#167: MS Swaminathan | GS3 SnT Indians' achievements
You owe him BUT do you know him?
You owe him but do you know him?
This is story of a Karmayogi IPS Officer
This is story of Monkombu Sambasivan
Uh? Who's that?🤔
A man who freed India from the clutches of PL-480.
A man who added a lot to #UPSC GS3 syllabus.
You guessed it right. This is a story of legendary MS Swaminathan
Monkombu Sambasivan Swaminathan
An Indian 'farmer' who changed agriculture from his lab
The father of Indian Green Revolution, a revolution that was a survival strategy🙃
How did it all start?
He was supposed to follow his father into the medical profession.
The year was 1942 and Gandhi said Angrezo, Bharat Chhodo!
Around the same time, Bengal saw a man-made famine.
20-30 lac Indians died.
Man-made, how?
Britishers had directed grains meant for poor Indians to its soldiers from its colonies
Young MS asked himself:
"What can I do for an independent India?"
Inspired by Gandhi and dismayed at the Bengal Famine, he set out to study agriculture.
He left his father's profession to study genetics
This decision took him to some top colleges & labs of the world & became the father of Green Revolution
What actually was the Green Revolution?
In simpler words, GR took agriculture towards industrialization with:
• HYV seeds
• Supreme irrigation, HYV seeds
• Mechanization of farm with tractors
Before we study more, it is important to know the real reason as to:
1. Why did we have to rely on PL-480, a substandard wheat type, from the US?
2. How's it that India with the same land could not produce enough rice/wheat for Indians?
The answer to both is below👇🏼
India's traditional wheat and rice were tall BUT slender.
As a result, these fell flat on the ground leading to a poor yield.
The first solution that MS set out for was to reduce the size of the plant height.
It did not come out to be feasible.
MS was now on a lookout away from India.
He started dialing his fellow researchers abroad.
One thing led to another and he was on a hot-line with Norman Borlaug.
The Norman Borlaug, the guy from Mexico
Thus dwarf wheat hit the Indian soil and what followed was a wheat revolution
This saw India producing 17 million ton wheat in 1968 from a mere 6 million ton in 1947.
What happened next?
MS made a prediction 👇🏼
MS was visionary, like Oppenheimer🧪
Just like Oppenheimer, MS also predicted negatives of Green Revolution:
• Intensive cultivation of land with no soil conservation (could) lead to springing up of deserts.
• Indiscriminate pesticides, fungicides, and herbicides use is inevitable
• Raised levels of unscientific tapping of underground water
• Vast Local varieties replaced with 1-2 HYV strains
As he left the earth for one final journey, his legacy remains.
It is essential to learn from legacy stories of such great men. Serves two purposes:
One, acquaints you with #UPSC syllabus
Two, keeps you motivated for stressful prep journey
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