SPEECH
BY SHRI K.R. NARAYANAN, PRESIDENT OF INDIA, ON THE OCCASION OF DEDICATION
OF THE J.R.D. TATA ECOTECHNOLOGY CENTRE
CHENNAI, WEDNESDAY, JULY 29, 1999
I am
happy to be here to-day at the inauguration of the JRD Tata Ecotechnology
Centre of the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation. May I congratulate
Dr. M.S. Swaminathan, one of the world's best known agricultural scientists
and the doyen of Indian science for his initiative in establishing this
Centre. It is a happy co-incidence that to-day is the 96th birthday of
JRD Tata, one of the builders of modern India and a visionary of India's
industrial greatness who was bestowed by the nation the Bharat Ratna Award.
I am also happy on this occasion to lay the foundation stone for the Biotechnology
Park for Women Entrepreneurs. May I congratulate the Chief Minister of
Tamil Nadu Kalaignar Karunanidhi for this initiative taken by his Government
in cooperation with Biotechnology Department of the Government of India
and M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation.
The
Constitution of India has laid down that it is the duty of every citizen
to protect and improve the natural environment including forests, lakes,
rivers and wild life and to have compassion to living creatures. This
was a reflection of the values cherished by the Indian civilization over
the ages. But the protection of the environment from the aggressive inroads
of industrialisation and the idea of a clean and healthy environment as
a positive input into sustainable development are relatively new concepts.
Mahatma
Gandhi had, however, cautioned as early as 1929 that if "India should
ever take to industrialisation after the manner of the West...... and
to similar exploitation it would strip the world like locusts." Faced
with such a prospect the world has been for some years seeking methods
of averting an environmental disaster as a consequence of reckless industrialisation
and economic development. Prime Minister Nehru in the 1950's had warned
the nation of the kind of development that destroyed man's natural environment.
India has been taking active interest in international conferences and
adopting measures for preserving the environment while going ahead with
India's economic development plans. Our efforts in this regard were largely
Government initiated and implemented. Of late the judiciary has been on
the side of the angels and has issued judgements and directives in favour
of environmental causes. There has also been a degree of people's activism
in this field and non-governmental organizationshave indulged in agitations
on some specific issues.
But
the large and rapidly expanding sphere of private enterprise in India
has not been as much involved as the State in environmental causes and
activities. JRD Tata had, however, made clear his concern for environment
in the following statement he made in 1992:- "I believe that the
social responsibilities of our industrial enterprises should now extend,
even beyond serving the people, to the environment. The need is now fairly
recognized, but there is still considerable scope for most industrial
ventures to extend their support not only to human beings but also to
the land, to the forests, to the water and to the creatures that inhabit
them." In the hey-day of industrialisation in the West it was private
industry that exploited natural and human resources recklessly without
restraint polluting the environment for generations to come. Scientists
now admit that the threat of global warming that is facing mankind to-day
is a cumulative result of all human development processes that have happened
since theindustrial revolution.
It has
been suggested that the answer, at least a partial answer, to these problems
created by technological development is technology itself - adoption and
application of new environment-friendly technologies. Of course the developed
countries of the world has had a head start in this and they have developed
such technologies. In our own country, there are several recent examples
of the employment-generation potential of ecotechnologies. I would like
to refer to the gradually spreading photovoltaic revolution, for instance.
Experience in different parts of India shows that installation of photovoltaic
cells is increasingly cost competitive, especially in villages that have
not been connected to electricity grids. I am glad that both in this building
and the adjoining building of the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation,
solar power is being used to run computers and for other purposes where
uninterrupted power supply is needed. I congratulate the Ministry of Non-Conventional
Energy Sources and the Government of Tamil Nadu on their pioneering role
in harnessing both solar and wind energy.
Sustainable
management of forests and village common property resources is another
area where opportunities exist for new livelihoods. We have nearly 26
years of experience in Participatory Forest Management. This experience
has clearly established that Joint Forest Management leads to the creation
of many new livelihood opportunities to communities living adjoining forests.
I am
glad the Centre is according high priority to the conservation, enhancement
and sustainable use of natural resources, particularly water. Water is
becoming a severe constraint in efforts to improve human food and health
security. Water conflicts are likely to grow at the local, national and
regional levels and it will be prudent to take active steps to avoid them.
