‘Yeraringan’ Award Conferred

The Vice President of India conferred ‘Yeraringan’ Award to Prof. M.S. Swaminathan, in Chennai. The Vice President said that in 1947, Prof. Swaminathan moved to the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI, Pusa) in New Delhi as a post-graduate student in genetics and plant breeding.

He qualified for the Indian Police Service but chose a different career path. Instead of taking leadership positions in the public safety and security domain, he charted out a new path leading to food security for the country.

India registered significant increase in agricultural production in 1960s consequent upon the adoption of new agricultural strategy and use of high yielding variety seeds and chemical fertilizers. Prof. M.S. Swaminathan was at that moment the adviser to the Minister of Agriculture and he had invited Dr. Norman Borlaug to India and worked with him in developing high yielding varieties of wheat.