The 6th addition of M.S. Swaminathan Award for agriculture has been given to Rayappa Ramappa Hanchinal Chairperson of protection of plant varieties and Farmers Rights Authority. This award has been given to Dr. Hanchinal for his contributions and continuous efforts in areas of seed production technology, crop improvement for hot and very hot dry environments and intellectual protection rights in plant varieties. This Award was presented by C.Parthasarathy Secretary, Agriculture and cooperation Govt of Telangana.