The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Dr Khush is literally a globetrotter. Since May, when The Tribune first congratulated him for the Wolf Prize and requested him for an interview, he has been constantly hopping from one country to another. Despite his international engagements, he readily agreed to answer any questions.

From what he has to say on Indian agriculture, its education and research programmes in general to what direction Punjab must follow one can see his deep concern and commitment to the needs and problems of his native place.

The interview brought out his strong view that India should have “state-specific” policies on agriculture, depending on the stage of development. He does not consider it appropriate for all states to follow a standard guideline for agriculture developed by policy makers at Delhi.

Punjab agriculture, he says, is at a crossroads. It needs major overhaul to remain profitable. He goes on to suggest diversification with stress on soybean, maize and reintroduction of cotton. He favours reduction in the cost of cultivation per unit as well as enlarging the size of farms, mechanisation of agronomic operations and precision farming when it comes to the application of fertilisers or the use of scarce resources like water.

Further, he suggests reducing post-harvest losses, use of crop by-products and vertical integration of the farm industry (production, processing and trade being done by the same farm). His major stress being that agriculture in Punjab and elsewhere has to be competitive, quality-based and efficient. International markets have to be explored and exploited for sustainable agriculture. There is a need to re-orient research in agricultural universities, depending on the location of each.

For Punjab, he recommends a huge reduction in the area under rice cultivation. He has dubbed the supply of “free” power to the agriculture sector as “short-sighted and suicidal.” This blocks the inflow of funds and aid from international financial institutions.

Unless the quality of farm produce and products is improved, India will not be able to compete in the international markets because other countries are health-conscious and will invoke phyto-sanitary regulations.

Dr Khush wants the Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, to introduce a golden handshake scheme to reduce over-staffing and also the retrain existing staff. The PAU has to lay stress on training managers for agro-industries, agro-processing and generate value addition. Rather than train agronomists, it should impart training in information technology, food processing, agricultural engineering, agri-business management, etc.

Those who have reaped benefits of agricultural research in the past should be taxed and the money thus collected spent on future research.

Besides disclosing what was new in the pipeline in rice research at the IRRI, Dr Khush has also made a telling comment on what Punjab requires: “The crying need of Punjab is an enlightened political leadership which should aim at generating resources for development projects, attracting investment in agro and hi-tech industries, and overhauling the education system to produce experts in information technology with managerial talent. The surplus generated in agriculture must be invested in rural industry.”

Dr Khush even consulted economist Dr Mahabub Hossain at the IRRI to answer some of the questions as these pertained to policy and planning. But he stresses on education of women and the building a strong infrastructure for sustainable agriculture. If women were given more jobs outside their homes, the population problem would be taken care of. There is a strong co-relation between the reduction in fertility rate and the level of education, particularly of women. Success in population comes with socio-economic development, particularly through female education and employment.

The rice breeder has cautioned that India must adopt a cautious policy towards the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and should not go in for complete liberalisation. The approach has to be on a case-to-case basis with proper appraisal and assessment. Dr Khush favours a phased reduction in subsidies to agriculture with money saved being ploughed back for infrastructure development.

The following are excerpts from an interview via the Internet:

The Green Revolution and Punjab are synonymous. The former has reached a plateau. Where do we go from here?

Punjab must exploit international markets with emphasis on value-addition, such as superior grain quality, differentiation and standardisation of products through packaging, quality assurance for gaining consumer trust, etc. The state also needs to explore avenues to reduce the cost of production per unit of output to be competitive in international markets.

What is your perception of agriculture in Punjab as of today? Could you identify the fault-lines? What steps would you suggest to remedy/remove them and improve the economic condition of farmers?

Punjab’s agriculture is at a crossroads. It needs major overhauling to remain profitable. Efforts should be made to enlarge farm sizes and improve efficiency of operations by total mechanisation and the introduction of precision farming techniques as practiced in developed countries. For example, use GIS for determining the doses of fertiliser need in specific situations.

Punjab uses 70-80 person days of labour per hectare because of the availability of cheap labour from other states. The Thailand experience shows it could be reduced by 20 person days through the mechanisation of all farm operations. This will help increase efficiency and reduce the unit cost of production. There should also be an emphasis on reducing post-harvest losses, utilisation of crop by-products, and a move towards vertical integration of the farm industry (the concept of production, processing and trade being done by the same farm).

The Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) has done well. Today, it needs a major leap forward. As an administrator, educationist, scientist and extension worker, what direction or priorities would you suggest to rejuvenate it in view of its contribution to Punjab’s socio-economic development?

The university is over-staffed. A very large proportion of the budget goes into salaries and very little is left for the operations. Efforts should be made to reduce the staff through innovative approaches such as golden handshake and retraining.

The PAU should lay emphasis on training managers for agro-industries, such as agro-processing and generating value-added products. Reduce the emphasis on training agronomists and shift to training in information technology, food processing, agricultural engineering, agro-business management, etc.

Have agricultural universities countrywide achieved their intended purpose? What new direction would you suggest to meet the future needs in terms of education, research, extension and human resource development?

The response to this question is similar to the response I gave to question above for some of the universities such as the PAU and the TNAU. However, certain universities, such as those in Orissa and Bihar, should continue the traditional focus on preparing students for the stage of farm production rather than on the upstream areas of processing and marketing and business management, because of their low levels of development.

Given the in-built system constraints and vastly differing agro-climatic zones, what should be India’s agriculture policy?

Policies should be different for different states, depending on their stage of development as I argued earlier. Because of the vastly different stages of development, the needs for an applied industry, such as agriculture, have to be constantly reviewed and changed in view of developments in the state. I do not consider it appropriate for all states to follow a standard guideline for agriculture developed by the policy makers at Delhi.

The ever-burgeoning population has outstripped food production. How to balance human reproduction and food production?

We have to develop technologies to achieve a continuous increase in food production at least at the same rate as the increase in population. Limiting the growth of population is important because it is putting pressure on the limited natural resources, which are already over-exploited. However, we have learnt from the experience of economic and social development of countries ahead of us that success in population comes with socio-economic development, particularly with female education and employment. There is a strong correlation between the reduction in fertility rate and the level of education, particularly of women. Female illiteracy is only 19 per cent in Kerala and the population is increasing at a rate of about 0.7 per cent per annum. In Punjab female illiteracy is 58 per cent and the population is increasing at the rate of 1.2 per cent. In Bihar female illiteracy is 82 per cent and the population is increasing 2.4 per cent per year. Thus, we must re-double our efforts on improving the coverage of secondary education of women and create jobs for them outside home to make further progress in population control.

Land is inelastic. Resources like water are under stress. Chemicals are a health hazard. Finance for agriculture research, new technology and innovations is scarce. What is the way out?

You have picked up a very important issue, which is not specific to Punjab or India. It is valid for all over Asia. We must continue to develop new knowledge and technologies to economise on scarce natural resources. We must avail of the advances made in molecular biology and information technology. For example, we misuse our water resources. We are using water as our forefathers have been doing for centuries. We have a lot to learn from Israel on how to economise on the use of scarce water.

Have we tried to develop water saving technologies such as drip irrigation? Or have we made a move to generate additional resources from the beneficiaries of the past research results for financing agricultural research. Why not put levies, say 1 per cent, on every bag of wheat and rice produced and allocate it for research. The provision of free electricity has distorted incentives, leading to wastage of scarce water resources.

What are the implications of the World Trade Organization and the intellectual property rights (IPR) for Indian agriculture in terms of globalisation, liberalisation, market-driven forces, shift from resource-based to science (knowledge)-based and from supply- to demand-based agriculture? Will the WTO/IPR hinder the transfer of technology in respect of patented germ-plasm in crop improvement?

If you open up your markets you must be competitive. Efficiency is the name of the game if you want to be competitive. The government may need to protect for a limited period some high-cost industries at present if they have the potential to gain efficiency in the long run with expansion of the market. But a protection for ever will only promote inefficiency. Whether we like it or not, the WTO and IPR are going to stay.

The economic ministries (Ministry of Finance and Planning) have already committed to these changes for the wider interest of accelerating economic growth through participation in the world market, although they may be detrimental to the interest of agriculture and the weaker sections of our society, particularly in the short-run.

