India is an agricultural country. Nearly 70 per cent of the people of India are engaged in agriculture. India is the second most populated country in the world. The population of India has crossed 1000 million. To feed such a huge population we need large amounts of food. Many scientists have been working hard to increase the yield in agriculture and the most important among them is Dr. M.S. Swaminathan.

 

    Monkombu Sambasivan Swaminathan was born on 7th August 1925 at Kumbakonam in Tamil Nadu. His father was a physician. He was an ardent follower of Gandhiji. After finishing schooling, he studied agriculture in his Degree course. Ln 1949, he got a fellowship to study Genetics (A study of Genes) in Netherlands. He did his Ph.D. at Cambridge University and further studies in agriculture at Wisconsin in U.S.A.

    Swaminathan was of the firm opinion that import of food means helping the farmers of other countries. Hence he decided to take all steps to stop these imports. In 1966 Dr. Swaminathan became the Director of the Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi. To gain first-hand knowledge, he spent his time with the farmers in the fields. He got financial help from Rockefeller Foundation and developed a crossbred wheat seed. These seeds were used in cultivation and the yield was very high. This variety of seed was further developed and was much fovoured by Indian farmers. To prove to the farmers, that modern methods can increase yield, Dr. Swaminathan started nearly 2000 model farms outside Delhi. He wanted to import 18,000 tonnes of Mexican wheat, only to be used as seeds. The Government gave full support to this new agricultural expert. Due to his efforts, the wheat production has increased from 12 million tonnes in 1960 to 70 million tonnes now.

    Dr. Swaminathan concentrated on agriculture and introduced scientific methods. This is called Green Revolution. Dr. Swaminathan is aptly called as the 'Father of Green Revolution.' Unfortunately, India depends on rain for agriculture, because India is a monsoon (rain) country. Indian agriculture is called 'a gamble with monsoons'. Adopting water harvesting schemes will be very helpful. Hence, he developed schemes for developing sustainable water security system for India.

    Green revolution means agriculture has to be mechanised. We see tractors plough the lands and machines are used for removing weeds. Even harvesting is done by machines, which saves much labour and prevents wastage of grains. The use of fertilizers and pesticides increases the yield. It is a great achievement that our granaries are now overflowing. The honors earned by Dr. Swaminathan are innumerable. Many universities have honoured him with Doctorates. In 1971, he received the Magsaysay award for community leadership.

    Swaminathan is the only scientist to have been honoured by a number of awards, including the Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan and Gandhi prize for peace disarmament and development. He was awarded the Albert Einstein award in 1986 and he received the First World Food prize in 1987. In 1991 Tyler prize of the United States was given to him. He was awarded the UNESCO Gandhi Gold award in 1999. The famous Time Magazine notified him as one of the 20 most influential Asians of the 20th Century, in 1999.

    Dr. Swaminathan established the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation in Chennai in 1990. This research centre is working for economic growth in Indian villages. His life is a noble example of hard work and dedication and a spirit of unceasing love for one's motherland.

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