What We Do - Dr. M.S. Swaminathan Award for Leadership in Agriculture
The Trust for Advancement of Agricultural Sciences has instituted an Award titled "Dr. M.S. Swaminathan Award for Leadership in Agriculture" in the honour of Dr. M.S. Swaminathan. The prestigious Award was instituted in 2004 with the objective to recognize life time contributions of eminent persons who have made global impact in the field of agriculture, including food security and sustainability of agriculture in India. The outstanding contributions of Dr. M.S. Swaminathan towards agricultural renaissance of India are indeed very well known world-wide. A great visionary and crusader, he has been the main architect of “Green Revolution”.Dr. Swaminathan is a staunch advocate of sustainable agriculture which would lead to “Evergreen Revolution”, necessary for ensuring future household food and nutritional security. In recognition of his outstanding contributions, he was awarded the first World Food Prize, the Ramon Magsaysay Award and many other national and international honors. He has been acclaimed by the Time Magazine as one of the twenty most influential Asians of the 20th Century, one of the three from India – the other two being Mahatma Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore.

The following eminent persons have been conferred with Dr M.S. Swaminathan Award till date:
First Award
1mssa-norman-borlaugThe first award was presented to Nobel Laureate for Peace, Dr. Norman E. Borlaug by the then Hon’'ble President of India, Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam on 15 March, 2005.
(Brief Report)

Second Award
2mssa-gskhushThe second award was presented to renowned rice breeder, Dr. G.S. Khush by the then Hon’ble Prime Minister of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh on 9 October, 2006.
(Brief Report)

Third Award
3mssa-skvasal The third award was presented to Dr. S.K. Vasal, an accomplished maize breeder, by Prof. M.G.K. Menon, Former Member, Planning Commission on 3 May, 2008.


Fourth Award
4mssa-rattanlal The fourth award was presented to Prof. Rattan Lal, an eminent soil scientist from Ohio State University (OSU) by Dr. Montek Singh Ahluwalia, the then Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission on 11 August, 2009....(Brief Report)
Fifth Award
5mssa-srajaram The fifth award was presented to Dr. Sanjay Rajaram, a distinguished wheat breeder by Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, former President of India on 10 December, 2010.


Sixth Award
6mssa-mcsaxena The sixth award was presented to Dr. M.C. Saxena, an eminent agronomist and crop physiologist, by Dr. Balram Jakhar, the then Governor of Madhya Pradesh & former Union Minister of Agriculture, on 25 January, 2012.
Seventh Award
7mssa-williamddar The seventh award was presented to Dr. William D. Dar, Former Director General, ICRISAT by Dr. K. Kasturirangan, the then Member, Planning Commission on 24 June, 2013.
(Brief Report)
Eighth Award
8mssa-thomaslumpkin The eighth award was presented to Dr. Thomas Lumpkin, Former Director General of CIMMYT by Dr. M.S. Swaminathan, founder Chairman, MSSRF on 28 September, 2015.

Nineth Award
9mssa-umalele The nineth award was presented to Dr. Uma Lele Former Senior Advisory, The World Bank by Dr. Y.K. Alagh, Former Minister of State for Planning, Science & Technology on 30 October, 2017.
Tenth Award
10mssa-johndixon The Tenth award was presented to Dr. John Dixon Former Principal Adviser, ACIAR, Australia by Dr. Ismail Serageldin, Founder Director, Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Alexandria, Egypt, on 13 February, 2019.(Brief)
Eleventh Award
11mssa-Shenggen Fan The Eleventh award was presented to Dr. Shenggen Fan Former Director General, IFPRI, Washington DC, by Dr. K. Vijay Raghavan, Principal Scientific Advisor to the Govt. of India, on 30 November, 2021.(Brief)
Twelfth Award
12mssa-Beltagy The Twelfth award was presented to Dr. Adel El Beltagy Former Director General, ICARDA, Allepo, Syria by Dr. K. Vijay Raghavan, Principal Scientific Advisor to the Govt. of India, on 30 November, 2021.(Brief)
Thirteenth Award
13mssa-S M Sehgal The Thirteenth award was presented to Dr. Surinder (Suri) M. Sehgal, Founder of SM Sehgal Foundation (India) and Sehgal Foundation (USA), on 19 August, 2023.(Brief)