Bharat Ratna to MS Swaminathan: daughter Soumya Swaminathan reacts

The Indian government on Friday decided to award the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian award, to former prime ministers Narasimha Rao and Charan Singh and scientist MS Swaminathan.

Known as 'Father of India's Green Revolution', MS Swaminathan played an important role in helping the country achieve self-reliance in agriculture and made outstanding efforts in modernising it.

The decision to honour to him was welcomed by his daughter Dr Soumya Swaminathan who said that while her father would have been happy with the recognition, he never worked for awards.

Former Chief Scientist and former Deputy Director General at the WHO, Dr Soumya Swaminathan told reporters here that she was "proud and happy" that her father's work has been recognised with the highest civilian honour in the country.

At the same time, she also said that it was the farmers' love for him that meant a lot to him.

She also said that the government's decision, apart from making her father's family, friends, students and well wishers happy, "will also send a very strong message to the youth of the country that you can use science and technology to benefit the society".

Stating that her father has been recognised for his lifetime of contributions to agriculture, but more importantly to farmers' welfare in the country and also to the welfare of the poorest in society and the most vulnerable, she said it was a matter of "pride and satisfaction" that her father's whole life's work has been recognised by the Government of India and the Prime Minister.

"I am sure that he would have also been happy if the news had come during his lifetime. But he was never somebody who worked for awards or waited for recognition.

"Lot of awards and recognition came to him, but he was motivated more by the results of what he did on the ground and the people's love and affection," Dr Swaminathan said.

She said that her father always used to remember the farmers he met wherever he went in India.

Swaminathan, who died last year on September 28 at age 98, is most widely known for transforming India from a drought-stricken country dependent on the United States for foodgrain imports in the 1960s to being declared self-sufficient in food production in 1971.

His efforts involved introducing high-yielding genetic varieties of rice and wheat in India and the subcontinent, alongside American agronomist Norman Borlaug. Swaminathan was awarded the first World Food prize in 1987 for his work.

(with PTI inputs)