Swaminathan & Kurien

THE death of MS Swaminathan (98), popularly known as the ‘Father of the Green Revolution’, has led to a revival of the demand for honouring him with the Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian award. Swaminathan received several prestigious awards during his lifetime, including the Ramon Magsaysay Award, the World Food Prize and the Padma Vibhushan (the country’s second-highest civilian honour), but successive governments at the Centre failed to bestow the Bharat Ratna on him despite his monumental contribution to ensuring India’s food security. It’s the right time to make amends by conferring this award on him posthumously.

The same demand had gained momentum in the case of Dr Verghese Kurien (90), the ‘Father of the White Revolution’, after he passed away in 2012. Kurien transformed dairy farming and spearheaded ‘Operation Flood’, which made India self-sufficient in milk production. He, too, was a recipient of the Padma Vibhushan. A decade ago, thousands of people had signed an online petition seeking the Bharat Ratna for him, but to no avail. Though the BJP-led Central Government established the Union Ministry of Cooperation in 2021 with the aim of strengthening the cooperative movement in the country, it has not given Kurien — the tallest leader of this movement in the dairy sector — his due so far.

It’s not uncommon for a nationally important personality to be honoured with the Bharat Ratna posthumously. There have been 14 such recipients (out of a total of 48) since the inception of this civilian award in 1954. Hindu Mahasabha founder Madan Mohan Malaviya and India’s first Home Minister Sardar Patel were chosen for this honour decades after their death. A similar inordinate delay would be unpardonable and a great disservice to Swaminathan and Kurien, two of Bharat’s brightest ratnas.