M S Swaminathan

An Inner View

The man who changed the face of Indian agriculture!

WORLD Food Prize, Ramon Magsaysay Award, Albert Einstein World Science Award, United Nations Environment Programme’s (UNEP) Sasakawa Prize, Volvo Environment Prize, Padma Shri, Padma Bhushan, Padma Vibushan. You name it, and he’s got it. One big room is not enough to accommodate the huge number of plaques, trophies, certificates and commendations conferred to and received by Dr M S Swaminathan, Chairman of the National Commission on Farmers, and member of Rajya Sabha, the upper house of Parliament in the Government of India.
TIME magazine acclaimed M S Swaminathan as one of the twenty most influential Asians of the 20th century, one of only three from India, the other two being Mahatma Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore. He has also been described by UNEP as “the Father of Economic Ecology”. Strongly influenced by Mahatma Gandhi’s unique belief in ahimsa or non-violence to achieve purna swaraj (total freedom) and swadeshi (self-reliance), Dr Swaminathan, seeing the growing food shortage in the country, enrolled at the Madras Agriculture College, Coimbatore, hoping to help in liberating the country from lack of food. It is while studying agriculture that he learned that men and women toiling daily in the fields know their jobs better than a scientific expert. Therefore, as the present chairman of the National Commission on Farmers, Dr Swaminathan recommended a national policy for the farmers, not merely a policy for agriculture. “The new strategy for agriculture development is to put the well being of the farmer at the bottom line. We need a human-centric approach to the agriculture policy,” he says.
After pursuing a doctorate degree at Cambridge University, and post-graduate degrees in agriculture research at Wageningen University in The Netherlands and University of Wisconsin, USA, Dr Swaminathan came back to India equipped with the knowledge on how to tackle the challenges of Indian agriculture. Since then, his contributions to the agricultural renaissance of India led to his being widely referred to as the scientific leader of the Green Revolution movement.
“Indian agriculture is in a state of transition today. We have bright spots, but there are also a growing number of serious dark spots caused by ecological risks, economics and the growing risk arising from both meteorological and marketing factors. We should transform these risks into opportunities, which can become the beginning of a new dawn for Indian agriculture.”
At 81, the indefatigable Dr Swaminathan frequently travels to different parts of the world for lectures, meetings, conventions and conferences, apart from attending to his numerous responsibilities in different organisations, local and international, where he holds key positions. The support of his family is what he counts on most, even today. “When the chips are down, only the family stays with you. It is where I get genuine affection with no expectations.”
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- Published in the May issue of At A Glance, India's first and only cultural magazine, by Global Adjustments Services Private Limited, Chennai