M. S. Swaminathan Research Foundation

The seed of the idea to set up an autonomous, non-profit and public good research institution was sown in my mind in 1970 by Prof C V Raman when he stayed with us for a couple of days at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, where I was then the Director. Before leaving, Prof Raman told me
that when I retired I should set up an autonomous, non-governmental research institution, which would provide young researchers a home for creative and socially relevant work. An opportunity for converting
this idea into reality came when I received the first World Food Prize in Washington in 1987.
The first task I undertook on my return from Los Banos in the Philippines, where I headed the International Rice Research Institute for six years, was to develop a Trust Deed to establish a research institution devoted to imparting a pronature, pro-poor, pro-woman and pro-sustainable livelihood orientation to technology development and dissemination. The late Dr Manibhai Desai, founder of the Bharatiya Agro-industries Foundation (BAIF), which he established at the instance of Mahatma Gandhi, kindly helped to prepare the deed. On his suggestion, the Trust was named M S Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF),
and was registered on 17 May 1988 at New Delhi, with Prof V L Chopra, Prof V K Ramachandran and myself as the founder trustees. The year 2008 marks the 20th anniversary of the founding of MSSRF and hence, I would like to record a few facts about its growth.