New Delhi: Condolences poured in Thursday for renowned agricultural scientist Dr Monkombu Sambasivan Swaminathan after he passed away in Chennai. He was 98.
Swaminathan pioneered the production and use of high-yielding varieties of rice and wheat in India, kickstarting the Green Revolution in the 1960s — a feat that earned him the moniker ‘Father of the Green Revolution’.
In a post on X, Prime Minister Narendra Modi called him a “powerhouse of innovation and a nurturing mentor to many”.
Deeply saddened by the demise of Dr. MS Swaminathan Ji. At a very critical period in our nation’s history, his groundbreaking work in agriculture transformed the lives of millions and ensured food security for our nation. pic.twitter.com/BjLxHtAjC4
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) September 28, 2023
“At a very critical period in our nation’s history, his groundbreaking work in agriculture transformed the lives of millions and ensured food security for our nation,” he added.
Congress MP Jairam Ramesh, former Minister of Environment, Forests and Climate Change, called Swaminathan an “inspiring teacher” and wrote about his role in promoting ecological sustainability.
Dr. M.S.Swaminathan, the key scientific architect of the Green Revolution, that made India self-sufficient in rice and wheat by the mid-70s has just passed away.
He was a great institution builder, an inspiring teacher, a motivational leader, but above all, a man of the… pic.twitter.com/0uqGsFxdD8
— Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) September 28, 2023
Congress MP Rahul Gandhi hailed Swaminathan’s “steadfast commitment to revolutionising India’s agriculture” that turned India “into a food surplus country”.
Swaminathan was born on 7 August 1925 in Kumbakonam, Tamil Nadu. He did his PhD in plant genetics from Cambridge University in 1952, and then moved to Wisconsin University, US, for postdoctoral research.
Through his stellar career, he served in a series of distinguished roles and won several awards.
He was the director of the Indian Agricultural Research Institute from (1966-1972), principal secretary for the erstwhile Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation (1979-1980), and was the first Asian director of the Philippines-based International Rice Research Institute (1982), an international research organisation.
In 1987, he became the first World Food Prize laureate, and used the prize money to set up the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF), a nonprofit that aims to use scientific knowledge for agricultural impact.
The MSSRF also collaborates with organisations that work in coastal development, climate change, biotechnology, and oceanography.
Speaking to ThePrint, Dr Balakrishnan Nair, group director at the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS), said Swaminathan was not just the father of the Green Revolution, but also of operational oceanography in India.
Other recognitions include the Ramon Magsaysay Award (1971), and three of India’s top civilian awards — Padma Shri, Padma Bhushan and Padma Vibhushan. He was among the recipients of the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award for scientists, and was named by Time magazine as one of the 20 most influential Asians of the 20th century alongside Mahatma Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore.
Swaminathan is survived by three daughters, including Soumya Swaminathan, who was the chief scientist at the World Health Organization until 2022.
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‘His work was phenomenal’
Speaking to ThePrint, Ashok Kumar Singh, a principal scientist at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) and a close collaborator of Swaminathan, said the scientist was no less than a manifestation of divinity for the poor.
“Mahatma Gandhi once said that God can only appear to poor people in the form of bread. To Indians, that God is none other than M.S. Swaminathan,” he added.
“He is not just a scientist and an agriculturalist. His work was phenomenal, and it served mankind in so many ways. Every Indian should recall him while taking four square meals of the day, since he made it possible for us,” he said.
Nair described Swaminathan as a guide. Describing his first meeting with him, he said, “I was a young scientist, just finishing my PhD. It was Dr Swaminathan that guided me and countless others in our initial years.”
“He told us our science should serve humankind, should serve our country and its poorest people. If there’s anything I know about science, it is because of him,” he added.
Swaminathan’s work to improve agriculture in India began in 1954, when he joined the Central Rice Research Institute (CRRI) at Cuttack, Odisha.
At the CRRI, he worked on developing hybrid rice crops that would respond to fertilizers, and were suitable for the Indian climate. These varieties were the early harbingers of the Green Revolution programme in India. He moved to the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) in Delhi later the same year.
With the help of American scientist Norman Borlaug, Swaminathan cracked the perfect wheat and rice hybrid varieties that formed the heart of the Green Revolution.
Apart from working closely on the ground with farmers, Swaminathan also worked to convince the Indira Gandhi-led government at the time to approve the widespread planting of high-yield varieties of seeds.
“Swaminathan’s work was not a purely scientific pursuit though,” said Singh. “He was genuinely appreciative of those who provided food to us, and he considered it a sacred role.”
Singh recounted how, when he was travelling with Swaminathan in Myanmar in 2016, the latter thanked the kitchen staff of their hotel at the end of the trip. “We must always be grateful to people who give us food is what Swaminathan always said,” he added.
Also Read: Soumya Swaminathan is now making science and policy work together. Her WHO lessons helping
Beyond agriculture
In 2002, Swaminathan was elected president of the Nobel-Prize-Winning Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs, which seeks to “bring together, from around the world, influential scientists, scholars and public figures concerned with reducing the danger of armed conflict and seeking cooperative solutions for global problems”.
Nair talked about the support provided by Swaminathan in establishing the INCOIS in 2001.
When fishermen across the coast of Tamil Nadu were dying because of lack of knowledge of the ocean, Swaminathan reached out to Nair, he said.
“Bala, why can’t we start ocean forecasting services for our fishermen?’ is what he asked me. I jumped at the opportunity, and it was with his support that we could develop INCOIS for the safety of our Indian fishermen,” he added.
“He gave us our goal — to provide ocean sciences information for the people, the fishermen who are at sea and are affected by it. He was always of the view that scientific knowledge belongs with the people, and it is our job to provide it to them” Nair said. “I would say we have lost not only the father of the Green Revolution, but also the father of operational oceanography in India.”
Dr Nabanshu Chattopadhay, senior consultant at the World Bank, first met Swaminathan in Chennai in 1992.
“I was a nobody then, very young. I went to see a Swaminathan lecture on global warming and agriculture and I wanted to meet him,” he said. “Everyone knew him, such an influential man. They said I can’t meet him since he is too busy,” recalled Chattopdhyay. “But Swaminathan sir called me over to his house, and spoke to me for hours on science, agriculture and meteorology. That is his lasting legacy — despite his fame and knowledge, he was always willing to meet young scientists and help them.”
(Edited by Sunanda Ranjan)
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