Explanation:

Dr. Gurdev Singh Khush may not be a household name, but the rice that he developed has touched the lips of nearly every person in the world. This humble man is a Sikh scientist who, through dedication and hard work, developed more than 300 varieties of rice and triggered the famed Green Revolution in Asia.He is reffered to as the 'Rice Man of Punjab'.These modern rice varieties helped avert a major catastrophe in recent world history. This catastrophe was an explosion in the world's population without an accompanying explosion in the world's food supply, of which rice is a predominant staple crop.

Because farmers adopted these modern varieties, the world's supply of rice doubled in just 25 years - from 257 million tons in 1966 to 520 million tons in 1990. What's more, most of the major rice-producing countries became self-sufficient. Massive starvation had been avoided. The major force behind this profound increase in the world's food supply was Dr. Gurdev Singh, a plant breeder and geneticist at the International Rice Institute in the Phillipinnes. About 70% of the world's rice fields are planted with varieties developed under his leadership.