Trust for Advancement of Agricultural Sciences (TAS) has been honouring agricultural scientists with the Dr MS Swaminathan Award for his contribution to the Indian Agriculture sector for the last 8 years. This year's 9th Dr MS Swaminathan award has been given to Dr Uma Lele. This award was given to Dr Lele by Dr Y.K. Alagh, former Minister, Government of India. On this occasion, Dr MS Swaminathan, Chief Guest, Dr RS Paroda, Chairman of TAS was present.
Dr Uma Lele, an independent scholar and development economist, has a PhD from Cornell University and four decades of experience in research, operations, policy analysis, and evaluation in the World Bank, universities and international organizations. Among her notable works are Food Grain Marketing in India: Private Performance and Public Policy (1973), The Design of Rural Development: Lessons from Africa (1976), Managing Agricultural Development in Africa (1991), Transitions in Development: From Aid to Capital Flows (1991), Intellectual Property Rights in Agriculture: The World Bank's Role in Assisting Borrower and Member Countries (1999), and Managing a Global Resource: Challenges of Forest Conservation and Development (2002). She has also written papers on Agricultural Productivity Growth and Structural Transformation, and on the changing roles of forests and water in the course of economic development. As Senior Advisor in the World Bank’s Operations Evaluation Department (now called the Independent Evaluation Group), she led evaluations of the World Bank’s Forest Strategy (2002), the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) (2003), and the World Bank’s approach to global programs (2005). She co-chaired an International Taskforce of the China Council on Environment and Development on Forests and Grasslands (2000-2002), served on the panel for the independent external evaluation of the Food and Agriculture Organization (2007), and led a team which co-authored a theme paper for the first Global Conference on Agricultural Research for Development (GCARD 1) leading to the formation of a Roadmap.
Before this Dr Dr Norman Narlow, Dr. G. S happy, Dr. S. K. Vasal, Dr. Ratan Lal, Dr. Sanjay Rajaram, Dr. M. Saxena, Dr. William De Dar, Dr. Thomas Lumpkin have been honoured with the precious award. This award is given to eliminate global starvation and contribute to life in the agricultural sector in India.
