{ M.S. SWAMINATHAN } 1925-2023 - Agriculturalist who sparked a revolution

In 1959, a young scientist at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute wrote to American agricultural scientist Norman Borlaug, expressing a wish to customise for India a high-yielding wheat variety the latter had initially developed for poverty-stricken Mexico in the 1950s

- Zia Haq

Borlaug, the young Indian scientist would write later, “wanted to see Indian growing conditions before making up a set of breeding lines, and paid a visit in March 1963. We tested the material at locations all over north India during rabi (the winter crop cycle) 1963.”

The scientist was Mankombu Sambasivan Swaminathan, and the events mentioned above marked the beginning of India’s Green Revolution, transforming the country from being dependent on humiliating food donations to feed its population to being a farm powerhouse, saving millions from hunger and devastating famines.

Swaminathan, 98, the recipient of India’s second highest civilian honour the Padma Vibhushan, and the World Food Prize, widely known as the father of the Green Revolution, died at his Chennai home on Thursday.

Swaminathan’s passing has been widely mourned, at home and abroad. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a post on X, said that “at a very critical period in our nation’s history, his groundbreaking work in agriculture transformed the lives of millions and ensured food security for our nation”. The Food and Agricultural Organisation said his demise had brought an “end to an epoch”.

Swaminathan served as a secretary to the Union department of agricultural research (1972-1979), headed top state-run farm institutions in his career, and was also nominated to the Rajya Sabha (2007-2013). Time magazine had named him as one among 20 most influential persons of the 20th century.