Prof. Anil K Gupta

A lot has been said about the contribution of Dr Swaminathan to food self-reliance but not much about intellectual self-reliance. He was a visionary who invited debates on various subjects among inexperienced youth as well as experts. How important debate is to intellectual self-reliance can be understood by those who have had the privilege to argue with him and enjoy disagreements without becoming disagreeable or disrespectful.

I wish to recall some of the very important facets of his personality as a public intellectual. I first met him in 1969-70 as an undergraduate student in a debate among agri-university students. I was representing Haryana Agricultural University along with another student and the debate was in IARI. After winning second prize, we were sent in a car to Connaught Place to a big book store to buy the books of our choice from the award money. Later, Prof. Swaminathan invited us to breakfast at his Director’s bungalow. Shared various thoughts among others for a need to have an association of agricultural students to debate larger questions faced by the country and to participate in the nation building process. On another occasion, we were taken to the Rashtrapati Bhavan to meet President VV Giri.

Encouraging young minds was his lifelong passion. He never made a novice feel insignificant or inconsequential. That was one of his biggest qualities. I am not sure how many feel the same way and relished discussions and debates with him. But I assume there must be thousands like me.

He had a great memory and could recall people’s names and sometimes the last conversation he had years ago with ease. That made an instant bond. Everyone with such an experience felt special. To find a small place in his memory bank was a privilege and it made young people feel very confident of their self-worth. They grew several notches higher in that moment.

Let me also recall some of the major conceptual and policy contributions which still merit attention.

When there is drought, the British made a famine code to save lives at minimal cost to the exchequer. But there was no code as to how to leverage opportunities in a good rainfall year. Prof. Swaminathan suggested that measures to conserve rainfall in good weather years were as important, if not more, to deal with stress caused by the floods or droughts. The use of public employment programmes in building water conservation structures before the onset of the monsoon could help mitigate a bad year and use a good year with better preparedness.

Similarly, he highlighted that in the wake of climate change, the dry spell could occur early, mid or late period of a crop. So, contingency options must be given along with seed bank and nursery of short-duration paddy crop could be kept ready to deal with risky situations to salvage the farmers' economy.

He respected the work of the Honey Bee Network in the area of elevating innovations by farmers and labourers. He recognised the need for ‘lab to land’ programme to evolve into ‘land to lab to land’ programme. One could constructively critique his ideas and be given a warm smile of appreciation for the point.

The conservation of agro-biodiversity programme mainly run by women conservators in the secondary source of origin of paddy in the Jeypore tract and Wynand is too well known to repeat here. But he saw the role of women not just as labourers but also as conservators of biodiversity and associated knowledge.

He was a very accessible intellectual giant. If one wanted to meet him and discuss some ideas, it was not very difficult. He was able to think about many policies and programmes that proved worthy in the longer term. Just as there were decisions of his which were controversial. But anyone who fears being ridiculed for his ideas may never be bold enough to break new ground. He had the grace to take criticism in his stride without ever losing his poise and pleasant demeanour. He personified humility and dealt with policy makers as peers and stuck his neck out when needed. He wrote letters to ministers of agriculture advising prudent emergency response when situation so demanded without any fuss. A public intellectual will do so always.

I think there are many lessons one can learn from him but one which in today’s world is most important is, never feel shy of sharing your opinion in the presence of top policy makers even if you anticipate rejection of your ideas. What his life teaches is that one in fact earns more respect for being forthright in his commitment to the cause of larger societal good.