Edit Notes
- Organic farming – more a fad
- Hatrick by IIT-Madras
- CII (SR) bounces back
- Governor Banwarilal Purohit – an enviable tenure
- A mobile secretariat
Organic farming – more a fad?
The food crisis in neighbouring Sri Lanka has drawn attention to the damage caused by the focus on organic farming. Sri Lanka declared its policy of a total switch to organic farming and banned import of chemical fertilizers. The impact was severe: tea which accounts for 80 per cent of plantation exports of Sri Lanka, suffered an estimated 50 per cent drop. There has also been a shortage of rice resulting in rationing.
IE promoted the Agriculture Consultancy Management Foundation (ACMF) in 2006 and has been involved in scientific farming and productivity improvements in agriculture. We have found organic farming not suited to India with its average poor quality of soil that has resulted from lack of rejuvenating soil nutrition.
Most agriculturally strong developed countries in Europe and the US have large land mass available for grazing by cattle as also for raising nutritive feeds like alfalfa grass for its cattle. The silage fed to the cows are highly nutritious resulting in the cow dung as a nutritious manure. Such an advantage is not available in India with available land focused on food crops. The cattle, mostly fed on poor quality nutrients and even MGR/Jayalalithaa cinema posters, lack in nutritive value. The pressure to farm continuously round the year also leaves little time to ensure soil health through diversified crop rotation.
The green revolution of the 1960s was built on liberal use of chemical fertilizers. The three ‘fold increase in the production of foodgrains over the last five decades is built on this focus.
Organic horticulture and food crops do not provide comparable yields and thus the products are more expensive. Look at the hefty advt spend promoting organic products!
Dr Lux Lakshmanan, an international agriculture consultant based in Davis, California, points to India having the largest number of malnourished, especially children. He points to the promotion of organic farming as one among the serious negative forces as an impediment to the welfare of Indian people. He points to organic farming reducing crop productivity and lacks in adequate supply of the 12 mineral nutrients needed by plants: “the abysmal low fertility of Indian soils causes crop productivity level among the lowest in the world.” He holds organic farming as primitive farming that cannot feed the population.
Hatrick by IIT-Madras
IIT-Madras has been ranked at the top among engineering hi-tech institutions of India for the third time in a row by the National Institutional Rankings Framework (NIRF) 2021. The institute, now on its 62nd year, pioneered in India the setting up of a research park that provides rich facilities for incubating innovative new projects as also industrial research. There is close interaction and collaboration with dozens of industries where the faculty and young students work along with industry managers and technologists innovating new products and services.
Bhaskar Ramamurthi, Director IIT-M said: “India should be proud of its IITs when it comes to global rankings. However, the country ranks low in research, an area that needs improvement. IIT-M graduates do exceedingly well when it comes to jobs. They reach higher positions in Silicon Valley. But when it comes to launching their own disruptive technologies, they lag behind.”
Apart from NIRF ranking, IIT-M has been ranked 2 in the newly-launched category of ‘Research Institutions,’ next to the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru. IIT-Madras has been recognised as an ‘Institution of Eminence’ (IoE) by the Centre in 2019.
IIT-Madras is a residential institute with nearly 550 faculty, 8000 students and 1250 administrative and support staff. The institute has 16 academic departments and a few advanced research centres in various disciplines of engineering and pure sciences, with nearly 100 laboratories.
CII (SR) bounces back
CII is known for its nithya kalyanam of seminars, workshops, conferences, et al. Covid-19 has tied its hands for months. CII (SR) bounced back with a ‘virtual’ treat. The Covid-19 pandemic has helped conduct virtual meets with experts addressing from different parts of the world. The familiar physical meets involved huge expenditure, limiting participation to those in the city.
The Mystic South Global Linkages Summit was conducted with the theme of a $1.5 trillion (southern India) economy indeed was a mega event. Spread over two days (23 & 24 September), 69 experts were presented to discuss the journey towards a $1.5 trillion economy by 2025. The south now accounts for a fourth of the nation’s GDP. CII projects an increase to a 30 per cent share. Inaugurated by Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu, CII Presidents (present & past), Director General and regional chairmen (present & past) discussed subjects that ranged from future mobility, presentations on the southern states, reviving India’s economy, accelerating growth, a new world order, healthcare… There were also discussions on the diaspora, feminine force, service revolution, films…
The sessions were longer, extended from 0930 hrs to 2230 hrs. With such a crowded agenda the short time (five minutes) provided for several participants made it like anugraha baashanam by religious heads.
A couple of aspects sound interesting: one is the enormous savings on costs, of travel and hefty bills for star hotels. It also provided the comfort of participation at one’s office or home.
It should go to the credit of the southern regional office, its President C K Ranganathan and his team and the secretariat with the new Regional Director, N M P Jeyesh.
