The Hindu : National : Future lies in gene revolution, says M.S. Swaminathan

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, May 10, 2006

National

National

Future lies in gene revolution, says M.S. Swaminathan

Anand Parthasarathy

Putting together genetic characteristics of plant strains may be the `next big thing'

Photo: Anand Parthasarathy

CHARTING A NEW PATH: Agriculture scientist M.S. Swaminathan (right) with A.T. Ariyaratne (left), founder of the Sarvodaya Shramadana movement in Sri Lanka, and Rinalia Abdul Rahim, Executive Director of the Global Knowledge Partnership, after a `talk show' on development directions, in Colombo on Tuesday.

Colombo: Do not say `green,' say `gene.' The man recognised worldwide for `fathering' the Green Revolution has set his sights on a different revolution for the new millennium: M.S. Swaminathan thinks gene recombination — putting together genetic characteristics of different plant strains — may be the `next big thing' for innovators to address if poverty is to be eradicated worldwide. This must go hand in hand with a new thrust in harnessing renewable energy sources and in extending the reach of mobile and wireless services to reach the remotest villages.

`Greed revolution'

Speaking to over 300 international members of the Global Knowledge Partnership (GKP) at their international forum here on Tuesday, Prof. Swaminathan said political will was lacking, particularly in the developed nations, to meet the modest targets of humankind that had been set in 2000 as the 15-year Millennium Development Goals. "A greed revolution is taking place," he said.

In a talk show-style discussion with Prof. Swaminathan, A.T. Ariyaratne, founder of the Sarvodaya Shramadana movement in Sri Lanka, feared that the lessons of the 2004 Asian Tsunami were still being ignored. The central bank in Sri Lanka was proving to be the `biggest obstacle' to micro credit schemes for the rural poor, whereas over 5,000 villages were reached by volunteer rather than government agencies, with such schemes.

Speaking to The Hindu , on the sidelines of the forum, Prof. Swaminathan said Information and Communication technologies were emerging as the key enablers to fuel schemes in India such as the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme and the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan. He had personally recommended to the Union Human Resource Development Ministry that beneficiaries of the NREGS must be swiftly equipped with the knowledge and skills to bootstrap themselves into the mainstream, rather than merely receiving doles.

"I am afraid the Government has not fully come to grips with the dimension of the agrarian crisis," he said. "Forty per cent of our farmers are quitting agriculture. Half are below the poverty line in the villages. Yet in the same breath, we talk of a galloping Sensex as an indicator of development."

He felt the power of partnership exemplified by global initiatives such as GKP was necessary if IT was to drive powerful social goals. Over a dozen Indian non-governmental agency members are taking part in the forum that ends on Wednesday.

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