Prof MS Swaminathan, eminent agricultural scientist and one of the main brains behind India’s Green Revolution will turn 88 on Wednesday. President Pranab Mukherjee is flying down to Chennai to greet the country’s doyen in agricultural science research. The birth day is observed as the Founder’s Day of the MS Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF) in Chennai, a research centre-cum-think tank on agro-rural development. The MSSRF was launched in 1988 by Prof Swaminathan with the cash award he received as part of the prestigious World Food Prize.
It was the Green Revolution he launched along with Prof Norman Borlaug in mid-60s which helped India becoming a food sufficient country from that of a food deficit country. The high-yield varieties of rice and wheat seedlings introduced in the country by Prof Swaminathan and Prof Borlaug helped India achieving food security. Even today, the octogenarian scientist goes around the country pleading and convincing the farmers about the need to increase the yield per acre and per drop of water.
The MSSRF played crucial role in setting up village resource centres in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Pudussery to disseminate the advancements made research in laboratories to the farmers and farm lands.
In 1999, the Time magazine had rated Prof Swaminathan as one of the most influential 20 persons in Asia. The shelf in MSSRF boasts of all top honours in the world except Bharat Rathna and the Nobel Prize. Prof Swaminathan was honoured with Ramon Magsaysay Award, the Asian equivalent of Nobel Prize in 1971.
“What else we can expect from himIJ He is the guiding and inspiring force behind hundreds of agricultural scientists and farmers. Prof Swaminathan gives complete freedom to the young researchers as well as farmers in thinking, conceiving and implementing programmes,” Dr Ajay Parida, executive director, MSSRF told The Pioneer on the eve of the scientist’s 88th birthday.