M. S. Swaminathan

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Swaminathan's collaborative scientific efforts with Norman Borlaug, spearheading a mass movement with farmers and other scientists and backed by public policies, saved India and Pakistan from certain famine-like conditions in the 1960s.Template:Sfn<ref name=":8">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> His leadership as director general of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in the Philippines was instrumental in his being awarded the first World Food Prize in 1987, recognized as one of the highest honours in the field of agriculture.Template:Sfn The United Nations Environment Programme has called him "the Father of Economic Ecology".<ref name=":22" /> He was recently conferred the Bharat Ratna, the highest civilian award of the Republic of India, in 2024.

Swaminathan contributed basic research related to potato, wheat, and rice, in areas such as cytogenetics, ionizing radiation, and radiosensitivity.Template:Sfn He was a president of the Pugwash Conferences and the International Union for Conservation of Nature.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn In 1999, he was one of three Indians, along with Gandhi and Tagore, on TimeTemplate:'s list of the 20 most influential Asian people of the 20th century.<ref name=":0" /> Swaminathan received numerous awards and honours, including the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award, the Ramon Magsaysay Award, and the Albert Einstein World Science Award.<ref name=":22">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Swaminathan chaired the National Commission on Farmers in 2004, which recommended far-reaching ways to improve India's farming system.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He was the founder of an eponymous research foundation.<ref name=":0" /> He coined the term "Evergreen Revolution" in 1990 to describe his vision of "productivity in perpetuity without associated ecological harm".<ref name=":4" />Template:Sfn He was nominated to the Parliament of India for one term between 2007 and 2013.<ref name=":10">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> During his tenure he put forward a bill for the recognition of women farmers in India.<ref name=":11">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

LifeEdit

Early life and educationEdit

Swaminathan was born in a Tamil Brahmin family in Kumbakonam, Madras Presidency, on 7 August 1925.Template:Sfn He was the second son of general surgeon M. K. Sambasivan and Parvati Thangammal Sambasivan. At age 11, after his father's death, Swaminathan was looked after by his father's brother. Swaminathan’s parents were second-generation descendants of migrants from Thanjavur, and were natives of Mankombu, Alappuzha, Kerala. This was the reason he was carrying Mankombu in his name.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Swaminathan was educated at a local high school and later at the Catholic Little Flower High School in Kumbakonam,Template:Sfn from which he matriculated at age 15.Template:Sfn From childhood, he interacted with farming and farmers; his extended family grew rice, mangoes, and coconut, and later expanded into other areas such as coffee.Template:Sfn He saw the impact that fluctuations in the price of crops had on his family, including the devastation that weather and pests could cause to crops as well as incomes.Template:Sfn

His parents wanted him to study medicine. With that in mind, he started off his higher education with zoology.Template:Sfn But when he witnessed the impacts of the Bengal famine of 1943 during the Second World War and shortages of rice throughout the sub-continent, he decided to devote his life to ensuring India had enough food.Template:Sfn Despite his family background, and belonging to an era where medicine and engineering were considered much more prestigious, he chose agriculture.Template:Sfn

He went on to finish his undergraduate degree in zoology at Maharaja's College in Trivandrum, Kerala (now known as University College, Thiruvananthapuram at the University of Kerala).Template:Sfn He then studied at University of Madras (Madras Agricultural College, now the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University) from 1940 to 1944 and earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Agricultural Science.Template:Sfn During this time he was also taught by Cotah Ramaswami, a professor of agronomy.Template:Sfn

In 1947 he moved to the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) in New Delhi to study genetics and plant breeding.Template:Sfn He obtained a post-graduate degree with high distinction in cytogenetics in 1949. His research focused on the genus Solanum, with specific attention to the potato.Template:Sfn Social pressures resulted in him competing in the examinations for civil services, through which he was selected to the Indian Police Service.Template:Sfn At the same time, an opportunity for him arose in the agriculture field in the form of a UNESCO fellowship in genetics in the Netherlands. He chose genetics.Template:Sfn

Netherlands and EuropeEdit

Swaminathan was a UNESCO fellow at the Wageningen Agricultural University's Institute of Genetics in the Netherlands for eight months.Template:Sfn The demand for potatoes during the Second World War resulted in deviations in age-old crop rotations. This caused golden nematode infestations in certain areas such as reclaimed agricultural lands. Swaminathan worked on adapting genes to provide resilience against such parasites, as well as cold weather. To this effect, the research succeeded.Template:Sfn Ideologically the university influenced his later scientific pursuits in India with respect to food production.Template:Sfn During this time he also made a visit to the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research in war-torn Germany; this would later influence him deeply as during his next visit, a decade later, he saw that the Germans had transformed Germany, both infrastructurally and energetically.Template:Sfn

