Scientist and Humanist (Biography of Dr. M.S. Swaminathan Renowned Agricultural Scientist)

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This is a biography of Dr. M.S. Swaminathan, the renowned agricultural scientist, who has contributed more than most to the food security of our country. Starting with helping to usher in the wheat revolution in the 1960s that completely changed our agricultural status, Swaminathan has been in the forefront of leading what he calls the 'evergreen revolution' to ensure the sustainability of agriculture. His "brilliant leadership has established a goal for the new millennium a hunger-free world, an international structure of co-operation among nations, a determination to use the miraculous technology of our times to help those in need," read the citation for the Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Medal he received in the year 2000.

A specialist in plant tissue culture, R.D. Iyer began his teaching and research career in cytogenetics and applied botany at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, in 1958. He has been associated with Dr. M.S. Swaminathan since then in various capacities, and was awarded a Ph.D. in botany under his guidance. He has received the ICAR's Jawaharlal Nehru Award for outstanding post-graduate research in Plant Breeding and Genetics and has served the Government of Mauritius as Adviser, Plant Tissue Culture, from 1987 to 1989. Retiring as Head of the Division of Genetics and Biotechnology at the Central Plantation Crops Research Institute at Kasargod, Kerala, Dr. Iyer is currently involved in the establishment of a modern R&D laboratory for the conservation, evaluation, and rapid multiplication of ayurvedic medicinal plants at the Arya Vaidya Sala in Kottakkal. Besides his scientific pursuits, Iyer has been an active worker of the Chinmaya Mission.

Arnold Toynbee, the renowned historian, once said, "It is absurd and unjust to classify a person once for all as being first class or third class when he is only twenty-two years old. There are slow growers who blossom late in life and conversely there are brilliant starters who fail to fulfil their earlier promise." Dr. Swaminathan belongs to a rare group which is brilliant at school as well as in later life. He is one of the brilliant starters winning several gold medals for excellence in studies and who more than fulfilled his early promise. His career has been one of continuous success in every sphere of activity.

Even in his younger days, Dr. Swaminathan was deeply distressed by the poor yield of lands and the poverty of agriculturists. He had learnt that the yield in India was far below that of the United States, Japan and Thailand. The Bengal famine of 1942-43 and the harrowing tales of the misery of millions, induced him to turn his attention to agricultural education. Now wonder that when a few years later he was chosen by the Public Service Commission for the Indian Police Service, he preferred to continue with the subject of his devotion, namely, agriculture. Again in 1954, when a University in the United States offered him a regular teaching-cum-research professorship, Dr. Swaminathan declined and returned to India for carrying on his research for increasing food production in the motherland.

And he did achieve his goal in increasing food production in India spectacularly through the Green Revolution. Addressing the Asian Development Bank at Manila, I once described the pathetic conditions of the agriculturist before the Green Revolution with a story:

An honest farmer cultivated five acres of land and ran into debt year after year, until at last the debts swelled more than the value of the land he farmed. He, therefore, abandoned the farm and ran away wearing only a loincloth. As he ran aimlessly, he came across a figure standing stark naked.