Eminent agricultural scientist and chairman of the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation, M.S. Swaminathan, was on Friday conferred the second Mother Teresa Memorial Award instituted by the Indian Development Foundation (IDF), a non-governmental organisation working with leprosy patients.
The award and citation are an acknowledgment of Prof. Swaminathan's contributions as an outstanding scientist to alleviating hunger and his relentless advocacy of science with humanism.
Presenting the award, N. Ram, Editor-in-Chief of The Hindu , said Prof. Swaminathan was a great scientist, humanist and leading thinker-writer who had been “able to, over the long term, bridge the gap between ideas and concepts and action.”
Mr. Ram recalled that Prof. Swaminathan's articles were remarkable for being timely, topical and focussed on issues ranging from agricultural crisis and sustainable development to the role of women in society. Drawing a parallel between the religious mission of Mother Teresa and the scientific work of Prof. Swaminathan, Mr. Ram said both shared the humanitarian goal of alleviating mass deprivations and hunger.
In his acceptance speech, Prof. Swaminathan said it was the “poverty of spirit and compassion,” and not the dearth of schemes that resulted in the persistence of mass deprivation in India. No other country had so many schemes to redress hunger and poverty and yet they continued to persist because of the poverty of compassion.
He said the need of the hour was, in the words of Mother Teresa, for people to “live together, pray together and work in peace.”
Offering felicitations, A.R.K. Pillai, IDF founder-president, recalled his inspirational association through the 1960s with Prof. Swaminathan who was then chairman of a working group on leprosy eradication.
S.K. Noordeen, former director of the leprosy division, World Health Organisation, said the advances in leprosy control in India could be attributed to the recommendations that the committee chaired by Prof. Swaminathan made in 1982.
Sarah Chanda, trustee, German Leprosy and TB Relief Association Trust, said Prof. Swaminathan was a scientist who believed in social causes and the application of technology for touching the lives of the poorest of the poor.
Thirteen-year-old Shiloh Jessie Francisca, one of the youngest IDF volunteers, joined in offering felicitations.
Narayan B. Iyer, IDF CEO; E.S. Sumesh, trustee; and S. Franklin, IDF administrator, spoke.
Carnatic vocalist Sudha Raghunathan set the tone for the event with a soulful invocation.
