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MS Swaminathan, hailed as the father of the green revolution in India, passed away at the age of 98 in Chennai on Thursday.
A statement from his family is awaited.
He established the MS Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF) in 1988 as a not-for-profit trust from the proceeds of the First World Food Prize which he received in 1987.
An official of the institute said that he passed away around 11am.
Born in Tamil Nadu’s Thanjavur district, he was named the first World Food Prize laureate for developing and spearheading the introduction of high-yielding wheat and rice varieties into India during the 1960s when that country faced the prospect of widespread famine.
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Swaminathan worked with late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi to establish agricultural policies.
He chaired numerous prestigious international conferences, including the 1974 United Nations World Food Congress in Rome.
His daughter Dr Soumya Swaminathan, who served as the chief scientist at the World Health Organization (WHO) from 2019-2022 took over as chairperson of the MSSRF earlier in January.
Divya Chandrababu is an award-winning political and human rights journalist based in Chennai, India. Divya is presently Assistant Editor of the Hindustan Times where she covers Tamil Nadu & Puducherry. She started her career as a broadcast journalist at NDTV-Hindu where she anchored and wrote prime time news bulletins. Later, she covered politics, development, mental health, child and disability rights for The Times of India. Divya has been a journalism fellow for several programs including the Asia Journalism Fellowship at Singapore and the KAS Media Asia- The Caravan for narrative journalism. Divya has a master’s in politics and international studies from the University of Warwick, UK. As an independent journalist Divya has written for Indian and foreign publications on domestic and international affairs.
MS Swaminathan, father of India's Green Revolution, dies – Hindustan Times
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