Shillong Literary Festival Campus Prelude at IIM Shillong Marks Launch of Book on M.S. Swaminathan

Shillong, October 15, 2025: In the run-up to the fifth edition of the Shillong Literary Festival, IIM Shillong today hosted a special Campus Prelude event featuring the launch of M.S. Swaminathan: The Man Who Fed India by author Priyambada Jayakumar. The Shillong Literary Festival 2025 will be held from November 20-22, at the iconic Ward’s Lake, bringing together writers, poets, and thought leaders from across India. The previous edition of the festival featured stalwarts such as Vikram Seth, Shobhaa Dé, Jerry Pinto, among many others, and the upcoming chapter promises to continue that vibrant literary tradition.
Setting the tone for the pre-fest celebrations, Prof. Basav Roy Chowdhury, Professor at IIM Shillong, remarked,
“The Shillong Literary Festival is in its fifth episode, that’s coming up this year. It’s wonderful to have the prelude event at IIM Shillong. I think we all know about Dr Swaminathan sir. Today, it becomes more relevant. Given the embargos, the tariffs, the global trade, so I do understand that we are looking forward for a wonderful day today with industry interesting discussions, and I think this book could not have been more timely thanks to all the discussions that’s going around in the globe.”
He reflected on Dr. Swaminathan’s monumental contributions, observing that he came to the forefront at a time when India was battling hunger and scarcity, and his scientific breakthroughs shaped the nation’s food security and agricultural resilience.
The event’s highlight was the interaction with Priyambada Jayakumar, the author and niece of Dr. M.S. Swaminathan, one of India’s most revered agricultural scientists. Expressing her personal appreciation for the event she said, “This is actually a homecoming for me. My mother was born in Shillong. My aunt was born in Shillong, and my parents met at IIM Kolkata.”
She added, “Our generation never knew hunger, famine, or any of the inequalities that assailed India in the 1960s. I’m his niece, so I grew up literally seeing him from the time I was a seven year old girl. And I’ve known the stories, and the anecdotes which went behind the Green Revolution. And, you’d be amazed at the stories which I came across, until I started speaking to him. So, my entire endeavor was to write a book which wasn’t available in the market, where you could look at the human stories behind everything that he did. As I said at my launch, his greatest love story was for India. He lived, breathed and worshiped India and her problems, and was always trying to do what he could- to kind of be a step ahead of them (the problems), to sort them, to solve them.”
In conversation with Dr. Teidorlang Lyngdoh, she reminisced about her uncle’s field visits, narrating how he went from house to house urging farmers to try the “magic seeds.” She fondly recalled that he was a feminist at heart, deeply concerned with the plight and recognition of women in agriculture.
Reflecting on the book’s purpose, Priyambada expressed her hope that it will enlighten readers on India’s transformation from a nation once struggling with food crises to one that is self-sufficient. She added that she hopes the story will continue to inspire future “warriors of climate, gender, and agriculture.”
The Shillong Literary Festival Campus Preludes are part of a series of events leading up to the main festival next month, celebrating Meghalaya’s growing literary landscape and its deepening connection with voices and ideas that shape the world.