Context

• Dr M.S. Swaminathan, the legendary agricultural scientist, has passed away. But his legacy remains with every student and scientist of agriculture.
• He is most widely known for working with Norman Borlaug to usher in the Green Revolution in India in the mid-1960s when India was facing back to back droughts.

The Green Revolution

• The Green Revolution was an endeavour initiated by Norman Borlaug in the 1960s. He is known as the 'Father of Green Revolution' in world.
  • It led to him winning the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970 for his work in developing High Yielding Varieties (HYVs) of wheat.
• In India, the Green Revolution was mainly led by S. Swaminathan.
• The Green Revolution resulted in a great increase in production of food grains (especially wheat and rice) due to the introduction into developing countries of new, HYV seeds. Its early dramatic successes were in Mexico and the Indian subcontinent.
• The Green Revolution, spreading over the period from 1967-68 to 1977-78, changed India’s status from a food-deficient country to one of the world's leading agricultural nations.

The Role of Dr M S Swaminathan in India’s Green Revolution

• Invitation to Norman Borlaug to Come to India in a Challenging Time
  • Swaminathan wrote to Borlaug and suggested to the then IARI director B P Pal to invite him to India.
  • Borlaug had agreed to send the seeds of his newly-bred material, but only after studying the growing conditions here. Borlaug finally arrived in March 1963.
• Seed Experimentation
  • After visiting major wheat-growing areas of North India, Borlaug sent about 100 kg of seeds of the four Mexican varieties in October 1963.
  • These were sown in the 1963-64 rabi season at IARI and also trial fields in Pantnagar and Kanpur (UP), Ludhiana (Punjab) and Pusa (Bihar).
  • Encouraged by the results, Swaminathan proposed that the performance of the high-yielding strains be tested in actual farmers’ fields.
• Persuaded the Government to Import Seeds: Swaminathan worked hard to convince the Indian political leadership to import 18,000 tonnes of seeds of high-yielding dwarf wheat varieties, Lerma Rojo and Sonora-64, from Mexico.
• Tests in Actual Farmers’ Fields
  • In November 1964, farmers of Jaunti village in Delhi planted Sonora 64 and Lerma Rojo 64A wheat. Most of them harvested 4 tonnes and some even 4.5 tonnes per hectare.
  • The planting of those seeds by farmers led to India’s foodgrain production surging to 95 mt in 1967-68 and 108.4 mt by 1970-71.
  • Wheat output alone rose from 11.4 mt in 1966-67 to 16.5 mt in 1967-68 and 23 mt in 1970-71.
  • Borlaug acknowledged that a great deal of credit must goto Swaminathan for first recognising the potential value of the Mexican wheat dwarfs.
  • Had this not occurred, there would not have been a Green Revolution in Asia.
• Indigenisation of Imported Seeds
  • By the late sixties, Indian scientists had also bred their own Kalyansona and Sonalika wheat varieties through selection of segregated lines from the Mexican lines.
  • These produced amber-coloured grain with better chapati-making quality than the imported red wheats.

Adverse Effects of the Green Revolution Highlighted by Dr Swaminathan

• In January 1968, addressing the Indian Science Congress at Varanasi, he spoke about the dangers of the rapid replacement of numerous locally adapted varieties with one or two high yielding strains in large contiguous areas.
• He further highlighted that intensive cultivation of land without conservation of soil fertility could ultimately lead to the springing up of deserts.
• He also cautioned against indiscriminate use of pesticides, fungicides and herbicides and unscientific tapping of groundwater.

Impact of M S Swaminathan’s Contributions

• India Became Self-Reliant in Food Security
  • Swaminathan’s contribution had a far-reaching impact. India experienced a wheat and rice revolution.
  • This gave the country much-needed respite and confidence to turn the tables on food security in a short time.
• India Became Exporter of Cereals
  • At one point, it was unimaginable that one day India will emerge as a significant exporter of cereals.
  • In the last three years, 2020-21 to 2022-23, India exported 85 million tonnes of cereals contributing to global food security.

Dr Swaminathan’s Role in Establishing Minimum Support Price (MSP)

• As the Chaiman of National Commission on Farmers (NCF) he submitted five reports. His efforts to improve productivity and profitability in agriculture went beyond technology.
• One of NCF’s key recommendations was to have MSP for farmers based on the cost of production plus 50 per cent return.
• The right cost later became a matter with different governments.
  • One view was interpreting it as the comprehensive cost, which includes not only out-of-pocket expenses of farmers (Cost A2).
  • But also imputed wages of family labour (FL), imputed rent on owned land and imputed interest on owned capital.
  • This is known as Swaminathan Formula.
• The governments either did not accept the formula or went halfway and accepted at least a 50 per cent return over Cost A2+FL.

Recognitions to Dr Swaminathan’s Contributions

• Dr Swaminathan was awarded the first World Food Prize in 1987, which incidentally was set up by Norman Borlaug, who had received the Nobel Peace Prize, as there is no Nobel Prize for Agriculture.
• Swaminathan was also conferred the Padma Shri, Padma Bhushan, and Padma Vibhushan for his outstanding contributions.
• He also received several other awards like the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award, Lal Bahadur Shastri National Award, and the Indira Gandhi Prize.

Conclusion

• Some dreams of Swaminathan remain unfulfilled regarding pricing policies and profitability of farmers.
• Most farmers in India today know of the Swaminathan formula even if they may not know of the legendary agricultural scientist’s stellar role in ushering in the Revolution that made the country self-sufficient in foodgrains.
• As climate change and depleting natural resources become greater challenges today, his vision of an "evergreen revolution" (productivity gains - that are sustainable without inflicting environmental or social harm) must be adopted.