Dr. M.S. Swaminathan : Biography

Part-14.


Well into senior citizen-hood, Swaminathan remained tirelessly active in fields relating to food production.

He lectured widely on such topics as farmland preservation and water conservation, and he became an advocate for organic agriculture.

The Green Revolution, he told the Hindu, had become a "greed revolution" evidenced by rampant pesticide use with little regard for the eventual consequences.

Characteristically, he suggested female literacy campaigns as a solution: his innovations were generally focused not only on scientific discoveries and public policy, but also on changing the points of view of individuals at the bottom of the social ladder.



By 2004, with world population still sharply on the rise, Swaminathan was sounding the alarm over future grain shortages.

Despite his promotion of organic agriculture, he favored the genetic modification of crops as a way to increase yields, something many proponents of organic agriculture rejected.

"Organic foods and [genetically modified] foods are being placed at two ends of a table," Swaminathan said in a speech quoted by Australia's Courier Mail.

"The way ahead lies in harmonizing organic agriculture and the breeding methods based on the new genetics."

Many believed, indeed, that the genetic modification of crops was merely a new step in the ongoing process of creating new plants that Swaminathan had pioneered, and with which he had fed half the globe.



Dr. M.S. Swaminathan : Biography - ENDS  HERE.

Next  :  Don’t hasten introduction of Bt brinjal: M.S. Swaminathan  ...

To be continued  ...