- Former agriculture commissioner of India and often called the pioneer of Green Revolution in India, Dr. Gurcharan Singh Kalkat died on January 27, 2018 at Chandigarh.
- Born in Hoshiarpur’s Sahora village on June 17, 1926, Dr. Kalkat obtained his BSc Agriculture degree from Punjab Agriculture College, Lyallpur (now Pakistan) in 1947.
- He was the founding chairman of Punjab State Farmers Commission.
- He was the former vice-chancellor of Punjab Agricultural University (Ludhiana) from 1998-2001.
- It was under his leadership as the director of agriculture, Punjab, and later as the agriculture commissioner of India, that the country witnessed ‘Green Revolution’ and India became self-sufficient in food grain production.
- Kalkat was the one who even ushered a soybean revolution and also introduced banana cultivation for Punjab.
- He was the former agriculture commissioner of India.
- He even accomplished various international assignments, like, as senior agriculturist with the World Bank he worked for countries like Nigeria and Ghana.
- He was awarded Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan for his contribution to the nation.
