Mankombu Sambasivan Swaminathan

Mankombu Sambasivan Swaminathan was born in Kumbakonam district of Tamil Nadu in 7 August 1925 in a welltodo family He earned his Bachelors degree in Zoology in Maharajas College in Trivandrum, Kerala and later went on to again earn a Bachelors degree in Agricultural Sciences from Tamil Nadu Agricultural University He described that his motivation for choosing his career path in agricultural sciences was the Bengal famine of 1943 He then took up a career in plant genetics mainly focussing on plants that served as source of food for humans He is known as the Father of Green Revolution in India for his leadership and success in introducing high yield varieties of wheat and rice in India He was the first recipient of World Food Prize in 1987 He has worked worldwide in collaboration with students and colleagues on a range of subjects pertaining to plant breeding, agricultural research and development and conservation of natural resources He has been honored by Government of India with Padma Shri, Padma Bhushan and Padma Vibhushan for his contributions He is currently the chairman of the National Commission on Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Security of India