Birth and Growth of M. S. Swaminathan Research Foundation, Chennai

The M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF) set up as a not-for-profit scientific trust with M. S. Swaminathan as the Founder-Chairman in 1988 is dedicated to sustainable agriculture, natural resources management and rural development. Relevant science and ecotechnologies are harnessed for fostering human livelihood and conservation of nature. MSSRF has developed biovillages and modern ICT-based Village Knowledge Centres (VKCs) for skill and knowledge empowerment respectively of the rural communities. Ecotechnologies are the resultant of lending frontier technologies with traditional knowledge and ecological prudence of the indigenous communities. These have pro-nature, pro-poor and prowomen orientation. The evergreen revolution of MSSRF is designed to fight both the famines of food and rural livelihoods. As against the bureaucratic 'top-down' approach, MSSRF practices 'bottom-up' and participatory approach. The VKCs with lab to land and land to lab linkages provide solutions almost instantaneously to the problems of the small and marginal farming, fishing and landless rural families. These are briefly discussed in the paper.