Shri Tribhuvandas Kishibhai Patel was born on 22 October 1903 in Anand, Kheda District, Gujarat, India. He was born to a farmer Shri Kishibhai Patel and Smt. Lakhibha. Shri Kishibhai had two sons namely, Shri Chimmanbhai Patel and Shri Tribhuvandas Patel. He completed his initial schooling in Nanaadhni Dharmasala, Anand Primary School and the rest of the schooling was done in New English School - at present this school is known as DN High School of Charotar Education Society, Anand.
He joined Gujarat Vidyapith, Ahmedabad for his degree. During this period, he entered the freedom movement of the country along with Mahatma Gandhi. In 1918, he got married to Smt. Maniben Mothibhai Patel of Thamana village in Anand. Shri Patel had six children. He was influenced by the philosophy and principles of Mahatma Gandhi.
He was involved in various movements propagated by Mahatma Gandhi, like civil disobedience, rural development and drive against untouchability, alcoholism etc. He was the President of Harijan Sevak Samiti from 1948 to 1983. In Nasik in 1930 he was jailed for the first time for the salt satyagraha. He was further imprisoned in Visapur in 1930 wherefrom he took the oath to dedicate his life for the benefit of the masses at large.
Shri Tribhuvandas Patel successfully led farmers against the unfair trade practices of Polson Dairy, and established Kaira District Co-operative Milk Producers’ Union Limited on 14 December 1946, which is now known the world over as “Amul”.
Honesty of purpose and sincerity of his efforts at social service earned Shri Patel the respect of masses. He developed the institution which Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel had made him responsible for. The basic approach adopted by Shri Tribhuvandas Patel was first to establish milk co-operatives in the villages and then move upwards. These co-operatives were literally the “base” of the entire venture. He insisted that each village co-operative should be open to all milk producers in the village regardless of caste, creed or community. He placed equal emphasis on the principle of ‘one man one vote’ regardless of each member’s social and economic status. He never looked back since then and gave the dairy cooperative movement world recognition with the assistance of Dr. Verghese Kurien. Shri Tribhuvandas Patel was awarded the 1963 Ramon Magsaysay Award for 'Community Leadership', together with Dara Nusserwanji Khurody, and Dr. Verghese Kurien and the Padma Bhushan in 1964. He was a member of Rajya Sabha twice, in 1967–1968 and 1968 -1974.
When he voluntarily retired from the Chairmanship of AMUL, in the early 1970s, he was presented with a purse of INR 6,00,000, by the grateful members of the village cooperatives — one rupee per member being the contribution. He used this fund to start a charitable trust and NGO, named the Tribhuvandas Foundation, to work on women and child health in the Kheda district of Gujarat.