United KingdomEdit

In 1950, he moved to study at the Plant Breeding Institute of the University of Cambridge School of Agriculture.Template:Sfn He earned a Doctor of Philosophy degree in 1952 for his thesis "Species Differentiation, and the Nature of Polyploidy in certain species of the genus Solanum – section Tuberarium".Template:Sfn The following December he stayed for a week with F.L. Brayne, a former Indian Civil Service officer, whose experiences with rural India influenced Swaminathan in his later years.Template:Sfn

United States of AmericaEdit

Swaminathan then spent 15 months in the United States.Template:Sfn He accepted a post-doctoral research associateship at the University of Wisconsin's Laboratory of Genetics to help set up a USDA potato research station.Template:Sfn The laboratory at the time had Nobel laureate Joshua Lederberg on its faculty.Template:Sfn His associateship ended in December 1953. Swaminathan turned down a faculty position in order to continue to make a difference back home in India.Template:Sfn

IndiaEdit

Swaminathan returned to India in early 1954. There were no jobs in his specialisation and it was only three months later that he received an opportunity through a former professor to work temporarily as an assistant botanist at Central Rice Research Institute in Cuttack.Template:Sfn At Cuttack, he was under an indica-japonica rice hybridisation program started by Krishnaswami Ramiah. This stint would go on to influence his future work with wheat.Template:Sfn Half a year later he joined Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) in New Delhi in October 1954 as an assistant cytogeneticist.Template:Sfn Swaminathan was critical of India importing food grains when seventy percent of India was dependent on agriculture. Further drought and famine-like situations were developing in the country.Template:Sfn

File:Stamp of India - 1968 - Colnect 239052 - Wheat Revolution.jpeg

An Indian postage stamp released on 17 July 1968 commemorated the "Wheat Revolution" with wheat stalks, the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), and a bar graph of the increase in wheat production.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Swaminathan and Norman Borlaug collaborated, with Borlaug touring India and sending supplies for a range of Mexican dwarf varieties of wheat, which were to be bred with Japanese varieties.Template:Sfn Initial testing in an experimental plot showed good results. The crop was high-yield, good quality, and disease free.Template:Sfn There was hesitation by farmers to adopt the new variety whose high yields were unnerving.Template:Sfn In 1964, following repeated requests by Swaminathan to demonstrate the new variety, he was given funding to plant small demonstration plots. A total of 150 demonstration plots on 1 hectare were planted.Template:Sfn The results were promising and the anxieties of the farmers were reduced.Template:Sfn More modifications were made to the grain in the laboratory to better suit Indian conditions.Template:Sfn The new wheat varieties were sown and in 1968 production went to 17 million tonnes, 5 million tonnes more than the last harvest.Template:Sfn

Just before receiving his Nobel Prize in 1970, Norman Borlaug wrote to Swaminathan:Template:Sfn

The Green Revolution has been a team effort and much of the credit for its spectacular development must go to the Indian officials, organizations, scientists, and farmers. However, to you, Dr. Swaminathan, a great deal of the credit must go for first recognizing the potential value of the Mexican dwarfs. Had this not occurred, it is quite possible that there would not have been a Green Revolution in Asia.{{#if:|{{#if:|}}
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Notable contributions were made by Indian agronomists and geneticists such as Gurdev Khush and Dilbagh Singh Athwal.<ref name=":8" /> The Government of India declared India self-sufficient in food production in 1971.Template:Sfn India and Swaminathan could now deal with other serious issues of access to food, hunger, and nutrition.Template:Sfn<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He was with IARI between 1954 and 1972.<ref name=":5">Template:Cite book</ref>

Administrator and educatorEdit

In 1972, Swaminathan was appointed as the director-general of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and a secretary to the Government of India.Template:Sfnp In 1979, in a rare move for a scientist, he was made a principal secretary, a senior position in the Government of India.Template:Sfn The next year he was shifted to the Planning Commission.Template:Sfn As director-general of ICAR, he pushed for technical literacy, setting up centres all over India for this.Template:Sfn Droughts during this period led him to form groups to watch weather and crop patterns, with the ultimate aim of protecting the poor from malnutrition.Template:Sfn His shift to the Planning Commission for two years resulted in the introduction of women and environment with respect to development in India's five year plans for the first time.Template:Sfn Template:Sfnp

