Chidambaram Subramaniam (commonly known as CS) (30 January 1910 – 7 November 2000), was an Indian politician and independence activist. He served as

Minister of Finance A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", ...

and Minister of Defence in the union cabinet. He later served as the Governor of Maharashtra. As the Minister for Food and Agriculture, he ushered the Indian Green Revolution, an era of self-sufficiency in food production along with

M. S. Swaminathan Mankombu Sambasivan Swaminathan (born 7 August 1925) is an Indian agronomist, agricultural scientist, plant geneticist, administrator and humanitarian. Swaminathan is a global leader of the green revolution. He has been called the main archit ...

, B. Sivaraman and Norman E. Borlaug. He was awarded

Bharat Ratna The Bharat Ratna (; ''Jewel of India'') is the highest Indian honours system, civilian award of the Republic of India. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is conferred in recognition of "exceptional service/performance of the highest orde ...

, Indian's highest civilian award, in 1998, for his role in ushering Green Revolution.

Early life and education

Subramaniam was born in Senguttaipalayam a village near Pollachi in

Coimbatore district Coimbatore district is one of the 38 districts in the state of Tamil Nadu in India. Coimbatore is the administrative headquarters of the district. It is one of the most industrialized districts and a major textile, industrial, commercial, edu ...

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a state in southern India. It is the tenth largest Indian state by area and the sixth largest by population. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu is the home of the Tamil people, whose Tamil language ...

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

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

(then affiliated to the same university). During his college days, he started ''Vanamalar Sangam'' and published a magazine called ''Pithan'' from Gobichettipalayam along with Periyasaamy Thooran, K. M. Ramasami Gounder, O. V. Alagesan and Justice Palanisami. His inspiration was his uncle

Swami Chidbhavananda Swami Chidbhavananda (11 March 1898 – 16 November 1985) was born in Senguttaipalayam near Pollachi in Coimbatore District, Madras Presidency, India. His parents named him 'Chinnu'. He studied in Stanes School, Coimbatore. He was one of the tw ...

Political career

Early years

Subramaniam was an active member of the

Civil disobedience movement The Salt March, also known as the Salt Satyagraha, Dandi March and the Dandi Satyagraha, was an act of nonviolent civil disobedience in colonial India led by Mahatma Gandhi. The twenty-four day march lasted from 12 March to 6 April 1930 as a ...

against the British during his college days. He was imprisoned during the Quit India Movement in 1942. He was later elected to the

Constituent Assembly A constituent assembly (also known as a constitutional convention, constitutional congress, or constitutional assembly) is a body assembled for the purpose of drafting or revising a constitution. Members of a constituent assembly may be elected b ...

and had a hand in the framing of the

Constitution of India The Constitution of India ( IAST: ) is the supreme law of India. The document lays down the framework that demarcates fundamental political code, structure, procedures, powers, and duties of government institutions and sets out fundamental ...

. He was a minister of Education, Law and Finance for

Madras State Madras State was a state of India during the mid-20th century. At the time of its formation in 1950, it included the whole of present-day Tamil Nadu (except Kanyakumari district), Coastal Andhra, Rayalaseema, the Malabar region of North and ...

from 1952 to 1962 under chief ministers

Rajaji Chakravarti Rajagopalachari (10 December 1878 – 25 December 1972), popularly known as Rajaji or C.R., also known as Mootharignar Rajaji (Rajaji'', the Scholar Emeritus''), was an Indian statesman, writer, lawyer, and independence activis ...

and

K. Kamaraj Kumaraswami Kamaraj (15 July 1903 – 2 October 1975, hinduonnet.com. 15–28 September 2001), popularly known as Kamarajar was an Indian independence activist and politician who served as the Chief Minister of Madras State (Tamil Nadu) ...

. He was the First Leader of the House in the Madras Legislative Assembly for the entire duration. He was elected to the

Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, constitutionally the House of the People, is the lower house of India's bicameral Parliament, with the upper house being the Rajya Sabha. Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by an adult universal suffrage and a first-p ...

in 1962 and was the Minister for Steel and Mines. Subsequently, he served as the Minister for Food and Agriculture. He also worked as the Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission from 2 May 1971 to 22 July 1972.

