Dr M S Swaminathan deserves to be honoured posthumously with Bharat Ratna

A void has been created by the visionary agriculture scientist's death, writes R S Paroda

With the passing away of Dr M S Swaminathan, India has lost a great son who led the green revolution in late sixties and helped the country achieve food self-sufficiency.

He is popularly known as the father of the Green Revolution in India. Thanks to his leadership and contributions, India holds its head high by meeting the food demand of its people. From being a country that imported food, we have become a major exporter.

His contributions and reforms to strengthen the National Agricultural Research System, as the first director general of the reorganised Indian Council of Agriculture Research, the creation of an agriculture research service would be remembered with great admiration.

Dr Swaminathan was the first winner of the World Food Prize (1987). He was also honoured with the Ramon Magsaysay award for community leadership in 1971, the Albert Einstein World Science Award in 1987, the Indira Gandhi Prize for peace in 1994, the UNEP Sasakawa Environment Prize in 1994, the UNESCO Gandhi Gold Medal in 1999 and many more.

He was also decorated with Padma Bhushan and Padma Vibhushan and was the president of the Indian Science Congress and chairman of Food and Agriculture Organization, Rome.

He also served as director general of International Rice Research Institute and the founder chairman of M S Swaminathan Research Foundation, Chennai.

The void created by Dr Swaminathan’s death will be difficult to fill as he was a visionary, a good planner and a great human being. He was respected for recommending, as chairman of National Commission on Farmers, to give farmers a minimum support price (MSP) 50 per cent more than the weighted average cost of production.

The farming community is grateful for his love. The agricultural scientific community is saddened by his demise and prays for his noble soul.

Dr Swaminathan, especially his contribution in ensuring household food security, deserves to be honoured posthumously with Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian award.

R S Paroda

(The writer is chairman of Trust for Advancement of Agricultural Sciences (TAAS). He has worked as the director general of Indian Council of Agricultural Research and secretary in the Department of Agricultural Research and Education.)