In 1982, he was made the first Asian director general of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in the Philippines.Template:Sfn He was there until 1988.<ref name=":5" /> One of the contributions he made during his tenure here was conducting an international conference "Women in Rice Farming Systems".Template:Sfn For this, the United States–based Association for Women in Development gave Swaminathan their first award for "outstanding contributions to the integration of women in development".Template:Sfn As director general, he spread awareness among rice-growing families of making the value of each part of the rice crop.Template:Sfn His leadership at IRRI was instrumental in the first World Food Prize being awarded to him.Template:Sfn In 1984 he became the president and vice-president of the International Union for Conservation of Nature and World Wildlife Fund respectively.Template:Sfn

In 1987 he was awarded the first World Food Prize.Template:Sfn The prize money was used to set up the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation.Template:Sfn Accepting the award, Swaminathan spoke of the growing hunger despite the increase in food production. He spoke of the fear of sharing "power and resources", and that the goal of a world without hunger remains unfinished.Template:Sfn In their commendation letters, Javier Pérez de Cuéllar, Frank Press, President Ronald Reagan, and others recognized his efforts.Template:Sfn

Swaminathan would go on to chair the World Food Prize Selection Committee following Borlaug.Template:Sfn In ICAR, from the late 1950s onwards, he taught cytogenetics, radiation genetics, and mutation breeding.Template:Sfnp Swaminathan mentored numerous Borlaug‐Ruan interns, part of the Borlaug‐Ruan International Internship.Template:Sfn

Institution builderEdit

Swaminathan established the Nuclear Research Laboratory at the IARI. He played a role in and promoting the setting up of the International Crop Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics in India; the International Board for Plant Genetic Resources (now known as Bioversity International) in Italy and the International Council for Research in Agro-Forestry in Kenya. He helped to build and develop a number of institutions and provided research support in China, Vietnam, Myanmar, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Iran, and Cambodia.Template:Sfn

Later yearsEdit

Swaminathan co-chaired the United Nations Millennium Project on hunger from 2002 to 2005 and was head of the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs between 2002 and 2007.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In 2005 Bruce Alberts, President of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences said of Swaminathan: "At 80, M.S. retains all the energy and idealism of his youth, and he continues to inspire good behaviour and more idealism from millions of his fellow human beings on this Earth. For that, we can all be thankful".<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Swaminathan had the aim of a hunger-free India by 2007.Template:Sfn

File:Arun Kumar Sharma and Monkombu Sambasivan Swaminathan - Kolkata 2013-01-07 2683.JPG

Swaminathan (right) with A. K. Sharma (left), considered as the father of Indian cytology,<ref name="Soni2010">Template:Cite book</ref> in 2013 at the 100th Indian Science Congress.

Swaminathan was the chair of the National Commission on Farmers constituted in 2004.<ref>National Commission on Farmers, Ministry of Agriculture, Govt. of India {{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In 2007, President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam nominated Swaminathan to the Rajya Sabha.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Swaminathan introduced one bill during his tenure, The Women Farmers' Entitlements Bill 2011, which lapsed.<ref name=":10" /><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> One of the aims it proposed was recognising women farmers.<ref name=":11" />

A term coined by Swaminathan, 'Evergreen Revolution', based on the enduring influence of the green revolution, aims to address the continuous increase in sustainable productivity that mankind requires.Template:Sfn He has described it as "productivity with perpetuity".<ref name=":4" />

In his later years, he had also been part of initiatives related to bridging the digital divide,<ref>Template:Cite report</ref> and bringing research to decision-makers in the field of hunger and nutrition.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Personal life and deathEdit

He was married to Mina Swaminathan, whom he met in 1951 while they were both studying at Cambridge.Template:Sfn They lived in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Their three daughters are Soumya Swaminathan (a paediatrician), Madhura Swaminathan (an economist), and Nitya Swaminathan (gender and rural development).Template:Sfn

Gandhi and Ramana Maharshi influenced his life.Template:Sfn Of the 2000 acres owned by their family, they donated one-third to Vinoba Bhave's cause.Template:Sfn In an interview in 2011, he said that when he was young, he followed Swami Vivekananda.Template:Sfn

Swaminathan died at home in Chennai on 28 September 2023, at age 98.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Scientific careerEdit