Green Revolution

Along with

and B. Sivaraman, Subramaniam 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 termed 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. About his contribution, Dr. Norman E. Borlaug, writes: He appointed M. S. Swaminathan, who played a major role in green revolution and

Verghese Kurien Verghese Kurien (26 November 1921 - 9 September 2012), known as the "Father of the White Revolution" in India, was a social entrepreneur whose "billion-litre idea", Operation Flood, made dairy farming India's largest self-sustaining industry a ...

as the chairman of National Dairy Development Board when he ushered the Indian White Revolution. Kurien says, ''that the key role played by Subramaniam in the whole thing (Operation Flood) is hardly mentioned.'' He founded the National Agro Foundation, Chennai and Bharathidasan Institute of Management, Tiruchirappalli.

Finance ministry and emergency

When the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British E ...

split in 1969, he became the interim president of

Congress (I) Indian National Congress (Requisitionists) was created in 1969; it was created and led by Indira Gandhi. Initially this party was known as Congress (R), but it soon came to be generally known as the New Congress or Syndicate. The letter 'R' st ...

started by

Indira Gandhi Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi (; ''née'' Nehru; 19 November 1917 – 31 October 1984) was an Indian politician and a central figure of the Indian National Congress. She was elected as third prime minister of India in 1966 and was al ...

. Later, he was appointed

in the union cabinet by Indira Gandhi. He advised her to devalue

Indian rupee The Indian rupee ( symbol: ₹; code: INR) is the official currency in the republic of India. The rupee is subdivided into 100 '' paise'' (singular: ''paisa''), though as of 2022, coins of denomination of 1 rupee are the lowest value in use ...

and was the finance minister during the emergency in 1976. After the emergency, he parted ways with Indira and joined the breakaway Congress faction led by

Devraj Urs Devaraj Devaraj Urs (20 August 1915 – 6 June 1982) was an Indian politician who served two terms as the eighth Chief Minister of Karnataka (1972–77, 1978–80), a state in southern India. He is also the longest serving Chief Minister of Ka ...

and Kasu Brahmananda Reddy.

Later years

He was appointed the union Minister of Defence by

Charan Singh Chaudhary Charan Singh (23 December 1902 – 29 May 1987) served as the 5th Prime Minister of India between 28 July 1979 to 14 January 1980. Historians and people alike frequently refer to him as the 'champion of India's peasants.' Charan S ...

in 1979. He became the Governor of Maharashtra in 1990. He resigned after his criticism of the style of functioning of the then Indian Prime Minister

P. V. Narasimha Rao Pamulaparthi Venkata Narasimha Rao (28 June 1921 – 23 December 2004) was an Indian lawyer, statesman and politician who served as the 9th prime minister of India from 1991 to 1996. He is known for introducing various liberal reforms to Indi ...

. Subramaniam died on 7 November 2000 at the age of 90 in

. At his death, he was the last surviving cabinet minister who had served under

Jawaharlal Nehru Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (; ; ; 14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian Anti-colonial nationalism, anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat— * * * * and author who was a central figure in India du ...

, as well as the last surviving cabinet minister from the Shastri and Nanda cabinets.

Awards

, India's highest civilian honor, 1998 * Y. B. Chavan National Integration Award * U Thant peace award, 1996 * Norman Borlaug award, 1996 * Anuvrat award, 1988

Publications

* ''The New Strategy in Indian Agriculture'' * ''Some Countries which I visited Round The World'' * ''The India of My Dreams''

Legacy

Chidambaram Subramaniam 2010 stamp of India

A commemorative coin in his honour, was released by the Government of India in August 2010. A commemorative postage stamp was also released in his honour in 2010. Shri Chidambaram Subramaniam Award - For Excellence in Character has been instituted by Bharatiya Vidya Bhavans which is awarded to its students annually.

References

External links

About us – National Agro Foundation
* Genesis – Bharathidasan Institute of Management {{DEFAULTSORT:Subramaniam, Chidambaram Recipients of the Bharat Ratna 1910 births 2000 deaths Indian National Congress politicians from Tamil Nadu Governors of Maharashtra Presidency College, Chennai alumni University of Madras alumni Tamil Nadu ministers Members of the Constituent Assembly of India Indian independence activists from Tamil Nadu India MPs 1962–1967 Lok Sabha members from Tamil Nadu India MPs 1971–1977 People from Coimbatore district India MPs 1977–1979 People from Krishnagiri district People from Dindigul district Finance Ministers of India Defence Ministers of India Agriculture Ministers of India Ministers_for_Corporate_Affairs Commerce and Industry Ministers of India Union Ministers from Tamil Nadu Indian National Congress (U) politicians Madras MLAs 1952–1957