owned and controlled organizations. NDDB's programmes and activities seek to strengthen farmer cooperatives and support national policies that are favourable to the growth of such institutions.

With a mission to make dairying a vehicle for a better future for millions of grassroots milk producers in rural India, the NDDB launched "Operation Flood", the world's largest dairy development programme, in 1970. It made India the world's largest milk producing nation and within three decades, "Operation Flood" led to the creation of more than 100,000 village level dairy co-operatives nationwide. These co-operatives procure an average of 21.4 million kg of milk per day and marketed an average of 16.8 million litres of milk per day in the year 2005-06.

NDDB has embarked upon a national campaign to create an umbrella brand identity for associated co-operative milk brands. This is based on quality guidelines, standardized presentation and packaging. The Operation Flood logo - 'Milk Drop' has been adopted as the symbol for fresh and pure milk. To enhance visibility, milk pouch designs have been standardized through an established colour code to distinguish different types of milk.

The 'Milk Drop' is used on milk sachets, retail signs and distribution vehicles to promote a better recall for all co-operative brands in the marketplace. As a prelude to the campaign, NDDB worked out strict quality guidelines that a participating brand must conform before it qualifies for the campaign. These guidelines relate to improving quality at various levels.

At present 17 brands across 16 states and one union territory are participating in the campaign :