By: Dr. Mohammad Aleem (Chief News Editor- ICN Group)
He always felt pained when he saw the poor state of the farmers who would get nothing substantial in terms of their farm produce even after putting their best efforts in their fields.
NEW DELHI: Very a few lucky one has the power to behold and mesmerize the world. M. S Swaminathan is one among them. He has not only showed the path of success and compatibility through his utmost dedication and commitment in the field of agriculture in his own unique way, but also helped in producing enough food to feed such a vast population of the motherland, India, which, in most of the cases, faced starvation until the 70s, in some way or the other.
Since early phase of his life, he was very much concerned about the day-to-day life of common Indian people, especially farmers, who were the most deprived lot. It was the time of 60s when providing enough food to billions of people was an uphill task for any government. Most of the grains were imported from various countries in exchange of hard earned foreign currency. It also destroyed the livelihood of a great number of people, because, the huge import of grains, also killed a good source of livelihood through the farming.
Swaminathan, as a visionary and agriculture scientist of par excellence, felt deep within his heart that until we improved the situation of our farmers, we couldn’t claim to be a prosperous and efficient country. He always felt pained when he saw the poor state of the farmers who would get nothing substantial in terms of their farm produce even after putting their best efforts in their fields.
The main problem with them was that they had not productive seed to support a good yield. They needed the better technology, proper irrigation, good fertilizer and most importantly, a high variety of seed which should have the power to multiply the produce enough.
Swaminathan did so by cross-breeding wheat seed, part-Japanese and part-Mexican, that was both fruitful and productive. He later bred this plant to an Indifoi variety to produce the golden-colored grain favored by Indians. This was a major breakthrough in Green Revolution and he was given duly the title of the father of the Green Revolution in India.His main focus was sustainable development in agriculture sector and the preservation of biodiversity.
He was born on August 7, 1925 in South India. His father died early when he was just 11. He was looked after by his uncle, M. K. Narayanaswami, a radiologist. He attended the local high school and later the Catholic Little Flower High School in Kumbakonom, from which he matriculated at age 15. Coming from a family of doctors, he naturally took admission in a medical school. But, when he witnessed the Great Bengal famine of 1943, he decided to devote his life for getting rid of hunger from India, forever.
He then went on to finish his undergraduate degree at Maharajas College in Trivandrum, Kerala (now known as University College, Thiruvananthapuram). He studied there from 1940–44 and earned a Bachelor of Science degree in zoology.
To earn his Ph.D. in genetics, he went to the world famous university, Cambridge. He always wanted to see his country self-reliant in food production. His father was a physician and an ardent follower of Gandhi. One particular incident changed his vision of life permanently. He, as a young energetic boy was brought to a rally by his father in whom British cloth was burned. It proved a great lesson of his life. He says, “I believed I had to serve the nation”.
He had turned down an offer for professorship in his alma mater, Cambridge. He said in one of his interviews, “I asked myself, why I studied genetics? It was to produce enough food in India. So I came back”.It was not an easy decision to take. To leave a well-paid job of Professorship in a university of the world repute was really very tough task. But, love of his the motherland prevailed and triumphed over his other worldly desires.
In 1966, Swaminathan set up 2,000 model farms in villages outside New Delhi to show farmers what his seed could do. But, he needed government to help to import 18,000 tons of the Mexican seed at a time of fiscal hardship. Swaminathan lobbied the Prime Minister, Lal Bahadur Shastri. Since famine was imminent, there was everywhere a willingness to take risks, and so, Shastri agreed. The first harvest with new seeds was three times greater than the previous year. But the revolution was still incomplete.
Only Punjab had the right of irrigation for the new technologies, the state-run food collection and distribution networks were inefficient and new fertilizers and pesticides were needed, along with credit lines for small farmers. Political leadership was vital to solve these problems and Shastri’s successor, Indira Gandhi, bluntly asked Swaminathan that how could India to be free of imports. She gave him a free hand to organize a new agricultural program.
Today, as a result of the Green Revolution, India grows some 70 million tons of wheat a year, compared to 12 million tons in the early 1960s.
His long list of achievements cannot suffice such a short article.
He wrote many books on his favorite subject like, “50 Years of Green Revolution – An Anthology of Research Papers”, 2017, “In Search of Biohappiness – Biodiversity and Food, Health and Livelihood Security (2nd Edition)”, 2015, “Science and Sustainable Food Security – Selected Papers of M S Swaminathan”, 2010 and many others.
He has received several outstanding awards and prizes. These prizes include large sums of money, which has helped sustain and expand his work as H.K. Firodia award for excellence in Science & Technology, Planet and Humanity Medal of the International Geographical Union awarded “in recognition of his unique success in outstanding scientific research and its application, leading to Asia’s Green Revolution, 2000, UNEP Sasakawa Environment Prize Laureate for outstanding contributions to the protection and management of the environment. Co – winner with Paul and Anne Ehrlich 1994, $200,000 prize and dozens other national and international awards.
He also received many fellowships like Indian Academy of Sciences (1957), Indian National Science Academy (1962), National Academy of Sciences, India (1976), Royal Society of London (1973) and many others.
