From a small village Sahora to winning the Padma Shri, Padma Bhusan awardee playing a huge role in India’s Green Revolution. This is the story of Dr. Gurcharan Singh Kalkat, who was a part of the team of scientists that steered the adoption of high-yielding Mexican wheat varieties by Punjab farmers in the mid-60s. This sowed the seeds of the Green Revolution.
Born on June 17, 1926, in Sahora village, Hoshiarpur, he completed his early education in Montgomery (Sahiwal), Pakistan. He earned a BSc in Agriculture from Punjab Agriculture College, Lyallpur (now in Pakistan) in 1947.
After obtaining his Master’s degree, he pursued his PhD at Ohio State University in the US as a Rockfeller Fellow, receiving the ‘Distinguished International Student Award.’ In 1977, he became the agriculture commissioner in the Union Ministry of Agriculture.
During this period, he worked on agriculture and rural development programmes of Nigeria and Ghana and he was a pioneer in introducing shallow tube wells for irrigation and hand pumps for the purpose of drinking water in Nigeria.
After working with the World Bank in Washington DC on agriculture and rural development programs for Nigeria and Ghana, he dedicated the rest of his career to Punjab.
Serving as the Vice-Chancellor of Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) from April 1988 to March 2001, he collaborated with farm scientists to identify key areas and issues affecting farmers.
Advocating for diversification from the wheat-paddy cycle, he played a crucial role in representing farmers’ interests to the government.
As the founder chairman of the Punjab Farmers Commission from 2005 to 2017, he served as the state government’s key advisor on agrarian issues.
Heading the committee on agricultural reforms during the Parkash Singh Badal regime, he boldly recommended ending the practice of providing free power to farmers and suggested metered power supply.
To help farmers with debt issues, Dr. Kalkat suggested organizing informal money-lending systems, using water wisely, creating a regulatory authority, and passing a law against burning paddy straw.
Dr. Kalkat was known for expressing his opinions openly, always maintaining a civil and respectful tone.
He also pushed for market reforms by amending the Agriculture Produce Market Committee Act and involving the private sector in promoting contract farming.
He also supervised the implementation of World Bank assisted programmes in India, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Indonesia.
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