BAMBOO MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS

BAMBOO MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS USED IN INDIA

PLANT TISSUES

PLANT TISSUES

Group of cells having a common origin and similar function are termed as tissues. Plants are multicellular eukaryotes with tissue systems made of various cell types that carry out specific functions. 

Types of Plant tissues: On the basis of the dividing capacity, plant tissues are of two types:

1. Meristematic tissues
   
2. Permanent tissues

1. Meristematic tissues: Consist of actively-dividing cells. Meristematic tissues are of three types:

• Apical meristem: Present at the growing tips of stems and roots. Important function: To increase the length of stems and roots.
• Intercalary meristem: Present at the base of leaves or internodes. Important function: For the longitudinal growth of plants.
• Lateral meristem: Present on the lateral sides of the stems and roots. Important function: To increase the thickness of stems and roots

• 2. Permanent tissues: Formed from meristematic tissues, the cells in the tissue lose the ability to divide. Permanent tissues are divided into two categories:
• A) Simple permanent tissue: Consist of only one type of cells:
• Types of simple permanent tissues:
  
  
  
  • Parenchyma: Composed of unspecialised living cells with relatively thin cell walls, intercellular space, present in soft parts of the plant. Their main function is storage.
  • Collenchyma: Composed of living and elongated cells with cell walls irregularly thickened at the comers. No intercellular space. It provides mechanical support and elasticity to plant. It helps in bending of leaves and stems.
  • Sclerenchyma: Composed of long, narrow, and thick-walled cells. This tissue is made up of dead cells and there are no intercellular spaces. Sclerenchyma cells are dead, present in seeds, nuts, the husk of a coconut, fibers of jute etc.
• 
  
• B)  Complex permanent tissue: Made up of more than one type of cells (Conducting tissues.)
  Types of complex permanent tissues:
  
  
  
• • Xylem: Conducts water and minerals from the roots to the different parts of the plant.
    Composed of four different types of cells—tracheids, vessels, xylem parenchyma and xylem fibres.
  • Phloem: Conducts food material from the leaves to the different parts of the plant.
    Composed of four different types of cells—sieve tubes, companion cells, phloem parenchyma and phloem fibres.
  • Protective tissue: It is made of a single layer of cells. E.g., epidermis. The epidermis of the leaf bears stomata.

M.S. SWAMINATHAN

THE LIFE AND  CONTRIBUTIONS OF 
LIVING LEGEND 

M.S. SWAMINATHAN

Indian scientist

[7th AUGUST 1925]

       INTRODUCTION

Dr. M.S. Swaminathan in full Dr. Monkombu Sambasivan Swaminathan, (born on August 7, 1925,  Kumbakonam, Tamil Nadu, India to Dr. M.K. Sambasivan and Parvati Thangammal Sambasivan), Indian geneticist and international administrator, renowned  ‘the main architect’ of the green revolution in India for his leadership and for his leading role in India’s “Green Revolution”, a program under which high-yield varieties of wheat and rice seedlings were planted in the fields of poor farmers. He is the Founder Chairman, Emeritus Chairman and Chief Mentor of the M. S. Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF) at Chennai, which he founded in 1988. 

 His leadership as Director General of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in the Philippines was instrumental in his being awarded the first  World Food Prize in 1987, recognized as the Nobel or the highest honours in the field of agriculture. UNESCO has called him 'the Father of Economic Ecology'.

EARLY LIFE AND EDUCATION

Swaminathan’s father was a surgeon and a social reformer. He lost his father at the age of 11 and thereafter he was brought up by his uncle,  M. K. Narayanaswami who was a radiologist. He studied at Catholic Little Flower High School in Kumbakonom and later at Maharajas College in Trivandrum. He graduated in 1944 with a degree in zoology.

CAREER

           The Bengal famine of 1943 motivated him to pursue a career in agricultural sciences. Hence, he enrolled in Madras Agricultural College and completed his B.Sc. in Agricultural Science.

            In 1947, he joined the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi and completed his post-graduation in genetics and plant breeding in 1949. He was selected to Indian Police Service. He received a UNESCO Fellowship and went to Wageningen  Agricultural University, Institute of Genetics in the Netherlands. There, he continued his IARI research on potato genetics and was successful in standardising procedures for transferring genes from a wide range of wild species of Solanum to the cultivated potato, Solanum tuberosum.

             In 1950, he joined the School of Agriculture, University of Cambridge, U.K. and earned his PhD in 1952, for his thesis titled “Species Differentiation and the Nature of Polyploidy in certain species of the genus Solanum – section Tuberarium.”

             He became the Director of IARI in 1966. He was a member of the National Commission on Agriculture (1971-1977),Director-General of Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) (1972-1979).

                He became the Independent Chairman of Food and Agriculture Organization(FAO) Council.(1981-85),Director-General of International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), Philippines.(1982-88),and  President, of World Wide Fund for Nature–India.(1988-96).

              From 1984–90, he was President of the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, Chairman of the editorial advisory board, World Resources Institute, Washington, D. C.(1983-99). He conceived the first ‘World Resources Report’. From 1989 onwards, he was Chairman of M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation.1994 onwards, he was UNESCO Chair in Ecotechnology at M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation, Chennai.

