Padma Shri for Amritsar-born ‘miracle maize’ man Dr Surinder Vasal
Dr Surinder Kumar Vasal, renowned Indian geneticist and plant breeder, was conferred with Padma Shri by President Droupadi Murmu in New Delhi on Monday evening. Dr Vasal is celebrated for his pivotal role in developing Quality Protein Maize (QPM), a nutritionally enhanced maize variety that has significantly impacted global food security, also called ‘miracle maize’, for its effective counter-malnutrition properties. This variety, made by adding low-nutrient corn, is popular in China, Mexico, Central America and Africa.
Celebrating Dr Vasal’s Padma Shri was his family in Amritsar, his hometown, as they called it ‘a shared recognition for all Amritsaris’. Sandeep Vasal, nephew of Dr Surinder Vasal, and a textile businessman, said, “It’s an absolute honour for him and the family is proud of his achievements as a food scientist. Despite his work and his professional achievements, he has always been connected with Amritsar,” said Sandeep Vasal. Sandeep’s elder brother, Rajeev, attended the ceremony at the Rashtrapati Bhawan as Dr Surinder Vasal was conferred with the Padma Shri.
Born on April 12, 1938 in Amritsar, Dr Vasal pursued his early education at Khalsa College, Amritsar, earning a B.Sc degree in 1957. “He later shifted to Kanpur to pursue M.Sc at Kanpur Agricultural College and obtained a Ph.D in genetics and plant breeding from the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) in 1966. He has since lived in Bangkok, Mexico and several other countries,” shared Sandeep.
He often visits his ancestral home in Islamabad area of Amritsar as he currently resides in Vasant Kunj, New Delhi. Dr Vasal is an elected fellow of the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences and a member of the American Society of Agronomy and the Crop Science Society of America. He currently serves as an honorary scientist at the Borlaug Institute for South Asia (BISA).
In 1970, he became a post-doctoral fellow at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT) in Mexico, where he led the high lysine maize project. Collaborating with Mexican cereal chemist Dr Evangelina Villegas, Dr Vasal co-developed QPM by integrating plant breeding and cereal chemistry techniques. This innovation involved enhancing maize’s protein quality by increasing essential amino acids like lysine and tryptophan, addressing malnutrition in regions heavily reliant on maize. QPM has been widely adopted in countries such as China, Mexico, parts of Central America and Africa. For their ground-breaking work on QPM, Dr Vasal and Dr Villegas were jointly awarded the World Food Prize in 2000, which is considered equivalent to Nobel Prize. Dr Vasal’s accolades also include the International Service in Crop Science Award (1996), the International Agronomy Award (1999), and the Presidential Award from the Crop Science Society of America (2000).
