Prof M S Swaminathan, Chairman M S Swaminathan Research Foundation, who is also chairing the Coalition for Sustainable Nutrition Security in India (the Nutrition Coalition) and former president of Nutrition Society of India (NSI) will be conferred the Indira Gandhi National Integration Award for the year 2012. The Award carries a citation and cash prize of Rs 5 lakh.
Sonia Gandhi, President of the Indian National Congress party and also the chairperson of the award committee will present the award to M S Swaminathan, known as the father of Green Revolution, at a function on October 31, the death anniversary of Indira Gandhi, said Motilal Vora, member secretary of the award committee.
A plant geneticist by training, Prof Swaminathan’s contributions to the agricultural renaissance of India have led to his being widely referred to as the scientific leader of the ever green revolution movement. His advocacy of sustainable agriculture leading to a ever green revolution makes him an acknowledged world leader in the field of sustainable food security. The International Association of Women and Development conferred on him the first international award for significant contributions to promoting the knowledge, skill, and technological empowerment of women in agriculture, and for his pioneering role in mainstreaming gender considerations in agriculture and rural development. Prof Swaminathan was awarded the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership in 1971, the Albert Einstein World Science Award in 1986, the first World Food Prize in 1987, and Volvo and Tyler Prize for Environment, the Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development in 2000 and the Franklin D Roosevelt Four Freedoms Medal, the Mahatma Gandhi Prize of UNESCO in 2000 and the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Award (2007).