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Chidambaram Subramaniam

(1910 – 2000) – (Tamilnadu)

Chidambaram Subramaniam (Aged 90) commonly known as CS, was an Indian politician and independence activist born on 30 January 1910 in Pollachi, Tamil Nadu, India. He served as the Minister of Finance and Minister of Defence in the Union Cabinet and later became the Governor of Maharashtra. As the Minister for Food and Agriculture, he played a key role in ushering in the Indian Green Revolution, an era of self-sufficiency in food production, along with M. S. Swaminathan, B. Sivaraman, and Norman E. Borlaug. He was awarded Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian award, in 1998 for his role in the Green Revolution.

Subramaniam completed his early education in Pollachi before moving to Chennai, where he earned a B.Sc in Physics at the Presidency College, Chennai (affiliated with the University of Madras). Later, he graduated with a degree in Law from Madras Law College, Chennai (then affiliated with the same university).

He was an active member of the Civil Disobedience Movement against the British during his college days and was imprisoned during the Quit India Movement in 1942. He was later elected to the Constituent Assembly and had a hand in the framing of the Constitution of India. He served as a minister of Education, Law, and Finance for Madras State from 1952 to 1962 under Chief Ministers Rajaji and K. Kamaraj.

Subramaniam, along with M. S. Swaminathan and B. Sivaraman, was the architect of India’s modern agricultural development policy after the success of his programme, which led to a record production of wheat in 1972, known as the Indian Green Revolution. As Minister for Food and Agriculture, he introduced high-yielding varieties of seeds and more intensive application of fertilizers, which paved the way for increased output of cereals and attainment of self-sufficiency in food grains in the country. He appointed M. S. Swaminathan, who played a major role in the Green Revolution, and Verghese Kurien as the chairman of the National Dairy Development Board when he ushered the Indian White Revolution. He passed away on 7 November 2000 in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.