'Compete with yourself'
SUBAjAYANTHI B.
M. Moorthy
For a better tomorrow... M.S. Swaminathan
Monkombu Sambasivan Swaminathan, the agricultural scientist, plant geneticist, environmentalist, ecologist, educator, social worker and visionary has, unlike his numerous facets, one goal. To create a world void of poverty, where no one is hungry. The first recipient of the World Food Prize in 1987 and the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership in 1971, he was conferred the Padma Vibhushan in 1989 and the Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development in 2000. He has honorary doctorates from 43 universities around the world.
As founder of the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF), he says, "The best of science and technology should be taken to the illiterate masses who depend on agriculture for not just food, but employment and income also."
Childhood and dreams
My childhood was a happy one. My father Sambasivan, a Gandhian and freedom fighter, was a surgeon who practised in Kumbakonam. During holidays I used to meet my 25 cousins at our ancestral home in Monkombu, a village in Kerala. My mother Thangammal and aunts would cook delicious meals for us. There was no discrimination between boys and girls. I was the second of four children. When I was 11 years old, my father passed away. He was only 36 years old. My uncle (father's brother) brought us up like his own children. My favourite pastime was to spend hours at the paddy fields.
Student years
The second World War had a devastating effect on India's economy. Newspapers were full of reports on the great 1943 famine in Bengal which saw people dying on the streets. I used to debate endlessly with my friends that the only way to counter such calamities was to help India become self-sufficient in food production. For this, I wanted to study plant genetics and develop new varieties of seeds. In 1947, I went to do my post-graduation in Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi. After a Master's degree in cytogenetics, my mother and uncle felt that the government service was the best bet. I sat for the all-India competitive exams for jobs in the civil services and was selected for the Indian Police Service. At the same time, I got the news that I was the recipient of an UNESCO Fellowship to study genetics in the Netherlands. I was 24 years old and quite sure of what I wanted to be — an agricultural scientist.
Work means...
Work is my life, my passion. It is a part of my being.
On achievement
The farmers of India are the ones who have toiled to change the image of our country from a begging bowl to a breadbasket. Forty years ago, in public places like the airport in the United States and Germany, one found advertisements that said `Help starving Indians.' Now, everyone knows India's agricultural progress is enormous and how that has led to diverse opportunities for employment. Those who master frontier technology should harness their energies to uplift rural population. Whatever the field of development — Information, communication, biotechnology, education and satellites — young people should take it as a challenge to achieve food sufficiency. That means more jobs and income to the poor.
Just for students
Do not accept anything but the best. Compete with yourself, not others, to achieve. The person you are tomorrow should definitely be better than what you are today. Use every opportunity that comes your way.
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