The Hindu : Karnataka News : `Biotechnology can trigger next green revolution'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Nov 21, 2004

Karnataka

Karnataka

`Biotechnology can trigger next green revolution'

By Our Staff Reporter

BANGALORE, NOV. 20. The Union Minister for Agriculture, Sharad Pawar, said today that the spread of biotechnology could trigger the next green revolution and it was visible in the cotton industry. The yield of cotton had gone up by 20 per cent after the introduction of genetically modified varieties, he said at the inauguration of the second national-level conference of the Federation of Jain Educational Institutes (FJEI) here.

Mr. Pawar said the biotechnology boom had the potential to have a bigger impact on society than information technology as its applications was helpful to farmers. As India was rich in genetic resources, it could easily be tapped to increase farm output. He urged educational institutions to focus on creating awareness on biotechnology and its uses.

Concern

The Union Minister expressed concern over the digital divide, which, he said, would enhance the gap between the rich and the poor.

He appealed to educational institutes to set up mobile IT laboratories to bridge the gap. Each institute could have two or three vans with computers and they could be taken to villages, he said.

He said quality educational institutions should be set up to bring down the school dropout rate. The dropout rate among girl children in India was 35 per cent compared to 15 per cent in China.

Stressing the importance of a continuous information exchange programme for faculty to keep abreast of changes in the related fields, he said: "They should no longer be complacent once they have been made permanent in the institution." The Union Minister lauded the Jain community for its contribution to education.

The focus of the conference is to establish a network of educational institutions and to synergise the strengths of educational trusts.

The Union Minister of State for Planning, M.V. Rajashekharan, released the FJEI Action Plan 2005. The Minister for Industries, P.G.R. Sindhia, spoke.

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