Mumbai: Maharashtra Minister Jayant Patil on Friday made a strong pitch for giving posthumous Padma award to Dadaji Khobragade, the cultivator who revolutionised rice farming in the state's Chandrapur district.
Water Resources Minister Patil has written to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray urging him to recommend Khobragade's name for the award.
The agriculturist died on June 3, following prolonged illness in Gadchiroli.
Recalling Khobragade's contribution, Patil said the cultivator had bred and refined nine varieties of paddy, including the famous HMT variety, "in a hostile economic condition".
The farmer-scientist had died in poverty and he needs to be duly honoured for his accomplishments, Patil stated in the letter, asking the chief minister to recommend Khobragade's name for a posthumous Padma Award.
