Hailing the contribution of agronomist and agricultural scientist M.S. Swaminathan, who passed away recently, the former director of Doordarshan in Kalaburagi M.B. Patil has said that Swaminathan had always focused on sustainable development of agriculture.
“Swaminathan is seen as the leader of the Green Revolution. He was not just that. He was the man behind India’s sustainable development of agriculture. We have many farm scientists and agronomists. Swaminathan stands out just because of his vision and approach with regard to the development of agriculture and agronomy,” he said.
“His importance can be gauged by the fact that he was widely considered the father of modern agriculture. Farmers and farmers leaders must read what Swaminathan wrote and recommended. Implementation of the Swaminathan report will be the greatest tribute one can pay to the departed farm scientist,” he said.
He was addressing a gathering at a condolence meeting organised by the Kalaburagi chapter of Samyukta Kisan Morcha at the Kannada Bhavan in Kalaburagi to pay homage to Swaminathan on Sunday.
Scholar and activist R.K. Hudgi said that Swaminathan attained immortality with his great work for farmers and the country at large.
“Norman Borlaug got the Nobel Award for developing wheat varieties. But Swaminathan who developed paddy varieties did not get it. Some people attain immortality with their outstanding service to humanity and Swaminathan was one among them,” he said.
Activist Meenakshi Bali recalled how Swaminathan had, when he was nominated member in the Rajya Sabha, pushed a Bill in Parliament for giving greater importance to women in the farm sector.
“If the Bill were passed, no man would have been forced to sell his agricultural land today. There was a time when rice was seen as a luxury grain inaccessible to the common people for consumption. Today, rice is in the common people’s plate. It is because of Swaminathan’s push for greater production of paddy,” she said.
Activists Maula Mulla, S.R. Kollur, Sharanabasappa Mamshetty, Megharaj Kathare, Arjun Gobbur, Umapathi Patil and others were present.
