“I americium highly pained to spot the paddy crops I developed proving to beryllium the Achilles’ bottommost of agriculture successful Punjab and exhausting its fossil h2o reserves,” said California-based, internationally famed atom breeder Dr Gurdev Singh Khush successful a speech with The Tribune.
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The antheral who has developed much than 300 atom varieties grown each implicit the satellite remarked, “Rice is captious to the endurance of millions, but Punjab needs to halt increasing it immoderate further. Underground h2o is drying up fast, and I tin spot deserts marching into the ‘Land of Five Rivers’. The lone mode to wean farmers disconnected the existent wheat-paddy rhythm is for the authorities to supply them with an assured Minimum Support Price (MSP) connected crops similar pulses, soybeans, and mustard.”
Winner of the World Food Prize successful 1996 portion moving astatine the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) successful the Philippines, Dr Khush was honoured for his enactment connected “enlarging and improving the planetary proviso of atom during a clip of exponential colonisation growth”.
In designation of his contributions to the tract of nutrient security, Dr Khush has received galore prestigious awards, including the Borlaug Award successful 1977, the Japan Prize successful 1987, the World Food Prize successful 1996, the Rank Prize successful 1998, the Wolf Prize successful Agriculture successful 2000, the Padma Shri successful 2000, the Golden Sickle Award successful 2007, and the Mahathir Science Award successful 2009. He has besides received honorary doctorate degrees from 12 universities, including Cambridge University and Ohio State University.
Dr Khush said, “Increasing nutrient accumulation is 1 of the biggest challenges that mankind faces today. By 2050, we request to summation our nutrient accumulation by astatine slightest 50 per cent. I judge insubstantial culture, molecular marker technology, familial engineering, and allied disciplines are captious for processing harvest varieties with higher yields.”
He has a lad and 3 daughters. One of his daughters, who was a doctor, has passed away. His youngest girl is simply a cardiologist and serves arsenic a unit doc astatine Stanford University. His son, a scientist, has worked connected projects related to sanitation and drinking water. “We person six grandchildren,” helium said.
Roots
He said, “I was calved successful Khatkar Kalan (Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar district) connected August 22, 1933. However, my world records amusement my commencement twelvemonth arsenic 1935 successful Rorkee, Jalandhar. Actually, I was the archetypal kid successful our family, truthful my parent went to her maternal location for my delivery. The spot and day of commencement were wrongly recorded astatine my schoolhouse erstwhile I was admitted to Rorkee later, and these errors person stuck with maine passim my life.”
It was with my maternal grandparents during the archetypal 7 years of my life. Those were the astir carefree times I ever spent portion increasing up. Me and my cousins climbed trees during summers, played, and grew crops connected tiny unused onshore during winters. We did not person immoderate organised sports,” helium reminisced.
“I graduated from Government Agricultural College, Ghumar Mandi, Ludhiana. It was christened Punjab Agricultural University successful 1962. We had nary much than 200 students connected campus, but the institution was precise interactive, and we had a precise supportive faculty,” helium said.
The displacement abroad
He applied for admittance to the University of British Columbia (Vancouver) aft his graduation but was refused entry. “I had, successful fact, borrowed Rs 10,000 from my friends and relatives to amusement successful my relationship to suffice for travelling abroad.”
He applied to 3 universities successful California and was admitted to the University of California for an MSc people successful 1957. Impressed with his fieldwork aft 2 semesters, helium was allowed to skip his exams and proceed straight to enactment connected his PhD degree.
Dr Ronald P Cantrell, manager wide of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) successful the Philippines, visited California successful 1972 and selected him for a task successful works breeding, specialising successful rice. During his much than 35-year vocation astatine IRRI, helium spearheaded the programme to make high-yielding, disease- and insect-resistant atom varieties that ushered successful the greenish gyration successful atom farming. These varieties person been released successful Asia, Africa, and Latin America. IRRI-bred varieties are present grown connected much than 60 percent of the world’s atom land.
After his retirement, helium became an adjunct prof astatine the University of California.
Punjab transportation continues
He is simply a precise regular visitant astatine PAU. “Punjab lives successful my heart. I travel precise often to PAU and emotion spending clip with the module and students. I americium coming again aboriginal this twelvemonth arsenic well,” helium said. In fact, a depository dedicated to Dr Khush was inaugurated connected the assemblage field successful October 2023.
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