The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Bridge rural-urban divide, says M.S. Swaminathan

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, May 13, 2006

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Bridge rural-urban divide, says M.S. Swaminathan

Special Correspondent

"The root cause of the problem should be gone into and remedial measures taken"

CHENNAI: The chairman of the M.S.Swaminathan Research Foundation, M.S.Swaminathan, on Friday said that time has come for India to bridge the rural urban divide.

If efforts were not made in this direction, one of the consequences would be a spread of the naxalite movement. "We can not be complacent." The root cause of the problem should be gone into and remedial measures taken, he said in a talk on "India's time has come," organised by the Madras Management Association here.

It was at the country's own peril that it could neglect rural India, including farming in a larger sense, he cautioned. He stressed the need for taking new technologies to rural parts of the country to elevate crop productivity and for making unskilled labourers skilled ones as part of the efforts to tackle poverty. Yet another effort was to technologically empower the poor.

A massive effort was needed to harness non-conventional energy sources, including bio-fuel to meet the increasing energy needs. Besides these, marketing value-added information for farmers was essential. Knowledge connectivity was important in agriculture.

R.Swaminathan, former Secretary, Asian Development Bank, said India had a lot to do for the weaker sections. The chasm between the haves and have-nots was not congenial for a sustained economic growth. Public administration capabilities had deteriorated significantly. The country had a long way to go in governance. The time had come for India to take agriculture and associated issues seriously and take necessary measures in a better professional manner.

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