The Hindu : Front Page : Bush gets a glimpse of rural India

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Mar 04, 2006

Front Page

Front Page

Bush gets a glimpse of rural India

S. Nagesh Kumar

US President has interaction with farm scientists, SHG women and young entrepreneurs

CARING PRESIDENT: George W. Bush picks up a child during his visit to Acharya N.G. Ranga Agricultural University in Hyderabad on Friday. - AP Photo

HYDERABAD: A brief visit to Hyderabad on Friday gave US President George W. Bush a glimpse of how India's rural economy sustains itself and, contrastingly, how young and modern-looking entrepreneurs plan to compete with the world's best in industry.

Mr. Bush saw the use of simple and cost-effective technologies by farmers to improve yield and innovative methods to market their produce when he visited the Agricultural University named after an eminent son of the Andhra soil Prof. N. G. Ranga. Harking back to the days he spent at his ranch in Texas, the US President tried his hand at a tiller, a rake and a moisture-testing meter.

Barely 30 minutes later, he was at the gleaming premises of the Indian School of Business, a management school supported by the Wharton and Kellogg Business School of the US, talking to a group of 16 young entrepreneurs, where he stated, quite significantly for India, that the US "rejects objections against outsourcing of jobs." He said the US was looking at the 300 million strong Indian middle class for business opportunities. The agriculture university is among several universities slated to receive a US $ 100 million grant under the Knowledge Initiative for which a protocol is to be signed. Escorted by Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy, Mr. Bush had a 30-minute long meeting with agricultural scientists and Vice-Chancellor S. Raghuvardhan Reddy when he discussed, among other things, the subject of greater cooperation with US agri-varsities.

Perhaps for the first time, Mr. Bush saw the simple Indian wooden plough and posed for photographs with it slung across his right shoulder. Amused by a jumbo-size pumpkin, Mr. Bush lifted up to his chest and parodied as if he was going to fall under its weight. He spent time at the premises of the National Seed Project talking to progressive farmers, learning the intricacies of operating a handloom for weaving silk sarees, besides talking to women of self-help groups who informed him of how the 6.20 lakh SHGs had raised hundreds of crores of rupees by saving one rupee a day.

With no other public interaction in his four-hour-long itinerary, Mr. Bush did all the right things that pleased the hosts like lifting up a child, Venktaramana, in his arms, pecking the cheek of a woman in the midst of a field and obliging women with countless photographs. He displayed interest in export of mangoes to the US, the Chief Minister later said.

Surprise for Rice

US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, who accompanied the President, also went around the premises. She seemed surprised on being informed by Agriculture Minister N. Raghuveera Reddy that farmers in India, 85 per cent of whom were small and marginal, largely produced their own seed and did not purchase it from big companies. First Lady Laura Bush separately interacted with women's groups elsewhere on the university campus on the issue of women's empowerment and was briefed on work to combat HIV/AIDS.

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