Renowned agricultural scientist M S Swaminathan and the driving force behind the nation's 'Green Revolution,' passed away in Chennai on Thursday.
The police deployed tear gas and water cannons for a second day to stop the farmers from marching to Delhi.
Dr Shreekant Sambrani pays tribute to M S Swaminathan, renowned agricultural scientist and a lifelong crusader against hunger who passed away in Chennai recently.
In the 76 years since India gained independence, 53 recipients of the Bharat Ratna have been there. That's less than one every year, which is a healthy ratio given there is the sanctity of this gem of an award to preserve. But four recipients for the year were announced in a few days in addition to one announced earlier. That took the total number in 2024 to five in less than a month, the highest for any year, post-Independence, notes Shyam G Menon.
Dr M S Swaminathan, who was among the scientists instrumental in heralding India's Green Revolution, will be conferred with an honourary degree by the University of Alberta, Edmonton, on October 7.
Dr M S Swaminathan, friends with Dr Norman Borlaug for 56 years, recalls how the Nobel Laureate transformed Indian agriculture.
The policy, among other things, aims to improve the economic viability of farming by substantially improving the net income of farmers in addition to improving productivity, profitability, land, water and support services and provide appropriate price policy, risk management measures.
'It may take two years for the economy to return to normal.' 'We should ensure that the vulnerable do not dig into their savings or give up their assets because that will set them back by several years.'
'Respect nature, working with (it) rather than against it.'
'A lot of unauthorised encroachments have taken place in our forest area.' 'The landslides are partly because of such encroachments.' 'The other factor is deforestation.' 'Protection of forest resources is not on the agenda of any government.' 'The damage caused by the rain in Kerala is a man-made factor.'
'In the final analysis, all Budgets everywhere are like the schemes hatched by A A Milne's lovable Winnie-the-Pooh.' 'They may be well-intended, but often go awry.' 'Although Pooh and his friends agree that he 'has very little brain', he is occasionally acknowledged to have a clever idea, usually driven by common sense.' 'This Budget at a first glance does not appear to belong to that latter category,' says economist Shreekant Sambrani.
The work of Norman Borlaug, who helped save billions from starvation, is worth recalling, especially as opposition to gene-modified crops mount, says Shreekant Sambrani.
'A lot will depend on the first Aayog and the power it derives.'
'It is a national shame that the only country that enacted a food security act is now better known as the land of farmer suicides. Indian farming can change only if national irrigation policy is implemented in totality,' Dr M S Swaminathan tells Shobha Warrier/Rediff.com
'They don't always agree with our governments, their teachers or their parents, but it is the conviction of their ideas, and their determination to share them with the world that, I believe, is one of the greatest sources of hope for our planet.' 'The colonisation of space, understanding the very building blocks of matter and the universe, utilising our understanding of the human genome to conquer disease -- these are the tasks waiting for a fellowship of minds to realise new triumphs in our collective destiny.'
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Ayurvedic expert Dr G G Gangadharan on how the ancient Indian medical practice needs to be propagated in the country of its origin
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