C. Subramaniam

Founder

Founder of National Foundation for India (NFI)

Photo: Wikimedia (CC BY-SA)

C. Subramaniam is the founding trustee of National Foundation for India (NFI) (1990)[1], an Indian non-profit working on human rights and livelihood from New Delhi.

Chidambaram Subramaniam (1910-2000) was an Indian independence activist, lawyer and politician who served as Union Minister for Food and Agriculture, Finance and Defence, and later as Governor of Maharashtra. As agriculture minister in the mid-1960s he was central to the introduction of high-yielding wheat and rice varieties that became known as India's Green Revolution. In later life he turned to philanthropy and institution-building, and in 1990 he was among the founders of the National Foundation for India, serving as its founder chairperson.

Career

Subramaniam took part in the independence movement and afterwards held ministerial office in Madras State before moving to national politics. As Minister for Food and Agriculture he worked with the agricultural scientist M. S. Swaminathan, the administrator B. Sivaraman and the plant breeder Norman Borlaug to introduce high-yielding seed varieties, fertiliser and price-support policies that ended India's dependence on imported food grain.

In 1990 he joined Kamla Chowdhry and M. S. Swaminathan, together with trustees including Ratan Tata, S. P. Godrej, Devaki Jain, Verghese Kurien, Bilkees Latif and David Arnold, to establish the National Foundation for India, a grant-making body set up to strengthen Indian civil society. He was the Foundation's founder chairperson, and NFI later named its C Subramaniam Awards for Community Leaders after him.

Recognition

Subramaniam was awarded the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian honour, in 1998, for his contribution to the Green Revolution.[2][3][4]

National Foundation for India (NFI)

National Foundation for India is a New Delhi-based grantmaking foundation established in 1990 that strengthens civil society organisations and promotes leadership among marginalised communities. It works across climate action, women's empowerment, constitutional values, gender rights and health & nutrition, partnering with roughly 300 civil society organisations across 24 states.

National Foundation for India (NFI) reports the following, on its own site: