Guduru Venkatachalam
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G. V. Chalam, also known as Guduru Venkata Chalam (1909–1967),[1] was an Indian activist and agricultural scientist who received the Padma Shri in 1967.[2]
Early years
Guduru Venkatachalam (a.k.a. G.V. Chalam) was born to an affluent family in 1909 in Gudivada, a town in the heart of Andhra Pradesh, India. At the time of his father's death, G.V. Chalam was only eight years old. He was brought up by his paternal uncle, Guduru Ramachandra Rao – a Gandhian and a pioneer social reformer who convened the first Adi Andhra Mahajana Sabha in 1917 for the emancipation of the so-called 'untouchable' castes, Malas and Madigas of Andhra Pradesh (now known as Dalits).[1] Archived 13 April 2016 at the Wayback Machine
G V Chalam had his early education in Gudivada and Rajamundry and later continued his undergraduate studies P.R. Raja College in Kakinada.
Inspired by his uncle, G V Chalam soon became involved in contemporary social reforms and became a leading member of a Society (known as Sodara ‘Samajam’) which had as its goal the establishment of an egalitarian society transcending caste, creed, and religion. G.V. Chalam was fired by patriotic zeal and threw himself into national struggle for freedom from British colonial rule. As a graduate student, Chalam was caught distributing seditious ‘anti British’ literature by the police and was imprisoned for 14 months in the Vellore jail, in then Madras province, India.
Education
Despite this setback (due to imprisonment) to his studies, Chalam continued his postgraduate education at the
In his capacity as Assistant Director of Director of Agriculture for Land Reclamation and Seed Multiplication, he established two very large sized farms after reclaiming the forest areas. The two farms are now known as the Sukinda farm and Deras farm contributed nearly 50 percent of the total seed production in Orissa in 1967. In 1954, as the Paddy Specialist of Orissa Government, Chalam participated in
Agricultural Revolution
In November 1960, Chalam was head hunted to join the Ministry of Food and Agriculture in the Union Government as the Deputy Agricultural Commissioner. In this capacity, he organised several seed production and training programmes in the country in collaboration with the Rockefeller and Ford Foundations. Chalam was one of the main draftsmen of the Seed Law for India which came to be known National Seed Act (1966). In 1963, Chalam was appointed as the first general manager of the National Seeds Corporation and established the first ever chain of Breeder-Foundation—Certified seed farms in India to produce high quality seeds to the farmers. This was the beginning of the certified seed programme which was to play a key role in ushering the Green Revolution in India in the late 60s. Dr. Chalam was the first Member-Secretary of the Central Variety Release Committee which is the forerunner of the Statutory Central Seed Committee.
After the expiry of his term as the general manager of the National Seeds Corporation, Chalam was appointed to the
.TN-1 proved to be an outstanding variety. At a time, when yields of 6000 to 7,000 lb (3,200 kg). per acre were a rare occurrence, with TN-1 it became a common occurrence in India. As one who introduced this high yielding variety in the country, Chalam successfully sponsored the release of TN-1 before the statutory Central Variety Release Committee in January 1966. Later he carried on an intensive seed production programme of TN-I in about 11,000 acres (45 km2) in the second crop season of 1965–68 and made it possible to supply the seed for planting one million acres (4,000 km2) for '
Unfortunately 1965 was the year when India was affected by very severe drought conditions. Large-scale food shortages were imminent. Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri coined the slogan Jai Jawan Jai Kisan to encourage the farmers to produce more and at the same time called upon the countrymen to miss one meal every week to conserve the dwindling food supplies.
At a time when there was widespread despair amongst the farming community, Chalam persuaded the farmers to cultivate drought resistant TN-1 and staved off what certainly would have been another catastrophic famine in India.
Dr. Chalam rejoined the National Seeds Corporation as its managing director. Although Chalam became well known for the propagation of TN-1 rice, Chalam also played a key role in facilitating the introduction and popularisation of high yielding 'Mexican' dwarf wheat varieties and hybrid maize and groundnut varieties into India. During his stewardship, the National Seeds Corporation of India became a model public sector undertaking both for achieving financial results and for achievement of long-term social objectives. In recognition of this enduring contribution to agricultural development of the country, Dr Chalam was awarded Padma Shri in April 1967 by the Government of India.
Unfortunately a month later, on 8 May 1967, Dr G V Chalam suddenly died following a heart attack leaving behind a wife and eight children.
The Government of India released a commemorative stamp on 8 May 2010.
Writing
Chalam had a flair for writing and was fluent in
See also
References
- OCLC 25658553.
- OCLC 2566723.
- ^ Venkitaramanan, S. (9 January 2006). "Reflections on turning points in the economy". The Hindu BusinessLine. Retrieved 5 March 2010.
Books by Guduru Venkatachalam
- Introduction to Agricultural Botany in India GV Chalam and J Venkateswarlu. Asia Publishing House. 1966
- Soil Management in India HR Arakeri, GV Chalam, P Satyanarayana and Roy L Donohue. Asia Publishing House Bombay. 1959.
- Seed Testing Manual G V Chalam, A Singh, JE Douglas. Indian Council of Agricultural Research and United States Agency for International Development