PotatoEdit

In the 1950s, Swaminathan's explanation and analysis of the origin and evolutionary processes of potato was a major contribution.<ref name=":9">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He elucidated its origin as an autotetraploid and its cell division behaviour.<ref name=":7">Template:Cite journal</ref> His findings related to polyploids were also significant.<ref name=":7" /> Swaminathan's thesis in 1952 was based on his basic research related to "species differentiation and the nature of polyploidy in certain species of the genus Solanum, section Tuberarium".Template:Sfn The impact was the greater ability to transfer genes from a wild species to the cultivated potato.Template:Sfn

What made his research on potatoes valuable was its real-world application in the development of new potato varieties.Template:Sfn During his postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Wisconsin, he helped develop a frost-resistant potato.Template:Sfn His genetic analysis of potatoes, including the genetic traits that govern yield and growth, important factors in increasing productivity, was pivotal. His multi-disciplinary systems approach perspective brought together many different genetic facets.Template:Sfn

WheatEdit

In the 1950s and 1960s Swaminathan did basic research into the cytogenetics of hexaploid wheat.Template:Sfn The varieties of wheat and rice developed by Swaminathan and Borlaug were foundational to the green revolution.Template:Sfn

RiceEdit

Efforts towards growing rice with C₄ carbon fixation capabilities, which would allow a better photosynthesis and water usage, were started at IRRI under Swaminathan.Template:Sfn Swaminathan also played a role in the development of the world's first high-yielding basmati.Template:Sfn

Radiation botanyEdit

The Genetics Division of the IARI under Swaminathan was globally renowned for its research on mutagens.Template:Sfn He set up a 'Cobalt-60 Gamma Garden' to study radiation mutation.<ref name=":7" />Template:Sfn Swaminathan's association with Homi J. Bhabha, Vikram Sarabhai, Raja Ramana, M. R. Srinivasan and other Indian nuclear scientists allowed agricultural scientists to access facilities at the Atomic Energy Establishment, Trombay (which would later become the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre).Template:Sfn Swaminathan's first PhD student, A. T. Natarajan, would go on to write his thesis in this direction.Template:Sfn One of the aims of such research was to increase plant responsiveness to fertilisers and demonstrate real-world application of crop mutations.Template:Sfn Swaminathan's early basic research on the effects of radiation on cells and organisms partly formed the base of future redox biology.Template:Sfn

Template:Interlanguage link calls Swaminathan's paper on neutron radiation in agriculture in 1966 presented at an International Atomic Energy Agency conference in the United States as "epoch-making".<ref name=":7" /> The work of Swaminathan and his colleagues was relevant to food irradiation.<ref name=":7" />

Public recognitionEdit

File:Manmohan Singh, presenting the B. P. Pal Centenary Award to Prof. M. S. Swaminathan on the occasion of B. P. Pal Centenary celebrations (cropped).jpg

The B. P. Pal Centenary Award, eponymously named after the Indian agricultural scientist, being awarded to Swaminathan in 2006.

Awards and honoursEdit

Swaminathan received the Mendel Memorial Medal from the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences in 1965.Template:Sfnp Following this he received numerous international awards and honours, including the Ramon Magsaysay Award (1971),<ref name=":1" /> the Albert Einstein World Science Award (1986), the first World Food Prize (1987),<ref name=":22"/> the Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement (1991),Template:Sfnp the Four Freedoms Award (2000),Template:Sfn and the Planet and Humanity Medal of the International Geographical Union (2000).Template:Sfn When accepting the Ramon Magsaysay Award, Swaminathan quoted Seneca: "A hungry person listens neither to reason, nor to religion, nor is bent by any prayer."Template:Sfn

He was conferred with the Order of the Golden Heart of the Philippines,Template:Sfn the Order of Agricultural Merit of France, the Order of the Golden Ark of Netherlands,Template:Sfn and the Royal Order of Sahametrei of Cambodia.Template:Sfnp China awarded him with the "Award for International Co-operation on Environment and Development".Template:Sfn In the 'Dr Norman E. Borlaug Hall of Laureates' at Des Moines, Iowa, United States, there is an artwork of Swaminathan made up of 250,000 pieces of glass.Template:Sfn The IRRI has named a building and a scholarship fund after him.Template:Sfnp

One of the first national awards he received was the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award in 1961.Template:Sfnp Following this he was conferred Padma Shri, Padma Bhushan, and Padma Vibhushan awards, as well as the H K Firodia award, the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Award, and the Indira Gandhi Prize.<ref name=":3">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> As of 2016, he had received 33 national and 32 international awards.Template:Sfnp In 2004, an agricultural think-tank in India named an annual award after Swaminathan, the eponymously named 'Dr. M.S. Swaminathan Award for Leadership in Agriculture'.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

