M.S. Swaminathan declines Sri Lanka Preisdent's offer to be adviser for an agricultural boost in Northern Province

(August 13, 2009) Internationally renowned Indian agriculture scientist M.S. Swaminathan, who is considered the father of the Green Revolution that radically improved India's food output in the 1960s, has decided not to accept Sri Lanka President's offer to be adviser for the agricultural development in the Northern Province of Sri Lanka. 


Swaminathan, 84, visited Sri Lanka and met President Mahinda Rajapaksa in June after the Sri Lankan state forces defeated the Tamil nationalist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealam (LTTE) confining the entire 280,000 some population of Wanni in refugee camps."I don't plan to go immediately (to Sri Lanka) unless there is some kind of political settlement," Swaminathan told IANS. "There are people who feel that unless Tamils in Sri Lanka can live in dignity, other things are subsidiary. This is their viewpoint. I have no plans to go to Sri Lanka in the immediate future. There are a lot of people who have been displaced. As soon as conditions are conducive, I will see," said the highly respected scientist who has won the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership and the World Food Prize in Washington. 

Posted in M.S. Swaminathan , Sri Lanka