Guduru Venkatachalam facts for kids
G. V. Chalam, also known as Guduru Venkata Chalam (1909–1967), was an important Indian activist and agricultural scientist. He worked hard to improve farming in India and received the Padma Shri award in 1967 for his great contributions.
Contents
Early Life and Activism
Guduru Venkatachalam was born in 1909 in Gudivada, a town in India. He came from a wealthy family. When he was only eight years old, his father passed away. His uncle, Guduru Ramachandra Rao, then raised him.
His uncle was a follower of Mahatma Gandhi and a social reformer. He worked to help people from the 'Dalit' castes, who were often treated unfairly. Chalam was inspired by his uncle's work.
Chalam studied in Gudivada and Rajamundry. Later, he went to P.R. Raja College in Kakinada. He soon joined a group called 'Sodara Samajam'. This group wanted to create a fair society where everyone was equal, no matter their caste or religion.
Chalam was very patriotic and joined India's fight for freedom from British rule. As a student, he was caught giving out writings that were against the British government. Because of this, he was put in jail for 14 months in Vellore, India.
His Education and Early Work
Even after being in jail, Chalam continued his studies. He went to Banaras Hindu University (BHU) and earned a master's degree in botany. Botany is the study of plants.
After a short time at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), Chalam joined the Agriculture Department in Orissa. He worked as a research assistant at the Central Rice Research Institute in Cuttack. Here, he focused on studying rice plants.
In 1943, he earned his doctorate (PhD) from Patna University. His PhD was about the structure of rice plants. He was the first person to get a PhD on this topic in the states of Bihar and Orissa.
As a rice researcher, Chalam developed several important types of rice. These included varieties like T-1145, T-141, and T-1242, which became very popular in Orissa. He also created a special type of rice called SR 26B. This rice could grow well in salty soil. It is now grown along the entire East and West Coasts of India, in Sri Lanka, and in some parts of Southeast Asia.
Chalam also helped turn forest areas into large farms. These farms, called Sukinda and Deras, grew many seeds. In 1954, he worked with the Food and Agriculture Organization to research new rice types. He helped publish a detailed book called 'Rice in Orissa'. Chalam also taught farmers how to grow a second crop, which was a new idea at the time.
Starting the Green Revolution
In 1960, Chalam was asked to join the Ministry of Food and Agriculture in the Indian government. He became the Deputy Agricultural Commissioner. In this role, he set up many programs to produce seeds and train farmers. He worked with the Rockefeller Foundation and Ford Foundation on these projects.
Chalam was one of the main people who helped write India's Seed Law, which became the National Seed Act of 1966. In 1963, he became the first general manager of the National Seeds Corporation. He created the first system in India to produce high-quality seeds for farmers. This was the start of the certified seed program, which was very important for the Green Revolution in India. The Green Revolution was a time when new farming methods and seeds greatly increased food production.
Chalam also became the first Member-Secretary of the Central Variety Release Committee. This committee decides which new crop varieties can be used by farmers.
After his time at the National Seeds Corporation, Chalam joined the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) in 1964. On his way back from a seminar in New Zealand, he visited the International Rice Research Institute in Manila. There, he found a promising rice variety called Taichung Native-I (TN-1). He believed it could grow well in India.
Chalam brought just one kilogram of TN-1 seeds back to India. With approval from ICAR, he tested the seeds in four places. The results were amazing! This opened up new possibilities for rice production in India. Many scientists and international organizations were doubtful. But Chalam kept going. He tested TN-1 on many small farms in states like Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, and Punjab.
TN-1 proved to be an excellent rice variety. Before TN-1, getting 6,000 to 7,000 pounds of rice per acre was rare. With TN-1, it became common. Chalam successfully pushed for TN-1 to be officially released in January 1966. He then organized a huge program to produce TN-1 seeds. He made it possible to supply enough seeds to plant one million acres of rice for the 'Kharif' (monsoon) season in 1966. Starting with just one kilogram of seeds, Chalam helped create a massive stock of certified seeds.
In 1965, India faced a very bad drought, and there was a risk of severe food shortages. Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri encouraged farmers to produce more food. Chalam convinced farmers to grow the drought-resistant TN-1 rice. This helped prevent a major famine in India.
Dr. Chalam later returned to the National Seeds Corporation as its managing director. While he is famous for TN-1 rice, he also helped introduce other high-yielding crops. These included 'Mexican' dwarf wheat varieties and hybrid maize and groundnut. Under his leadership, the National Seeds Corporation became a successful public company.
For his lasting contributions to farming in India, Dr. Chalam received the Padma Shri award in April 1967. Sadly, he passed away suddenly from a heart attack on May 8, 1967, just a month later. He left behind his wife and eight children.
The Government of India released a special stamp in his honor on May 8, 2010.
Writing
Chalam was a talented writer and spoke Telugu, English, and Oriya fluently. When he was in prison as a student, he wrote many insightful short stories about life there. Some of these stories were later published in a popular Telugu magazine called Krishna Patrika.
Even though he wasn't always a full-time academic, Chalam wrote 40 scientific papers and many popular science articles. He received the Kavikokila prize for making scientific farming ideas easy for farmers to understand. He did this through his popular book on rice farming called 'VARI SAGU'. Farmers in Andhra Pradesh really liked this book. Chalam gave his prize money to the National Defence Fund during the Indo-Pakistan war in 1965.
Books by Guduru Venkatachalam
- Introduction to Agricultural Botany in India by GV Chalam and J Venkateswarlu. 1966.
- Soil Management in India by HR Arakeri, GV Chalam, P Satyanarayana and Roy L Donohue. 1959.
- Seed Testing Manual by G V Chalam, A Singh, JE Douglas.
