IIM Alumni of Ahmadabad Chennai Chapter had organized for a breakfast meet with Prof. M S Swaminathan.

A plant geneticist by training, Professor Swaminathan’s contributions to the agricultural renaissance of India have led to his being widely referred to as the scientific leader of the green revolution movement. His advocacy of sustainable agriculture leading to an ever-green revolution makes him an acknowledged world leader in the field of sustainable food security. Described by the United Nations Environment Programme as “The Father of Economic Ecology”, He is the current president for Pugwash Conferences of scientists whose aim is elimination of nuclear weapons and attainment of global peace. He is being quoted by Javier Perez de Cuellar, Secretary General of the United Nations, as “a living legend who will go into the annals of history as a world scientist of rare distinction”.

Professor Swaminathan was awarded the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership in 1971, the Albert Einstein World Science Award in 1986, and the first World Food Prize in 1987. The International Association of Women and Development conferred on him the first international award for significant contributions to promoting the knowledge, skill, and technological empowerment of women in agriculture and for his pioneering role in mainstreaming gender considerations in agriculture and rural development. He has been acclaimed by TIME magazine as one of the twenty most influential Asians of the 20th century and one of the only three from India, the other two being Mahatma Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore.

Losing his father at a very early age, Dr. Swaminathan struggled his way through life to become what he is today. During my encounters in several capacity with Dr. M S Swaminathan, Be it IIT, or during dialogue sessions on green revolution and human revolution conducted by my mentor Dr. Ikeda or at Satyam Computers where we had invited him to speak on several forums, I have marveled at his stupendous memory and his ability to recognize people even if he had met them once. I have noticed this unique quality in all great people, and felt it whenever I meet Dr. Swaminathan as he immediately recognizes me and inquires about the organization and my well being with a genuine interest.

I cannot help bowing down to this great person and wonderful human being who is fully charged with divine and positive energy which is transferred to people who come in contact with him. Being an eminent scientist that he is, my personal aspiration is that he should be our next Nobel laureate and I eagerly look forward to this great moment of celebration.

In the breakfast meet while addressing the alumni members of IIM A Chennai chapter. Dr. M.S Swaminthan shared his valuable insights on second green revolution. Defining revolution as not an evolutionary change but a carefully planned activity, he stated that it can be classified under the following 3 aspects.

· Defend things already achieved during the first green revolution and defend the game in the heartland of green revolution

· Extend the game to areas by passed during first green revolution - which means focus should be on developing regions such as Bihar, West Bengal, Assam and the likes where water is abundant but productivity is low. Exploring dry land farming using technology and rain water harvesting in regions like Vidharbha. Rolling out policies on sharing water equitably.

· Playing the New Game - Getting into food processing, Bio mass, Bio gas and similar initiatives

Elaborating on the topic of playing the new game, M S Swaminathan stated that in the current scenario, farm to consumer spoilage is more than 30% and to curtail this we need to encourage food processing industries and explore and increase the consumption base for processed foods like jams preserves, sun dried products, pickles, dehydrated foods, canned foods, semi processed foods etc.

To make this happen we should create a Bio park or Bio mass projects and create forward linkages from sowing to marketing. For e.g. 23 different products can be made from rice itself and a Bio park for rice can be created to support such initiatives. It is almost similar to the operation flood project initiated by Dr. Kurien. This will help us to create a win-win situation for both producers and consumers and see how we can produce economies of scale to small farmers. For. e.g. In Bulgaria farmer co-operatives has been extremely successful by protecting farm owners by way of insurance to cover environment fluctuations. So we need to create a set up in agricultural sector like NDDB (National Diary Development Board) to make a huge difference. Incidentally India is number 1 in milk production, producing 175 Metric ton of milk as opposed to 75 M ton produced by US.

The first green revolution primarily focused on expansion of irrigated area. Whereas during second green revolution we should focus on improving productivity (yield per hectare), parallel to saving land and forests in a population rich and land hungry country like ours. The second green revolution should become evergreen revolution which means improvement in productivity in perpetuity without harming ecology.

To a question on transferring agricultural land for industrial and construction purposes he said that we should not displace people and create jobless growth, all growth should be job led. He also cited that the mindset of urban population towards agriculture must change. Agri commodities are priced low therefore the average agricultural income is low. To tackle this we should first create a strong home or domestic consumption base. Quoting china he stated that China has succeeded because they have created strong rural consumption base by developing rural enterprises and manufacturing bases in rural areas.

While speaking on policy related issues, MS Swaminathan further stated that in China land is socially owned this facilitates the reform building process, whereas it is not the same in India where we have close to 115 million land owners, with highly fragmented land where 80% of the farmers own an acre or below. Congratulating the union government for their stand in the recent WTO Doha summit, He suggested that the current land ceiling act should be deliberated based on rain dependent and not so rain dependent areas.

To attack poverty we must convert unskilled labour force to skilled labour force and involve them in agri business and agro processing. Farmer’s interest need to be protected and balanced and incentives should be provided for farmers or youth who are interested in taking to agriculture.

To a question on how to make the green revolution successful, he suggested that the following 4 factors should come together and work in symphony

· Scientists

· Service (Production and distribution of quality seeds / Power distribution)

· Political system (Public Policy)

· Farmer’s enthusiasm