Bharat Ratna -Dr MS Swaminathan
Dr VK Bahuguna
February 14, 2024, 03:05:10
The Prime Minister the other day announced three ‘Bharat Ratna’ awards
posthumously viz the former Prime Ministers Chaudhury Charan Singh, PV Narsimha
Rao and Dr MS Swaminathan. Each of them had made significant contribution for
the welfare of our people. Chaudhury Charan Singh was the Messiah of farmers,
whereas PV Narsimha Rao finished the license raj in the government and changed
the course of how India need to be governed. Among several ‘’Bharat Ratna’
awardees for several years Dr MS Swaminathan is in a different league all
together. He is regarded as the father of India’s Green Revolution and was the
world leader in agriculture science and ecology. He was very active even in his
mid-nineties with a razor-sharp memory till he peacefully died on 28th
September 2023. By recognizing a great scientist who used to move like a humble
commoner the Prime Minister had shown the magnanimity of supporting the
citizens who immensely contributed in nation’s wellbeing. Dr MS Swaminathan’s
background and career path clearly indicate that he was created by God to
fulfill a dream for the citizens of India to become self sufficient in food
production and do get rid of America’s PL 480 scheme under which they used to
supply food grains to poor nations and leverage their strategic relations. Let
us have a look at the life and achievements of this great Indian.
Mankombu Sambasivan Swaminathan was born into a medical Doctor’s family
on 7th August 1925 in Kumbakonam in Tamil Nadu. Agriculture farming
came to him naturally as his family owned more than 2000 Acre of land and he had
firsthand experience of how farmers experience the vagaries of nature and
market that makes agriculture very uncertain while growing rice, mango and
coconut. The Bengal famine of 1943 in the midst of world war deeply impacted
his mind in which lakhs of people died and which made him to chose Agriculture
Science as a career by resisting the family pressure to opt for medical
profession. In the realm of life in nature some people are born with a clear
message from the Almighty with plenty of divine grace is showered on them to
serve the humanity and all such people and I believe Dr MS Swaminathan was one
such person. Agriculture as a profession was not rated very high among job
seekers during his adolescence age but he not only chose to become an
agronomist and plant breeder but on the advice of his mentor in Netherlands did
not join the Indian Police Service after selection. Only a man of passion and
with extraordinary vision and self-confidence could have taken such a decision
at that time when the lure for civil services was at its best. The rest is a
history of creation of an extra ordinary talented scientists and administrator.
After having getting education in Trivandrum in Kerala and Madras
University in Tamil Nadu he moved to Indian Agricultural Research Institute
(IARI) in early fifties to become a geneticist and plant breeder. After having
worked for a few years he got a UNESCO fellowship to study Genetics at
Wageningen Agriculture University in Netherlands for eight months. He firmed up
his knowledge in Plant Breeding by going in 1950 to Plant Breeding Institute of
Cambridge University. After studying for another 15 months in Wisconsin
laboratory of Genetics in United States he returned to India in 1953. Dr
Swaminathan got in touch with another great scientist Norman Borlaug who was
responsible for leading the world in increasing the production of food grains.
Whereas, Norma Borlaug received the Nobel Prize for being the father of Green
Revolution in the world Dr Swaminathan with his work on breeding the Mexican
dwarf variety of wheat with the Japanese variety led to development of disease-free
high yielding varieties and ultimately with government support these were used
in the field which led to three times jump in the wheat production in the
country in a single year. The full credit though goes to his leadership and his
team of scientists but the country must not forget the big role played by the
then Agriculture Minister C. Subramaniam who stoutly supported Dr MS
Swaminathan and his team and permitted the trials of wheat variety developed by
them. For his contribution in Green Revolution C Subramaniam was also given
Bharat Ratna in 1998 and now the foot soldier’s leader has been awarded. This achievement
laid the foundation of Agriculture Scientists upswings in government and Dr
Swaminathan became the Director-General of Indian Council of Agriculture
Research and Secretary of the Department of Agriculture from 1972 to 1980 and
set up a network of institutions all over the country and developed so many
varieties. After agronomy achieved a lot there was need to support animal
husbandry but it was neglected and today there is a need to reform the sector
to create a council of animal husbandry in order to increase the income of
farmers. Dr Swaminathan moved to Planning Commission for two years and helped
in promoting the forestry research also. Later in 1982 on he went to
Philippines to head the International Rice Research Institute. He also led many
international bodies like International Union for Conservation of Nature and
World wild Life Fund. Dr Swaminathan
apart from getting all Padma Awards i.e. Padma Shri, Padma Bhushan and Padma
Vibhushan got several other awards. In 1987 he was awarded the world food prize
award. However, as you grow in stature
the detractors especially western scientists try to sully the image of our
scientists and Dr Swaminathan was no exception.
In nut shell, by awarding Bharat Ratna to such an illustrious son of
India and a great patriot the value of these awards has increased in the eyes
of people. In recent years the Padma Shri awards are going to large numbers of
unknown people for their contribution in varied fields. This award should also act
as an incentive to agriculture and other scientists/professionals to work with
great determination to solve the problems of farmers and the overall ecosystem
and scientific base of India particularly in the field of developing
technologies to deal with climate change.
(Tripurainfo)