Putting people first, the M.S. Swaminathan way

M.S. Swaminathan: Put people first, empower women, pass on scientific know-how, promote sustainable agriculture, ensure economic & psychological rehabilitation. Result: Improved lives of 6 lakh families in 4,000 villages.

“Putting people first - A key principle for MSS is not to see people instrumentally, but as human beings, with strengths and weaknesses, each having something to contribute to the collective good.” - From the book M.S. Swaminathan: In Conversation with Nitya Rao.  

On the day that their ‘Professor’ passed away, the six lakh families of 4,000 villages in 14 districts mourned the loss of a colossus, who changed their lives with his pro-poor, pro-women, pro-nature approach. He had passed scientific know-how to the farmer, the fisherman, and even the artisan.  

For D. Usharani of Embalam, the ‘Professor’ was someone who took her “from being a coolie to the person who spoke in Switzerland”. “I was an ordinary woman who would have just existed as a coolie. Now I have made a name in my village. I would have remained a silent housewife letting my husband bring the money. But he taught me to operate computers. He taught us women to cultivate crops, use the power-tiller, and teach others to farm too. There are more women farmers than men on the fields these days. He took me abroad and I got to speak in Switzerland.”