including that of food processing, would lead to food security,employment opportunities and rapid economic growth. Growth in the information technology sector would assist rapid economic growth as well as play an important part in speeding up development. Electric power provides energy security so crucial for all sectors. The strategic sector has a direct impact on industry, sustaining growth and technological strength. For balanced development, all the five areas are of importance. The combined effect of these five areas would result in GDP growth rising from present 6 per cent to 10 per cent and the lives of 300 to 400 million people who are presently living below the poverty line would be significantly improved.
I worked with TIFAC teams in three areas–agriculture, advanced education and rural connectivity. In doing so, I drew on my earlier experiences in the mission areas of sugar, fly ash and composites. With Prof. S.K. Sinha, a renowned agricultural scientist, TIFAC took up a project to enhance agricultural productivity in central Bihar and eastern India. Six villages in one and ninevillages in the other region were selected during the kharif season of 1998. The system approach consisted of soil analysis, seed choice, cultivation season, fertilizer selection and training to the farmers. This intensive collaboration of scientists and farmers resulted in substantial increase in wheat yields, which rose from 2.5 tonnes per hectare to nearly 5 tonnes per hectare. When I and Y.S. Rajan visited a few villages where this system approach is used, we found the farmers showing an interest in new issues like equipment for faster harvesting, storage facilities and marketing and banking systems. It was clear that a small team, cutting across various departments, could work wonders even in a difficult region, achieving results in a cost- and time-effective way.
Another experiment under way is REACH (Relevance and Excellence in ACHieving new heights in education institutions). The purpose of this mission is to establish 80 to 100 centres that follow common academic programmes and share the commitment to achieve excellence. Inthis endeavour, they work together by interchange of faculty and joint research as need be. As part of this, Centres of Relevance and Excellence (CORE) have been established in Patiala, Dibrugarh, Mumbai, Thanjavur and Surat in the areas of agro and industrial biotechnology, advanced computing and information processing, petroleum reservoir engineering, industrial safety, environmental engineering and herbal drugs. Our experience in the REACH programme is that industries are willing to participate in specialized areas of their interest and they are also willing to invest about 40 per cent of the total expenditure in establishing CORE. In return, they will benefit in terms of skilled manpower and access to the results of research. The willingness of industry to be partners in technology development and education has helped our confidence a great deal. It was also satisfying to see Dr M.S. Vijayaraghavan, Adviser in the office of the Principal Scientific Adviser, blossom into a leader in the integrated learning system. His innovationwas to bring the commitment of industry to the learning programme.
Another example relates to the programme for rural connectivity evolved under the leadership of Prof. P.V. Indiresan, who was formerly Director of IIT Madras. As mentioned earlier, the fact that there is net migration from villages to cities indicates that they offer more opportunities, and the only way to equalize the flow is to develop the rural areas and bring life there on par with that in the cities. Once employment opportunities increase there, as do the amenities available, as per the model created by Prof. Indiresan, rural development may be expected to prevent, if not actually reverse, rural—urban migration. Presently, several technologies exist to make this possible, provided we use the connectivity
I worked with TIFAC teams in three areas–agriculture, advanced education and rural connectivity. In doing so, I drew on my earlier experiences in the mission areas of sugar, fly ash and composites. With Prof. S.K. Sinha, a renowned agricultural scientist, TIFAC took up a project to enhance agricultural productivity in central Bihar and eastern India. Six villages in one and ninevillages in the other region were selected during the kharif season of 1998. The system approach consisted of soil analysis, seed choice, cultivation season, fertilizer selection and training to the farmers. This intensive collaboration of scientists and farmers resulted in substantial increase in wheat yields, which rose from 2.5 tonnes per hectare to nearly 5 tonnes per hectare. When I and Y.S. Rajan visited a few villages where this system approach is used, we found the farmers showing an interest in new issues like equipment for faster harvesting, storage facilities and marketing and banking systems. It was clear that a small team, cutting across various departments, could work wonders even in a difficult region, achieving results in a cost- and time-effective way.
Another experiment under way is REACH (Relevance and Excellence in ACHieving new heights in education institutions). The purpose of this mission is to establish 80 to 100 centres that follow common academic programmes and share the commitment to achieve excellence. Inthis endeavour, they work together by interchange of faculty and joint research as need be. As part of this, Centres of Relevance and Excellence (CORE) have been established in Patiala, Dibrugarh, Mumbai, Thanjavur and Surat in the areas of agro and industrial biotechnology, advanced computing and information processing, petroleum reservoir engineering, industrial safety, environmental engineering and herbal drugs. Our experience in the REACH programme is that industries are willing to participate in specialized areas of their interest and they are also willing to invest about 40 per cent of the total expenditure in establishing CORE. In return, they will benefit in terms of skilled manpower and access to the results of research. The willingness of industry to be partners in technology development and education has helped our confidence a great deal. It was also satisfying to see Dr M.S. Vijayaraghavan, Adviser in the office of the Principal Scientific Adviser, blossom into a leader in the integrated learning system. His innovationwas to bring the commitment of industry to the learning programme.
Another example relates to the programme for rural connectivity evolved under the leadership of Prof. P.V. Indiresan, who was formerly Director of IIT Madras. As mentioned earlier, the fact that there is net migration from villages to cities indicates that they offer more opportunities, and the only way to equalize the flow is to develop the rural areas and bring life there on par with that in the cities. Once employment opportunities increase there, as do the amenities available, as per the model created by Prof. Indiresan, rural development may be expected to prevent, if not actually reverse, rural—urban migration. Presently, several technologies exist to make this possible, provided we use the connectivity
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