M.S. Swaminathan, father of Green Revolution in India, passed away on September 28, 2023 in Chennai. He was the person behind India becoming self-sufficient in food grain production after independence. He was named the first World Food Price Laureate and received the award in 1987 for developing and spearheading the introduction of high-yielding wheat and rice varieties into India during the 1960s.
He was a proponent of sustainable agriculture. He acknowledged the need to research and focus on forgotten crops. (Forgotten crops or orphan crops are the crops that are usually neglected or underused but are often more nutritious and grow better in many places.) These crops usually have better resilience to climate change and can grow in adverse climates. Many crops apart from rice and maize, like sorghum, millets, quinoa, and tef, grown in different parts of the world, are some of the forgotten crops. There are forgotten fruits, vegetables, and tuber crops as well.
With the growing importance of agricultural research and the adoption of high yielding variety (HYV) seeds, many food crops, fruits, and vegetables that were consumed by our ancestors are no longer consumed. M.S. Swaminathan called to revitalise those crops that were left behind.
He warned way back in the 1960s that if the locally adapted crop varieties were replaced with high-yielding strains, it could result in the spread of serious diseases capable of wiping out entire crops and leading to agricultural and ecological disasters. That risk persists even today. So, he emphasised on transition from the ‘green revolution’ to the ‘evergreen revolution’. He also thought that just producing more food is not enough to solve hunger and poverty, it is the access to food that reduces hunger and poverty. Every country should work towards evergreen revolution to increase the production of nutritious food as well as increase the income of communities that are below poverty and are dying of hunger.
Early Life
He was born in Kumbakonam, Madras Residency, on August 07, 1925. His father was a general surgeon, who died when Swaminathan was just 11 years old. Therefore, he was looked after by his father’s brother. His extended family belonged to agriculture.
He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Agricultural Science from the University of Madras. Thereafter, he studied genetics and plant breeding at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute and obtained a post-graduate degree in cytogenetics in 1949. He obtained his Ph.D. degree from the University of Cambridge, UK, in 1952. He also passed the civil services examination and was selected to the Indian Police Service.
His Contributions
India was and is an agriculture-dependent country. In the 1950s and 1960s, agriculture contributed to around one-third of the GDP and employed around 70 per cent of the population. Even today, after 75 years of independence, agriculture contributes to 17 per cent of GDP and employs nearly half of the population. India had a steep decline in agriculture GDP with the decadal growth rates decreasing from 2.78 per cent to 1 per cent from 1950-51 to 1967-68. There was a fear that the population growth would outweigh the food production and would lead to famines in India as well as the rest of Asia. By that time, India had already experienced its share of famines (Bengal famines). Swaminathan researched the newly developed semi-dwarf wheat variety by Dr Norman Borlaug and invited him to India. Both of them worked together and introduced the HYV of seeds suitable to Indian agro-climatic conditions.
Swaminathan not only researched high-yielding seeds, but also created new methods to increase production with HYV seeds, fertilisers, and other farming techniques. The Green Revolution was not just the result of a change in seeds used, but also the use of fertilisers, pesticides, improved irrigation as well as provision of finance to secure these inputs. His research and vision led to increase in the yield of wheat from 12 million tonnes to 23 million tonnes in four crop seasons which contributed to ending the reliance on wheat imports.
Career and Awards
M.S. Swaminathan served as the Chairman of the National Commission on Farmers, Government of India, President of the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs, Chairman of the High-Level Panel of Experts (HLPE) of the World Committee on Food Security (CFS), Member of the Indian Parliament (Rajya Sabha), Former Director General of Indian Council of Agricultural Research and International Rice Research Institute amongst others.
He was awarded Padma Vibushan (1989), Ramon Magsaysay Award (1971), Padma Shri (1967), World Food Prize (1987), and Padma Vibhushan (1989), and other national and international awards.
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