              In 1994, he was Chairman of the Commission on Genetic Diversity of the World Humanity Action Trust. He implemented the Gulf of Mannar Biosphere Reserve Trust. From 2002–2007, he was President of the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs. In 2004, he was Chairman of the Task Force for a National Policy for Agricultural Biotechnology. From 2004–06, he was Chairman of the National Commission on Farmers, Government of India. In April 2007, President A.P.J.Abdul Kalam  nominated Swaminathan to Rajya Sabha.

                From August 2007 to May 2009 and August 2009 to August 2010, he was a member of Committee on Agriculture. August 2007 onwards, he has been a member of the Consultative Committee for the Ministry of Agriculture, UNESCO-Cousteau Professor in Ecotechnology for Asia, Adjunct Professor in the field of Ecotechnology at Centre for Advanced Study in Botany, University of Madras, and IGNOU Chair on Sustainable Development.

               August 2010 onwards, he has been a member of the Indian Council of Agriculture Research Society and September 2010 onwards, he has been a member of the Committee on Science and Technology, Environment and Forests.

              Presently, he is also a member of the Leadership Council of Compact 2025, an organization that guides decision-makers at eradicating malnutrition in the next decade.

MAJOR WORKS AND CONTRIBUTIONS

The Living Legend, Dr. Swaminathan  is celebrated as the leader of India’s ‘Green Revolution’ program. He is the founder of an eponymous research foundation. He coined the term 'Evergreen Revolution' in 1990 to describe his vision of 'productivity in perpetuity without associated ecological harm'. He was nominated to the Parliament of India for one term between 2007 and 2013. During his tenure he tabled a bill for the recognition of women farmers in India, however it lapsed. He is also a resourceful writer. He has written several research papers and books on Agricultural Science and Biodiversity like ‘Building a National Food Security System, 1981’, ‘Sustainable Agriculture: Towards an Evergreen Revolution, 1996’, etc.

POTATO

In the 1950s, he elucidated the potato’s origin as an autotetraploid and its cell division behavior. He was successful in standardising procedures for transferring genes from a wide range of wild species of Solanum to the cultivated potato, Solanum tuberosum. He has helped to develop a frost-resistant potato ‘Alaska Frostless Potato’. His genetic analysis of potato, including the genetic traits that govern yield and growth, important factors in increasing productivity, was pivotal.

RICE

Efforts towards growing rice with C4 carbon fixation capabilities, which would allow a better photosynthesis and water usage, were started at  IRRI under Swaminathan. He also played a role in the development of the world's first high-yielding basmati. 

WHEAT

In the 1950s and 60s Swaminathan did basic research into the cytogenetics of hexaploid wheat. He produced an amber seeded high yielding wheat variety called ‘Sharbati Sonora’ from Mexican dwarf variety.  

RADIATION BOTANY

Dr. Swaminathan set up a 'Cobalt-60 Gamma Garden' to study radiation mutation. One of the aims of such research was to increase plant responsiveness to fertilizers and demonstrate real world application of crop mutations. Swaminathan's early basic research on the effects of radiation on cells and organisms partly formed the base of future redox biology.

PUBLICATIONS

He is also a resourceful writer. He has written several research papers and books on Agricultural Science and Biodiversity like ‘Building a National Food Security System, 1981’, ‘Sustainable Agriculture: Towards an Evergreen Revolution, 1996’, From Green To Evergreen Revolution, 2010 , 50 Years of Green Revolution, 2017, Major Flowering Trees of Tropical Gardens, 2019, etc.

He has published 254 papers to his credit, 155 of which he was the first author. His scientific papers are in the fields of crop improvement, cytogenetics, and genetics and phylogenetics.

AWARDS AND ACHIEVEMENTS

Dr. Swaminathan has received several awards for his contribution to the field of Agricultural Science. M.S. Swaminathan was named the first World Food Prize Laureate for developing and spearheading the introduction of high-yielding wheat and rice varieties into India during the 1960s when that country faced the prospect of widespread famine. Swaminathan received the Mendel Memorial Medal From Czechoslovak academy of Sciences in 1965. He has received the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award in 1961, the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership in 1971, the Albert Einstein World Science Award in 1986, the first world food price in 1987, the tyler price for environmental Achievement in 1991,  the UNESCO Mahatma Gandhi Prize in 2000, and the Lal Bahadur Sastri National Award in 2007, UNEP Sasakawa Environment Prize in 1994, Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament, and Development in 1999, the Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Award in 2000, the planet and Humanity Medal of the International Geographical Unionin 2000 and the B.P. Pal Centenary Award in 2006 among other achievements.

He is the recipient of national honours like Padma Shri in 1967, Padma Bhushan in 1972 and Padma Vibushan in 1989. Moreover, he has received over 70 honorary PhD degrees from world-wide universities.

Dr. M. S. SWAMINATHAN  AWARD  FOR 

LEADERSHIP  IN  AGRICULTURE 

The following eminent persons have been conferred with Dr M.S. Swaminathan Award till date:

The first award was presented to Nobel laureate for Peace, Norman E. Borlaug (2005), and then to Dr. G.S. Ghush (2006), Dr. S.K. Vasal (2008), Prof. Rattan Lal (2009), Dr. Sanjay Rajaram (2010), Dr. M.C. Saxena (2012),Dr. William D. Dar (2013), Dr. Thomas Lumpkin (2015),     Dr. Uma Lele (2017), Dr. John Dixon (2019), Dr. Shenggen Fan (2021),    Dr. Adel L. Beltagy(2021).

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