Punjab, as you are aware, is caught in a vicious wheat-paddy rotation cycle. Diversification is a fashionable term. Either it is not workable or is not understood in the proper context. Under the WTO’s agricultural trading system, what should Punjab do as a surplus state?

Punjab’s agriculture has to be diversified. Area under rice must be reduced from the present level of 2.5 million hectares to 1.5 million hectares. Cotton should be reintroduced in the former cotton belt. For achieving this we need insect-resistant varieties. Use biotechnology to achieve this. Do not listen to anti-science people. Other crops are soybean and maize as replacement for paddy. The PAU should launch a “mount a man on the moon” type of project to develop soybean varieties for summer cultivation and produce vegetables as the winter crop for replacement of some area under wheat. Develop infrastructure and export markets for air shipment of vegetables as well as grow vegetables for agro-processing. Focus on quality and efficiency.

Will India in general and Punjab in particular become a dumping ground for imported, cheap farm produce and products? Are there any preventive steps?

India will continue to have advantage in participating in a free and fair world market as it can produce labour-intensive products at a low cost because of cheap labour. The problem I see is the possibility of rejection of our agricultural products by the health-conscious developed countries by taking resort to phyto-sanitary regulations. We should endeavour to be competitive in world markets by increasing efficiency of production and thus lowering the costs, and by strictly following the quality standards.

It is estimated that if up to 6 million tonnes of foodgrains are imported it could completely upset the country’s farm economy. The recent import of sugar, milk etc is a pointer. What should be India’s policy towards the WTO and IPR?

India should adopt a cautious policy on the WTO. Should not go for complete liberalisation. Take time, assess the situation with regard to comparative advantages on a case-by-case basis, and provide necessary help through investment in infrastructure to prepare enterprises for competition in the world market. Do not hesitate to close inefficient minor industries if they are high-cost and impose burden on the consumers.

The agriculture sector enjoys certain subsidies, mostly indirect, as in the case of fertilisers. Should or should not these subsidies continue?

A phased reduction of subsidies would be desirable. The resources thus saved should be utilised for investment in other areas beneficial to society in general, such as infrastructure development (roads, rural electrification, education, etc). Our schools are in dismal condition; we cannot afford to invest on generation and distribution of power because the resources are being used for subsidies on food and agricultural input. We must weigh the trade-off between the utilisation of public funds for providing subsidies or for investing in expansion of infrastructure that is needed for increasing efficiency in upstream value adding activities. Development of infrastructure for introducing the Internet facilities in remote areas is a case in point.

Does giving “free” electricity and water for agriculture interfere in getting international loans? Should such sops be given as Punjab has done?

The policy of giving free electricity and water for agriculture is not only shortsighted but also suicidal. Anything given free is misused. Farmers are willing to pay for electricity. What they want is regular supply of electricity. The revenue lost by supplying free electricity could have been used to develop resources to generate more electricity. That would have helped the farmers and made them happier. This would have also resulted in increased efficiency and productivity. Free electricity, of course, interferes in getting international loans and aide.

You started with tomatoes and have earned a name in rice. Given the constraints in Punjab agriculture (wheat-paddy rotation, rural indebtedness on one hand and demand for rice elsewhere in the country on the other) what should be the appropriate approach to paddy cultivation? Rice milling remains obsolete. So do storage arrangements, resulting in wastage.

As I mentioned earlier, Punjab has to think of alternatives to wheat-paddy rotation in certain parts of Punjab. For the remaining areas the state should grow high-quality aromatic rices such as high yielding Basmati (still in pipeline) for other parts of the country and for export. This should help increase the farmer’s income. Modifications in agronomic practices, such as direct sowing instead of transplanting, should help lower the cost of production and increase yields. The government should encourage the private sector to invest in modern rice-milling equipment by giving incentives by way of loans. The grain storage capacity in Punjab is totally inadequate. It is heartbreaking to see huge piles of foodgrain bags in the open throughout Punjab, exposed to rain, rodents and insects. It is criminal to lose 15-20 per cent of foodgrain in storage when other parts of the country suffer from food shortages. The Food Corporation of India must generate resources from grain trade to improve grain storage warehouses.

Over 300 improved rice varieties, including the one with Vitamin A, which takes care of blindness, bear your signature worldwide. What are the future plans (particularly for Asian countries), since several rice-growing countries are now self-sufficient in foodgrains? What is future of Punjab rice?