On 9 February 2024, he was conferred the Bharat Ratna posthumously, the highest civilian award of the Republic of India. On that occasion, then PM of India, Narendra Modi wrote:<ref>https://www.pmindia.gov.in/en/news_updates/dr-ms-swaminathan-to-be-awarded-bharat-ratna-pm/ Dr. MS Swaminathan to be awarded Bharat Ratna: PM]. Prime Minister's Office.</ref> Template:Quote

Honorary doctorates and fellowshipsEdit

File:The President Dr. A.P.J Abdul Kalam presenting the First Dr. M.S. Swaminathan Award for Leadership in Agriculture to Dr. Norman E. Borlaug at an Award function in New Delhi on March 15, 2005.jpg

Norman E. Borlaug being awarded the first M. S. Swaminathan Award for Leadership in Agriculture by President A. P. J. Abdul Kalam in New Delhi in 2005.

Swaminathan was the recipient of 84 honorary doctorates and was a guide for numerous Ph.D. scholars.<ref name=":3" />Template:Sfn Sardar Patel University conferred him with an honorary degree in 1970; Delhi University, Banaras Hindu University and others would follow.<ref name=":9" /> Internationally, Technische Universität Berlin (1981) and the Asian Institute of Technology (1985) honoured him.<ref name=":9" /> The University of Wisconsin honoured Swaminathan with an honorary doctorate in 1983.Template:Sfn When the University of Massachusetts, Boston, honoured him with a science doctorate, they commented on the "magnificent inclusiveness of [Swaminathan's] concerns, by nation, socioeconomic group, gender, inter-generational, and including both human and natural environments".Template:Sfn Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, from where he received his PhD in botany, made him an honorary fellow in 2014.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Swaminathan had been elected a fellow of a number of science academies in India. Internationally he had been recognised as a fellow by 30Template:Sfn academies of science and societies across the world including the United States, the United Kingdom (Fellow of the Royal Society<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>), Russia, Sweden, Italy, China, Bangladesh, as well as the European Academy of Arts, Science and Humanities.<ref name=":3" />Template:Sfnp He was a founder fellow of The World Academy of Sciences.<ref name=":3" /> The National Agrarian University in Peru conferred him with an honorary professorship.<ref name=":9" />

PublicationsEdit

Template:Multiple image Swaminathan published 46 single-author papers between 1950 and 1980. In total he had 254 papers to his credit, 155 of which he was the single or first author. His scientific papers are in the fields of crop improvement (95), cytogenetics and genetics (87) and phylogenetics (72). His most frequent publishers were Indian Journal of Genetics (46), Current Science (36), Nature (12) and Radiation Botany (12).<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Selected publications include:

In addition he has written a few books on the general theme of his life's work, biodiversity and sustainable agriculture for alleviation of hunger. Swaminathan's books, papers, dialogues and speeches include: Template:Div col

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ControversiesEdit

In the 1970s, a scientific paper in which Swaminathan and his team claimed to have produced a mutant breed of wheat by gamma irradiation of a Mexican variety (Sonora 64) resulting in Sharbati Sonora, claimed to have a very high lysine content, led to a major controversy. The case was claimed to be an error made by the laboratory assistant.<ref>Template:Cite book Template:Page needed</ref> The episode was also compounded by the suicide of an agricultural scientist.<ref>Template:Cite journal Template:Dead link</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal Template:Dead link</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal Template:Dead link</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal Template:Dead link</ref> It has been studied as part of a systemic problem in Indian agriculture research.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

A paper published in the 25 November 2018 edition of Current Science titled 'Modern Technologies for Sustainable Food and Nutrition Security' listed Swaminathan as a co-author.<ref name=":6">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The article was criticised by a number of scientific experts, including K. VijayRaghavan, the principal scientific adviser to the Government of India, who commented that it was "deeply flawed and full of errors".<ref name=":6" /><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Swaminathan claimed that his role in the paper was "extremely limited" and that he shouldn't have been named as the co-author.<ref name=":6" /><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Explanatory footnotesEdit

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CitationsEdit

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Cited and general references and further readingEdit

BiographiesEdit

Books

Short biographies

External linksEdit

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Template:PubMedAuthorSearch
Search Results for author Swaminathan, M. S. on AGRICOLA, US National Agricultural Library
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Official Rajya Sabha, Parliament of India, profile, p. 515
Catalogue of the Swaminathan papers at the Archives at NCBS

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