Dr. Gurcharan Singh Kalkat (June 17, 1926 - January 27, 2018) was an eminent agricultural scientist, known for his contributions in bringing the Green Revolution to Punjab. The Government of India awarded him with the Padma Shri in 1981, and Padma Bhushan in 2007. Dr. Kalkat was an honest, bright professional, hard working and soft spoken. He was a part of the team of scientists that steered the adoption of high yielding Mexican wheat varieties. Ohio University honoured him with the “Distinguished International Student “ award. Dr. Kalkat was appointed Chairman of Punjab State Farmers Commission (2005 to 2017) and he became the “ think tank “ of the state Government on all agrarian issues.
He was born into a Jat Sikh family in the village Sahora, Hoshiarpur. He graduated in agriculture from Punjab Agriculture College, Lyallpur, in 1947 and obtained MSc in agriculture from Punjab university in 1956. After receiving the Rockefeller Fellowship, he went to America and obtained his PhD (Zoology-Entomology) from Ohio State University in 1958. Returning from America, he started his career as the Deputy Director of Agriculture with the Government of Punjab and became the Director of Agriculture in 1971. In 1973 he was selected as Agricultural Commissioner in the Indian Ministry of Agriculture New Delhi and held the post up to 1978. He joined the World Bank as a Senior Agriculturist, with the responsibility of attending to the agriculture development programmes in Ghana and Nigeria and subsequently in India and Nepal. He returned to India to take up the post of Vice Chancellor of Punjab Agricultural University Ludhiana in 1998 and worked till 2001. The Punjab Government established the Punjab State Farmers Commission (PSFC) in 2005, and Dr. Kalkat was appointed its Founder Chairman.
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