Tribute: Agri scientist MS Swaminathan never hated MNCs but always put Indian companies first

MS Swaminathan was the architect of the Green Revolution in India. (Photo: AFP)

Around the time when he was super-active, multinationals operating in South Asia often wondered how to handle M.S. Swaminathan, and dilute his Indianness. The MNCs found the soft-spoken agriculture scientist’s love for the nation too hot to handle.

Exasperated, once Pepsico top boss Priya Mohan Sinha even asked his top brass for a serious, closed-door meeting to find a way to reach out to the genial Swaminathan to understand why he just did not like the entry of MNCs in the Indian food sector. A close aide of Sinha told me he (Sinha) had heard similar complaints from big-buck companies like Hindustan Unilever. They all had the same problem.

Swaminathan never hated MNCs but always put Indian companies first. He told the MNCs that they were in India for profit but they must include local companies in their growth stories, and also transfer technology.

M.S. Swaminathan was a genial giant, and very persuasive. I was amazed at the way he groomed youngsters.

- S. Ramadorai, chairperson, Tata STRIVE advisory board

But it did not stick.

Swaminathan knew the pulse of Indian farmers and their needs. He was their agriculture god. “He created a capacity for India in the world, he wanted a world where no one would starve,” said Subramaniam Ramadorai, chairperson of the advisory board at Tata STRIVE, Tata group’s CSR skill development initiative.

“I have so fond memories of him, I am witness to his energy and passion. He was a genial giant, and very persuasive. I was amazed at the way he groomed youngsters,” Ramadorai, the former CEO and MD of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), said.

Ramadorai - currently abroad - told Moneycontrol that American agronomist Norman Borlaug may have been the father of the Green Revolution, but its architect in India was undoubtedly Swaminathan, who passed away on Thursday, September 28, 2023, aged 98.

Farmers' welfare was uppermost in his mind; he often emphasized the need for women to get into farming. He had a feeling Indians will eventually lose interest in farming.

- Raghunath Ananth Mashelkar, former CSIR DG, and Swaminathan's friend.

Swaminathan’s first brush with the semi-dwarf bred wheat - Norin 10 - was when he was in his 30s in 1955. He had heard from Hitoshi Kihara, a top Japanese wheat geneticist. “He knew what would work for India. Norin-10 was then grown at an experimental station in Japan. Swaminathan wanted India to emerge from its agrarian crisis,” says Raghunath Ananth Mashelkar, former DG, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and a close friend of Swaminathan.

Mashelkar said the Swaminathan Doctrine is the bible for Indian agriculture, known for its holistic approach to a sector that generates the maximum employment for India. For him, farming is both a way of life and the principal livelihood for nearly two-thirds of Indians. He often said India cannot improve its per capita income or human development indicators if agriculture continues to stagnate. “Farmers' welfare was uppermost in his mind; he often emphasized the need for women to get into farming. He had a feeling Indians will eventually lose interest in farming. He knew farming is no longer remunerative and over 40 percent of farmers would like to quit if they have an option.”

Mashelkar said it would take a book to write his experiences with Swaminathan. One, he said, was on top of his mind. At a conference in Chennai, Mashelkar said since India has seen the green and white revolution, it was time for India to have a grey revolution (grey matter of the brain) because young Indians were creating a sensation across the world with innovations in information technology. Sitting on the dais, Swaminathan heard Mashelkar patiently. And when he took the microphone, he said it was all well to develop the grey matter or grey cells of the brain but you still need to grow grains and eat.

“I was amazed to see his focus; he was clear that to sustain the brain, healthy foods would be required,” Mashelkar told Moneycontrol.

“I can go on talking about him, he was the true Indian. We planned a special book on Mahatma Gandhi and his relevance in Indian society. Swaminathan wrote the best piece, describing in detail why Gandhi is still relevant for the 21st century because he cared for the poor.”

Swaminathan often told reporters that the agrarian crisis in India underlines the need to address the problems of farmers and farming. He said India must show the same seriousness that was displayed in the early 1960s. In a television interview in 2017, he told the host that the challenge now is to fight and overcome the fatigue of the green revolution in its heartland. “Waiving farm loans all the time is not the right answer.”