There will always be need for producing more rice. Although most of the major rice-growing countries are self-sufficient in foodgrains, populations are increasing at the rate of 1.5-2.5 per cent per year.

Moreover, the demand for rice in African countries is increasing of 4-5 per cent a year. The future of Punjab rice is bright, provided we can develop high-quality rices for shipment to other parts of our country and export abroad. We must also reduce the cost of production to remain competitive in world markets.

The rice variety IR36 took the world by storm. What new varieties are in the pipeline? Is the IRRI collaborating with Indian universities in evolving or testing new rice varieties? How is hybridisation useful or harmful to agriculture?

We at the IRRI are working on three different types of rice varieties. One new plant type, popularly called “super rice,” is being developed with a 20 per cent higher yield than the existing high-yielding varieties. The other development is improved Basmati lines, which have grain quality similar to that of Basmati but yield twice as much as the conventional Basmati varieties. Hybrid rice with about 15 per cent higher yield is being evaluated. Hybrid rices are not harmful to agriculture at all. They can help increase the farmer’s income. All these materials are being evaluated for their possible introduction in cooperation with Indian universities and research institutes.

Is there a way out to save paddy in the case of floods and drought?

It is very difficult to protect paddy from floods and drought through varietal improvement. Proper water management is the logical approach.

You know Punjab’s agriculture/economy and the PAU’s needs and problems. What is your impression of the future of your home state? What is your message to the government, the PAU and farmers who are becoming poor?

This is a big question. I could write an essay on it. The crying need of Punjab is an enlightened political leadership which should aim at generating resources for development projects, attract investment in agro- and high-tech industries, and overhaul the education system to produce experts in information technology and with managerial talent.

The surplus generated by agriculture must be invested in rural industry. This will help generate employment in rural areas and reduce the dependence on agriculture alone.

As a son of the soil, don’t you think of homecoming?

Of course I do. For the past 35 years I have been visiting Punjab at least once a year and sometimes twice. There is no other place on earth more attractive for me to visit than my janambhumi.

Profile
by Harihar Swarup
Mapping the human genome

WITHIN a year, if all goes well, the first cancer patient will be injected with two new drugs that can kill any type of cancer cells with no obvious side-effects. Also, it may be possible to create drugs to suit a patient’s genetic profile enabling medical science to cure diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease and heart problems. This remarkable breakthrough is attributed to Dr J. Craig Venter and his colleagues working with him in the Human Genome Project and Celera Genomics, a private US company.

Human life is controlled by chemical codes. The codes are contained in spiral-shaped DNA. The code inside one human cell contains 50,000 to 1000,000 instructions, called genes, and each one controls a different characteristic. A weekly magazine has aptly described this phenomenon as “the book of life”.

Recalling the early days of the genome project, Dr Venter says: “It’s like a very big jigsaw puzzle, with hundreds of thousands to millions of pieces. Each of these genomes, these millions of base pairs of genetic code, is the recorded history of life. And, we haven’t tapped 1 per cent of the potential of this information”.

In a lecture delivered two years back, he gave an idea of the working of the giant project. “We had three massive parallel super-computers. But even with those computers, they had to run 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and still could not keep up with the load. The whole place is a giant distribution network with internal and external websites. We have 40 people here, out of a total of 150, working in so-called bioinformatics, just trying to make sense of the biology.”

He claims that “ once we get the genome sequence, we will just run it through a personal computer and find all the genes”. Dr Venter, now in his early fifties, is also known to be a intuitive thinker and trying to find out “what is life”. Dr Venter plans to map the human DNA by the year 2001 and the first phase of his human genome project is in the final stages.

Known to be brilliant and, at the same time orthodox, Dr Venter declined to appear in any of the examinations at the high school level but when he decided to take the tests, he was just superb. The scene of his early education had been California and he rose from strength to strength. At the young age of 21, he had worked in a jam-packed hospital in Vietnam in 1967 where he handled men, gasping for survival with badly infected and bleeding wounds. Working almost round the clock in the over-crowded hospital, he decided to know more about the human body he remained firm in his resolve.

