The year was 2005. There had been a wave of farmer suicides in the Indian state of Maharashtra. The mainstream press paid scant attention, but MS Swaminathan rushed to the scene with a team of officials. “He was in tears listening to the families of those who had ended their own lives,” says journalist P Sainath in a tribute.
This image of the renowned scientist – well into his golden years – championing distressed farmers is one that epitomises MS Swaminathan’s life’s work.
