The father of green revolution; Image Source: Wikipedia commons

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The first week of the academic year 1989 was a busy time for young researchers and scientists gathered at Madurai Kamaraj University. As everyone gathered around the renowned agricultural scientist, they eagerly listened to their lecture. One of them suddenly asked, ***"What is your name, sir?"***

There was a stunned silence throughout the room as one would expect a scientist of such renown to rebut his opponent. It was then that the scientist surprised us.

A soft voice and calm tone accompanied his reply, "My name is MS Swaminathan, and I work with wheat and rice."

In the following minutes, the discussion continued with more questions, and he answered every query that was thrown at him by the ignorant young scientist.

> **This is just one small excerpt from the legendary life of this great man, and as it turns out, his humility was powerful enough to result in a revolution. But with his compassion, he even raised the hope that no bowl of food would ever go empty in his presence, even as a question.**
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In honour of the legend, let's learn more about how he earned the UNESCO Gandhi Gold Medal and made the country proud. The Indian geneticist and administrator Mankombu Sambasivan Swaminathan is often referred to as the Father of the Green Revolution for his innovative and significant approach to developing high-yielding varieties of rice and wheat across India. A feather to his cap is his pioneering work in developing and spearheading the production during a time when the country was awash with widespread famine. Even more interesting is that when he implemented his research and development methods, the country's wheat production doubled making India self-reliant and alleviating the food crisis.

As is known, a large portion of India's GDP is generated by agriculture where people are heavily dependent. In such a sector, it is terrible that Indian farmers have always faced food insecurity and sadly the situation worsened in the 1960s when the global population outgrew the food harvest and resulted in famines throughout Asia. MS Swaminathan, who in his early years was greatly influenced by the Bengal famines in 1943 and switched from medical to agricultural sciences to help his country eradicate their hunger pangs, surely was the right person to be involved in such challenging times as these. In the late 1950s, he worked alongside Dr Norman Borlaug to develop new wheat varieties that would produce more grain, as well as strong stalks to support the higher yields. On the other hand, the UNESCO Fellowship provided him with the chance to continue his potato genetics research at Wageningen Agricultural University, Netherlands. Here, it was his notable success in transferring genes from a wild Solanum species to the cultivated potato, Solanum tuberosum, that led to the invention of new varieties.

> **Swaminathan has studied plants breeding, advanced agricultural technology and ecological conservation among colleagues and students around the world, while he is also skilled at building networks and forming consensus**.
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In spite of his satisfaction both personally and professionally with the overseas project, he declined multiple full-time faculty positions since he wanted to study abroad to help Indian agriculture. He has also authored and co-authored countless scientific papers and books, mostly concerning crop development, and has published around eight books. Apart from participating in this scientific breakthrough, he developed new techniques to teach Indian farmers how to increase production by employing high-yielding crops and brought more efficient farming techniques.

> **For his outstanding contributions in extending biotechnology's benefits to impoverished and marginalized people in developing countries and to creating a sound basis for sustainable agriculture, environmental protection, and rural development, the UNESCO Gandhi Gold Medal was awarded to him in 1999.**
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According to him, if agriculture fails, nothing else would succeed. It is indeed gratifying to see many people following his footsteps and advancing in agriculture in a positive direction.

He inspires everyone and travels thousands of miles out of his way to establish an environmentally sustainable model and make the world hunger-free. Names are just conduits to get him honoured for his service. In reality, he is the green revolution.