Krishnaswamy Ramiah (15 April 1892 – 3 August 1988) was an Indian agricultural scientist,

geneticist A geneticist is a biologist or physician who studies genetics, the science of genes, heredity, and variation of organisms. A geneticist can be employed as a scientist or a lecturer. Geneticists may perform general research on genetic processes ...

, parliamentarian and the founder director of

Central Rice Research Institute The National Rice Research Institute has been established since 1966 under Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) but it was setup on April 23, 1946 at Bidhyadharpur, Cuttack, Odisha with an experimental farm land of 60 hectares. Rese ...

Cuttack Cuttack (, or officially Kataka ) in Odia is the former capital and the second largest city in the Indian state of Odisha. It is the headquarters of the Cuttack district. The name of the city is an anglicised form of ''Kataka'' which literall ...

, credited with introducing systematic hybridisation programmes in

rice breeding Rice is the seed of the grass species '' Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice) or less commonly ''Oryza glaberrima'' (African rice). The name wild rice is usually used for species of the genera ''Zizania'' and ''Porteresia'', both wild and domesticated, ...

in India. The

Government of India The Government of India ( ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, ...

honoured him in 1957, with the award of

Padma Shri Padma Shri (IAST: ''padma śrī''), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is confe ...

, the fourth-highest Indian civilian award for his services to the nation and followed it up with the third-highest civilian honour of the

Padma Bhushan The Padma Bhushan is the third-highest civilian award in the Republic of India, preceded by the Bharat Ratna and the Padma Vibhushan and followed by the Padma Shri. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is given for "distinguished servi ...

in 1970.

Biography

Ramiah, born in 1892, started his career, in 1914, as a member of research staff at the Paddy Breeding Station in Coimbatore,

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 languag ...

. In three years time, by 1917, he produced new crossbreeds of rice though pure line selection and breed improvement. Later, he introduced systematic hybridisation programmes, known to be the first Indian scientist to pursue such a protocol in rice breeding. When the Government of India established the

in 1946, Ramiah was selected to head the institution as its founder director and continued at his post when the institute was later brought under the Indian Council of Agricultural Research. During his tenure there, he also led the International Rice Commission, a

Food and Agriculture Organization The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)french: link=no, Organisation des Nations unies pour l'alimentation et l'agriculture; it, Organizzazione delle Nazioni Unite per l'Alimentazione e l'Agricoltura is an intern ...

(FAO) initiative. He was reported to have contributed to the FAO sponsored Indo-Japonica Hybridization programme which yielded the nitrogen responsive rice varieties of Mahsuri, Malinja, ADT 27 and Circna, the first two released in Malaysia, the third in India and the last one, in Australia. He also evolved a number of varieties of rice which include GEB 24, ADT 3, CO 4 and CO 25. The GEB 24 variety is a

progenitor In genealogy, the progenitor (rarer: primogenitor; german: Stammvater or ''Ahnherr'') is the – sometimes legendary progenitor, legendary – founder of a family, Kinship, line of descent, clan or tribe, Nobility, noble house, or ethnic group. ...

for 83 rice varieties developed across countries. Ramiah was one of the first scientists who advocated for standardisation of gene symbols for rice. Serving as the FAO expert based in

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estimated populatio ...

, he was involved with the rice breeding in many countries. He was known to have conducted advanced research on

X-ray X-rays (or rarely, ''X-radiation'') are a form of high-energy electromagnetic radiation. In many languages, it is referred to as Röntgen radiation, after the German scientist Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen, who discovered it in 1895 and named it ' ...

induced mutation of rice and established a gene bank for rice. He was the author of two books on the subject, ''Rice in Madras'' and ''Rice Breeding and Genetics''. The British government appointed Ramiah a Member of the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(MBE) in the 1938 Birthday Honours list. After India's independence, the Government of India recognised his services by awarding him the fourth-highest civilian honour of

in 1957 and the third-highest honour of the

in 1970. The Centre for Environmental Science and Engineering of the

Indian Institute of Technology Bombay The Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT Bombay or IITB) is a public research university and technical institute in Powai, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. It is considered as one of the best engineering universities in India and is top ranke ...

has instituted Ramiah Memorial Lecture, an annual lecture event, in his honour. He died on 3 August 1988, survived by his five sons and two daughters and their families; his wife had predeceased him.

Biography

See also

References

External links

Further reading