Founder of the Rice Breeding Programme at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute

M. S. Swaminathan began his scientific career in India at the Central Rice Research Institute, Cuttack in 1954, where he focused on transferring genes for fertilizer responsiveness between different varieties of rice. Later the same year, he joined the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi as an Assistant Cytogeneticist and began working on varietal improvement in wheat. He went on to become the Head of the Division of Botany, renamed the Division of Genetics during his tenure, and Director of IARI. During the IARI years, he played a pivotal role in research and policy interventions relating to rice cultivation.