World Scientific’s two-part book series entitled ‘M.S. Swaminathan: The Quest for a World Without Hunger’ was launched by Indian Prime Minister, Mr Narendra Modi on 19 May 2017
Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Mr Radha Mohan Singh also participated. The occasion was also graced with the presence of Union Ministers for Food Processing and Railways, the Deputy Speaker of Indian Lok Sabha and leading agricultural scientists and heads of Indian research and educational institutions.
The two volumes published under this prestigious World Scientific Series bring out the remarkable transformation of Indian agriculture. This was achieved through synergy among science, public policy and farmers’ enthusiasm. The first volume ‘50 Years of Green Revolution’ is a compilation of selected scientific and popular papers on the green revolution and related topics by M.S. Swaminathan.
The book also deals with the transformation of the Green into an Evergreen Revolution with a view to achieve productivity in perpetuity without accompanying ecological and social harm. The second volume ‘M.S. Swaminathan: A Legend in Science and Beyond’ is a biography of M.S. Swaminathan. It is unique in bringing out for the first time his pioneering contributions to basic sciences in areas such as cytogenetics, ionising radiation and chemical mutagens, plant tissue culture to applied genetics. In his quest for a Hunger Free World, Professor Swaminathan has developed a new methodology for linking agriculture and nutrition. This Farming System for Nutrition approach seeks to alleviate the burden of malnutrition in all its dimensions. Professor Swaminathan often states that the future of the world belongs to nations with grains, not guns.
The Prime Minister emphasised the need to move to the concept of ‘nutrition security’ than ‘food security’, for which he advocated scientific and technological intervention, stating "The challenge in the agriculture sector remains. We keep talking about green revolution-I and green revolution-II. But the goal should be 'evergreen revolution'. We should have sustainable agricultural production and work towards removing regional imbalances,"
The Prime Minister highlighted the vision for water conservation and productivity as per drop, more crop. He recommended synergy between technology advancements, public policy and field level implementation as lab to land. In order to increase public awareness and demand for agri-products, each district in India should create and publicise its unique agri-identity (for example, Solan town in Himachal Pradesh is called the Mushroom City)
Praising the dedication and commitment of Prof. Swaminathan, the Prime Minister described him as a “Kisan Vaigyanik” — Farmers’ Scientist — rather than just a “Krishi Vaigyanik” —Agricultural Scientist. The Prime Minister said that Prof. Swaminathan’s speciality is that his work has been grounded in practical reality.