One vital step is improving the conservation of rain water and enhancing
the efficiency of water use. A recent book by Anil Agarwal and Sunita
Narain of the Centre for Science and Environment, Delhi titled "Dying
Wisdom" cites striking examples of the effectiveness of the traditional
water harvesting and saving procedures in vogue in the past in Tamil Nadu
and other parts of the country, and their relevance to contemporary needs.
The
conservation and sustainable and equitable use of water should receive
high priority in all parts of our country. According to some computer
simulation models, changes in rainfall patterns are likely to be adverse
to India. We should initiate anticipatory action in meeting the impact
of climate change and promote for this purpose a national water harvesting,
saving and sharing movement. Much of the action in this area will have
to be taken at the local level, and hence Panchayati Raj institutions
should be empowered to play an active role in stimulating community cooperation
in all aspects of water conservation and use.
Emission
from motor vehicles is one of the main causes for urban air pollution
contributing to global warming. Western countries are taking growing interest
in zero-emission cars energised by batteries or fuel cells in order to
cut down air pollution. But in Asia as millions of people in the non-motorised
sector become wealthy enough to buy motorised forms of transport they
will first buy scooters rather than cars. Not surprisingly, Indian cities
are today, chock-full of scooters and this need for cheaper motorised
forms of transport will remain with us well into the foreseeable future.
In fact India could and should aim to become the first country in the
world to develop and use zero emission scooters.
I am
glad, on this occasion, to have also been invited by the Chief Minister
of Tamil Nadu to lay the foundation stone for the Biotechnology Park for
Women Entrepreneurs, which is being set up jointly by the Department of
Biotechnology, Government of India, the Government of Tamil Nadu and the
M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation. In the last two decades, major breakthroughs
have taken place in biotechnology research and development and as we move
into the next millennium, there would be a bio-industrial revolution world
over. All-round progress in the field of biotechnology in terms of research,
demonstration and commercialization would be the main agenda for the next
century for the scientists, economists, social scientists and planners.
In India,
Government has made a major effort to promote research and development
in biotechnology particularly in the areas of healthcare and agriculture.
This biotechnology project at Chennai is a unique initiative for the first
time in this part of the world to organise and train women scientists
and technologists, women entrepreneurs and young women both from rural
and urban areas. I hope the Chennai example will be emulated by all our
major cities. I am particularly happy that the Chennai Biotechnology Park
will be tailored to foster environmentally sound and socially compatible
biotechnologies that would enable our farm families to produce more under
conditions of diminishing per capita availability of arable land and irrigation
water.
Friends,
1998 marks the bi-centenary of Thomas Malthus's essay on population. There
is renewed concern now about India's capability to feed itself under conditions
of diminishing per capita availability of arable land and irrigation water.
It is clear that we have to produce more but produce it differently, since
the excessive and improper use of chemicals, particularly pesticides and
mineral fertilisers, results in long-term ecological harm. I cannot but
share with you my anguish at the deaths by suicide of several families
in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra, as a result of despair caused
by the failure of their technology-intensive crops. I am hence happy to
learn that this Centre is concentrating on the development and dissemination
of precision farming techniques which can help to maximise output per
units of water, land, nutrients and energy, without adverse environmental
consequences. Under the leadership of Shri C. Subramaniam, the Bharat
Ratna laureate, our scientists and farmers proved the prophets of doom
wrong in the mid-sixties. We must do this again in the decades ahead,
when the population supporting capacity of our ecosystems will be under
severe stress.
We need
new and environment-friendly technologies. But technology is not the exhaustive
remedy for the problems faced by India and the world. The Malthusian threat
to humanity is still there, though the world has so far contained the
threat. Besides the multiplying population there is the question of the
multiplying wants of the population. As Gandhiji observed the human mind
is a restless bird. It wants more and more. As he said further "there
is enough in this world for everyone's need but not for everybody's greed."
This is partly a spiritual problem. India is the one country that is eminently
fitted by its history, tradition and philosophy to address this fundamental
problem. But we will have to master the new technologies and learn how
to use them efficiently without letting technology to determine our lifestyle
and our time-tested values in life.
May
I, once again, felicitate and thank Dr. M.S. Swaminathan, on this major
new initiative of his. I would also like to compliment, once again, the
Department of Biotechnology, Government of India, the Government of Tamil
Nadu and the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu on the far-sighted Biotechnology
Park for Women Entrepreneurs. I wish these ventures every success.
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