HE WAS all geared up to pick up his father’s medical practice, and as a medical student looked forward to a settled life. But Mahatma Gandhi interfered -- in a good sense, influencing the thought process of the young fellow who felt emotionally tortured by the terrible scenes from the Great Bengal Famine. So, Mankombu Sambasivan Swaminathan gave up his medical studies and joined an agriculture college -- to earn two Bachelor’s Degrees, one in Zoology and the other in Agriculture Sciences. And from that point, he never looked back. On August 7, he will turn 96, but Dr. M.S. Swaminathan, the pride of Indian sciences, is still not willing to look back. He is busy in his research at Chennai’s M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation, guiding younger people, and also advising the Government on critical issues. Of course, he looks back on his rewarding life with satisfaction.

 

Nearly one hundred national and international honours. Padma Shri, Padma Bhushan, Padma Vibhushan. Plus the most endearing epithet of “Father of India’s Green Revolution”. Yet, newer challenges beckon and MS gets busy in those pursuits. Even at this age. His story is never told to our youngsters in the right manner. Hence this attempt -- which is going to remain only half complete as the man’s quest for more and higher achievement continues forever. But going by what he had achieved in his career in the United States as an international research scientist, Dr. M.S. Swaminathan had no business returning to India. He could have lived on there -- to become America’s foremost agricultural scientist and one of the world’s top genetists. But India was beckoning him. Back he came and became one of the drivers of the country’s pursuits of sciences. One fine afternoon, Dr. M.S. Swaminathan got a call from Union Food and Agriculture Minister Mr. C. Subramanium. ‘Prime Minister Mrs. Indira Gandhi was very worried about foodgrain shortages. Can something be done about it?’ -- the Minister wondered. That was the beginning of one of the greatest stories of agricultural prosperity. In due course, Dr. Swaminathan came to be known as India’s Father of Green Revolution. Such tales happen only in fiction, one may say. But that is how things are in the case of Dr. M.S. Swaminathan. After his Bachelor’s Degree in Agricultural Science, MS joined New Delhi Agricultural Research Institute.

 

There he earned his post-graduation, too, in plant genetics. Then came the opportunity to work as a UNESCO Fellow for Washington Agricultural University’s Institute of Genetics in the Netherlands; then at the University of Cambridge School of Agriculture where he earned his PhD as well. He was just 29 years old and known for his academic excellence and dynamic research credentials. The world lay at his feet. It would do whatever he willed. And the young man willed to return to his dear Motherland -- to change the country’s fortunes in foodgrains. Round the clock he worked. Round the clock he guided research. Round the clock he was thronged by national leaders for advice on critical issues. Hundreds of young persons started their careers as scientists under him. The world watching, and wanted MS to do wonders elsewhere as well. For a while, Dr. Swaminathan accepted the challenge to head the International Rice Research Centre at Manila in the Philippines, taking along with him a clutch of Indian scientists to dominate the global effort in rice research. But wherever he went, MS always headed back to India to devote all his energies. As many as 254 scientific papers came from his work, out of which 155 were the one in which he was either a single author or first author. Honours such as Norman Borlaug Award, Ramon Magsaysay Award, Einstein Award, plus countless other honours beelined into his kitty. But all those did not matter much. For, Dr. M.S. Swaminathan had long back vowed to himself that he would not rest until he ensures that every child in the country has his full meal twice a day. ... Thus the story continues -- with a new chapter every now and then.