Governor Banwarilal Purohit – an enviable tenure
Banwarilal Purohit as Governor of Tamil Nadu during 2017-21 enhanced the stature and prestige of the office of governor. We recall several salient features that endeared him to the Tamils: he started his tenure visiting various parts of the state. In these visits he insisted on close interactions with the officials of the various districts. There was the apprehension that he would be another Kiran Bedi, Lt. Governor of neighbouring Puducherry, who was constantly at loggerheads with Chief Minister V Narayanaswamy. Luckily that did not happen.
Purohit quickly came to grip with the ethos and cultural facets of the Tamils. He brought with him rich administrative experience as minister in Maharashtra, Member of Parliament and Governor of Assam and Meghalaya. He vastly expanded access to the Raj Bhavan; for the first time he opened the sprawling Raj Bhavan to the public. He took special interest in presenting evocative cultural programmes on the Independence Day and Republic Day receptions. The programmes drafted by the Additional Chief Secretary deputed to the Governor’s secretariat, R Rajagopal showcased the richness of the national and state’s rich cultures. These also recalled the contributions of national and local heroes.
Purohit also curtailed a lot of wasteful expenditure through close audit and elimination of corruption. In this bargain he saved sizable amounts.
The most profound contribution related to his ending the pervasive corruption and lack of systems in the appointment of vice chancellors of the Tamil Nadu universities. He took bold to assume the power vested in him as the chancellor of the state’s universities and cleansed the corruption ridden, unscientific system of appointments. The boldest related to his appointment of M K Surappa, an illustrious academic from IISc, Bengaluru and a former director of IIT-Ropar, from across the state border.
All through these four years, Purohit maintained cordial relations with the state leadership including the leaders of parties in opposition.
One need not be surprised; he had great credentials as the Chairman of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan – Nagpur and the owner of the venerated Hitavada founded by Gopal Krishna Gokhale.
Purohit has more serious responsibilities to discharge as the Governor of Punjab. His expertise will be drawn to the most as Punjab is gearing up for state elections in early 2022. The year-long agitation of farmers, the abrupt change of the Congress Chief Minister, Capt Amrinder Singh, the serious drug menace and border skirmishes with Pakistan would draw most his energies. I am sure, he will be equal to the challenges.
IE welcomes the new Governor, R N Ravi who brings with him a great reputation in resolving the decades-long Naga insurgency issue as also for his record as an illustrious police officer.
A mobile secretariat
The animosity between the two leading Dravidian parties – DMK and AIADMK – is well-known. This reached its zenith during the times of the supreme leaders, M Karunanidhi and J Jayalalithaa. For 27 years from 1989, power alternated between the two parties. This, unfortunately, contributed to a lack of continuity in policies resulting from the failure to work on long term development plans as also to build consensus on such plans. In the competitive populism pursued by these, there had been a propensity to oppose/undo pet schemes of one by the other.
Look at the course of building a new Secretariat complex. The existing one, along with legislature at the centuries’ old seat of government at the colonial vestige, the Fort St George, was ad hoc and makeshift. M G Ramachandran mooted the shift to centrally-located Tiruchi. Of course, the DMK wouldn’t agree. Jayalalithaa thought of a shift away to downtown to Payyanur and later at the sprawlings Queen Mary’s College complex on the Marina. These were shot down by DMK.
Karunanidhi selected the Omandurar Estate in Anna Salai and, in a remarkably short time, constructed a new Secretariat complex at a cost exceeding Rs 1000 crore with the help of German architects. It was inaugurated in 2010 by then Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh in the presence of Congress President Sonia Gandhi.
It was now the turn of Jayalalithaa: she breezily altered the building designed for a Secretariat to a multi-specialty hospital spending a few hundred crores more.
As per Tamil political traditions, now the DMK in power, this has to change. In the interim, the first session of the state legislative, after the return of the DMK to power in May this year, was held at the Kalaivanar Arangam in the Omandurar Estate. The foundation plaque was traced and restored.
Remember, Karunanidhi liberally expanded employment under the government and its corporations soon after he assumed power five decades ago? Look at the profuse of these at the Secretariat, TANGEDCO, state transport corporations… So it is easy to get the Tamil Nadu Secretariat Association (TNSA) submit a petitioncomplaining about the crowded Secretariat at Fort St George and requesting for a shift to Anna Salai.
I also heard from a couple of doctors of the Omandurar multi-specialty hospital of how ill-suited it is for healthcare and with the space inefficiently utilised.
Chief Minister Stalin is of course democratic and diplomatic. He believes in the voice of the people. It is quite natural for him to act on the demand of vox populi.
Change is perhaps only the constant. We will look at this happening lavishly-again at tax payers’ cost.
