The father of India's Green Revolution, Indian scientist M. S. Swaminathan, died on Thursday at the age of 98. The high-yield paddy cultivars that Swaminathan helped create allowed Indian farmers to increase their production.
Swaminathan founded the MS Swaminathan Research Foundation in Chennai after receiving the first World Food Prize in 1987.
Additionally, the scientist received the Padma Shri, Padma Bhushan, and Padma Vibhushan awards. In addition to the HK Firodia Award, Swaminathan has also received the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Award and the Indira Gandhi Prize. His international honours include the Albert Einstein World Science Award (1986) and the Ramon Magsaysay Award (1971).
The scientist's three daughters, Soumya Swaminathan, Madhura Swaminathan, and Nitya Swaminathan, are now his only survivors after his wife Mina passed away in 2022.
M S Swaminathan: Who Was He?Mankombu Sambasivan Swaminathan, who was born on August 7th, 1925, had the idea to end hunger and poverty in the world. The United Nations Environment Programme has referred to him as "the Father of Economic Ecology" because of his support for sustainable development and the preservation of biodiversity.
Swaminathan was a double bachelors graduate. He originally intended to major in Agricultural Science and Zoology, but after witnessing the Bengal Famine in 1943, he changed his mind. When there was a severe food scarcity in India in 1960, M. S. Swaminathan, Norman Borlaug, and other researchers created the HYV (high yielding variety) wheat seeds.
From 1972 to 1979, he headed the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, and from 1982 to 1988, the International Rice Research Institute. In 1979, Swaminathan also held the position of Principal Secretary for the Ministry of Agriculture.
How Did India's Green Revolution Begin?The term "Green Revolution" refers to a series of research and technology transfer projects that took place between the 1950s and the late 1960s and increased agricultural productivity all over the world.
The term "Green Revolution" in India refers to a time when modern agricultural techniques, such as the use of tractors, irrigation systems, pesticides, and fertiliser, as well as technology, such as the use of HYV seeds, were adopted, transforming Indian agriculture into an industrial system.
M. S. Swaminathan established the Green Revolution in India as a part of a broader project by Normal Borlaug. The goal was to employ technology and agricultural research to raise agricultural productivity in the developing nations.
The creation of rust-resistant strains of wheat and high-yielding varieties of wheat in India marked one of the major turning points in the Green Revolution. However, the high yielding varieties programme was limited to only 5 crops: wheat, rice, jowar, maize, and bajra.
In India, the Green Revolution helped to solve a number of issues, including recurring famines, a lack of financial stability, and a lack of self-sufficiency.
Beginning in the early 1960s, the Green Revolution in India increased food grain output, particularly in Punjab, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh.
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