Father of India's 'green revolution' MS Swaminathan passes away at 98
Agriculture scientist Monkombu Sambasivan Swaminathan has passed away at the age of 98 on Saturday due to illness, reports said on Thursday. Swaminathan is fondly known as the father of India's green revolution, for his role in helping develop a hybrid wheat seed that allowed Indian farmers to dramatically increase yields and shed external reliance for food grains.
Born on August 7, 1925 in Kumbakonam, Tamil Nadu, TIME Magazine named Swaminathan among one of the twenty most influential Asians of the 20th century and one of the only three from India.
Mahatma Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore are the other two Indians on the list.
Swaminathan's website notes that he served as Director of the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (1961-72), Director General of Indian Council of Agricultural Research and Secretary to the Government of India, Department of Agricultural Research and Education (1972-79), Principal Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture (1979-80), Acting Deputy Chairman and later Member (Science and Agriculture), Planning Commission (1980-82) and Director General, International Rice Research Institute, the Philippines (1982-88).
Back in the 1960s, Swaminathan, reportedly turned down plumb positions in academia and the government to work in agriculture research, helped cross-breed wheat seeds that allowed India to more than treble its annual crop in just 15 years.
“The Green Revolution created a sense of euphoria that we have solved our production problem. Now we have a plateau in production and productivity.
