‘Bharat Ratna’ C Subramaniam was a towering figure among career politicians. The author of India’s Green Revolution, he spearheaded an epochal movement in the 1960s that transformed a perilously food-deficit country into a food-surplus one through some of the most daring measures any government before or after has undertaken. Of his contribution to India’s self-sufficiency in food, Nobel laureate Dr Norman E Borlaug wrote: “The vision and influence of Subramaniam in bringing about agricultural change and in the very necessary political decisions needed to make the new approach effective, should never be underemphasised.
The groundwork for this advance (in the production of wheat), was solidly laid during the period (1964-67), when Subramaniam was the guiding political force, instituting change.” Born in 1910 to agriculturist Chidambara Gounder and his wife, in Senguttampalayam village, near Pollachi in Coimbatore District, four-year-old C Subramaniam (CS) walked to the nearby ‘thinnai pallikoodam’ or frontyard school, carrying a bag full of books and a brass tiffin-box full of humble food made of ragi and greens. “Little did the parents foresee that this boy of theirs would one day be waging a war against hunger and be a harbinger of the Green Revolution,” wrote an admirer of the future Agriculture Minister of India.
Subramaniam pursued academics with dedication and grew up to study at Madras, acquiring bachelor’s degrees in Physics and Law at the Presidency College and Law College, after school in Pollachi. Though he was a brilliant scholar, his love of formal education did not prevent him from joining the nationalist movement in 1932 when a law student and later as a budding lawyer. He drew inspiration from C Rajagopalachari or Rajaji, another lawyer who had already left a lucrative practice in Salem and made his mark as an all India Congress leader. CS modelled himself on Rajaji who was known for his sharp wit and his wisdom. Soon he became Rajaji’s protege in the political arena. It was natural for CS to follow Rajaji’s simplicity and Gandhian ways, as he was already been exposed to spiritual guidance by his paternal uncle Swami Chitpavananda, the founder of a famous seat of learning on the banks of the Kaveri.
A caste free society was no mere slogan for CS. He married a girl from a different caste. She was one of the early women graduates in her community, and nearly 13 years younger. This created an upheaval in family and community alike. Despite her wealth and education, his wife remained a homemaker after marriage. Staying at home and looking after their son and two daughters, she helped CS focus on his political career and service to the nation. A minister responsible for various portfolios like Finance, Education and Law in Rajaji’s cabinet at the Madras Presidency level, CS became union minister for Steel and Heavy Industries in Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s cabinet in the early 60s.
With his pragmatic approach, he gave these industries a new lease of life. When Lal Bahadur Shastri succeeded Nehru, CS was made Food and Agriculture minister. Some felt this was a demotion, but with his family background in farming, he was able to contribute significantly to his job. Agriculture was a top priority of the government, thanks to the acute food shortage prevalent in India then and its mounting population. CS plunged into the new challenge going about his task in a systematic and planned way. He declared before Parliament in 1966 that he would make India a surplus state in food production in 10 years’ time.
This was a brave statement to make, as India was so deficient in agricultural production, famine was being predicted by international observers skeptical of her ability to surmount her problems. His critics in his own party disapproved of his plan to import hybrid seeds (wheat from Mexico and rice from Philippines) and fertiliser. According to an observer, CS told Prime Minister Shastri that if there was available a better man to do his job, he was quite prepared to move over. Shastri persuaded CS to continue, and the rest is history.
C Subramaniam was essentially an institution builder. Some of the institutions in whose origins he had a hand are IIT Madras, The Institute of Mathematical Sciences, The Madras Institute of Development Studies, and even the M A Chidambaram Cricket Stadium. The Green Revolution resulted in a record grain output of 131 million tons in 1978-79, establishing India as one of the world’s biggest agricultural producers. No other country recorded such success with the green revolution. India became an exporter of food grains around that time. In recognition of his contribution to agricultural development policies and programmes, Subramaniam was elected to the board of governors of the International Rice Research Institute, Manila, and the International Maize and Wheat Research Institute, Mexico, in the late 1970s.
In 1970, at the invitation of the UN Secretary General, CS prepared a strategy statement on fighting protein hunger in developing countries. In 1971, he headed a panel of experts that made recommendations for action by the UN General Assembly. CS received the Nehru Birth Centenary Award in 1991 and the Norman Borlaug Award in 1997. However, he declined the Man of the Century Award instituted by the Centenarian Trust, stating that there were many others who deserved it more than him. Till the very end, Subramaniam continued to be active in public life, associating himself with various institutions. During various periods, he headed the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan and the Ramakrishna Mission. In his final years, Subramaniam called for a second Green Revolution. This, according to him, should encompass agriculture and agro-based rural industries.
C Subramaniam
(30 January 1910 - 7 November 2000)
Milestones, awards and honours
Conferred the Bharat Ratna in February 1998
Law degree from Madras University 1932
Advocate at Coimbatore 1936
Freedom fighter Imprisoned 1941, 42
Elected to Constituent Assembly 1948
Member of Madras cabinet 1952
(Portfolios held for next ten years: finance, education, and law).
Elected to Lok Sabha 1962
Portfolios as Union Minister Steel 1962-63
Mines and Heavy Engineering 1963-64
Food and Agriculture 1964-66
Food, Agriculture, Community Development and Cooperation 1966-67
Defence 1979
Governor of Maharashtra 1991-93
The Green Revolution
The Green Revolution is the increase in food production stemming from the improved strains of wheat, rice, maize and other cereals in the 1960s developed by Dr Norman Borlaug in Mexico and others under the sponsorship of the Rockefeller Foundation. This increased the crop yield in India, Pakistan, Philippines, Mexico, Sri Lanka and other underdeveloped countries. The revolution began in 1945 when the Rockefeller Foundation and the Mexican government established the Cooperative Wheat Research and Production Program to improve the agricultural output of the country’s farms. Dr Norman Borlaug was instrumental in this program. This produced astounding results, so that Mexico went from having to import half its wheat to self-sufficiency by 1956 and, by 1964, to exporting half a million tons of wheat. This program was continued in India and Pakistan where it is credited with saving over one billion people from starvation. Norman Borlaug won the 1970 Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts.
Illustration by R Manikandan.