📖 जीवन कहानी — Life Story
Dr. Mahesh Kumar Phalswal is perhaps the most academically decorated son of Mundakhera. Born in 1975, he was the first in his family to go beyond Class 8.
His father, a small farmer, cycled 12 km daily to Badli town to sell vegetables and fund Mahesh's studies. This sacrifice was never forgotten — Mahesh studied with obsessive dedication, standing first in every exam from village school to university.
After completing B.Sc. Agriculture from CCS HAU Hisar with distinction, he secured a Commonwealth scholarship and completed his PhD in Plant Genetics from Punjab Agricultural University Ludhiana. His doctoral thesis on drought-resistant gene mapping in wheat won the ICAR Best Thesis Award in 2004.
He joined ICAR (Indian Council of Agricultural Research) as a Scientist in 2005. Over the next two decades, he has been part of a team that developed 3 new wheat varieties — HD 3385 (now grown on over 4 million hectares), HD 2967, and GW 322. These varieties have contributed to India's record wheat production.
Despite living in Delhi, Dr. Mahesh visits Mundakhera every Diwali and organizes a free soil testing camp for village farmers. He says: 'This soil fed my dreams. Now I must feed it back.'