Time moved fast. Dr Venter with the resolution of finding more about human life embedded in his heart returned to the USA and plunged into the study of biochemistry. It took him six years to complete BA and Ph.D. In the later half of the seventies, he devoted all his time to medical research. In the early eighties he was working with the US National Institute of Health (NIH) which is, at present is a prime supporter of HGP (Human Genes Project). Success came subsequently when intense research enabled him to locate certain genes.

His invention is the greatest since the discovery of the atomic bomb and antibiotics and in the years to come may change the style and course of human life. Among those who helped Dr Venter in his project is 80-year-old Nobel Laureate James Watson.

A survey conducted by CNN and Time magazine reveals that as many as 47 per cent, among those interviewed, were against developing technology to map the genome and 41 per cent had no objection to such decoding. Their percentage rose 61 when asked if they had access to their genetic code, would they want to know what diseases they were predisposed to get ? Thirtyfive per cent were even against this.

An overwhelming 75 per cent “no” in reply to another question-would they like their health insurer to know about their genetic code-while 22 per cent had no objection. The percentage rose to 84 when asked if they would want the government to know about their genetic code.

Delhi durbar
Ahmed Patel ko gussa kyon aaya?

THAT is the question that is on the lips of most Congress workers after AICC Treasurer Ahmed Patel quit the post protesting against the ‘jehad’ (as he called it) against him by a faction of the party in his home State of Gujarat.“Ahmedbhai”, as he is known in the party, was one of the most popular figures in the AICC. Always courteous, even to strangers, his popularity could be gauged from the fact that he polled the maximum number of votes when the 1,100-strong AICC delegates elected nine members to the Congress Working Committee.

In fact, Ahmedbhai has the unique distinction of working with successive Congress Presidents since Rajiv Gandhi. Although his relations with P.V. Narasimha Rao were not the best, he continued to be the party’s General Secretary. When Rao handpicked Treasurer Sitaram Kesri to succeed him as party chief, the latter nominated Patel to his post.

What is baffling the party workers and leaders alike is the fact that the media-shy Ahmed Patel released copies of his letter to the Congress President to the press. Apparently, Patel was upset that his earlier communication to Sonia Gandhi on being targeted by a faction of the Gujarat Congress went unanswered. Frustrated he resorted to the unusual move which eventually proved to be his undoing.

Mrs Gandhi was upset that Patel had released the letter which he had sent to her through a courier earlier that day and when a meeting was fixed the same evening, he made his letter public by that afternoon. The only option available was that either Patel withdrew his resignation and announce it or out he goes. Of course, a whispering campaign has been set in motion by a section that Patel was snubbed because he was seen as a possible challenger after Pilot. Considering that Patel at one time was a confidant of 10, Janpath, there are a few takers for this theory.

When a T A officer stumped the PM

Most people are aware of the ready wit of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and his oratorial skills but recently a Territorial Army Officer-cum-Congress politician beat him at it.

AICC Secretary Sudhir Sawant, who was promoted as Colonel, had done a stint during the Kargil war. He had made a special request to the government to give him some duty, an offer which was accepted. He recently told Mr Vajpayee that despite being a Kargil martyr he was a loser. The Prime Minister was apparently taken aback as the former Congress MP seemed normal otherwise. Prodded further Col Sawant said in jest that while the NDA benefited from the Kargil war he lost the last general elections as he was busy serving the nation when contestants were doing the rounds of their constituency.

Shouting from the top of the tower

Shouting atop the rooftop doesn’t necessarily mean that you are heard. It is a different matter that you will definitely get attention. Putting this into practice has been none other than Municipal Councillor Asif Mohammad Khan in the capital.

Unhappy over the demolition drive launched by the municipal authorities in his area of influence, the Councillor, armed with kerosene and wood, climbed atop a 200 feet telephone tower and threatened to set himself on fire if he was not heard by the authorities.

Incidentally, this was not the first time that Khan was resorting to such antics. In 1998, he had climbed a tower in South Delhi to protest against the errant electricity supply in the capital. Like the last time, he was persuaded, after almost eight hours, to get down by the local police and Delhi Fire Service officials.

On his part, Khan later admitted that he knew that his antics would not help prevent the demolition. “I just wanted to be heard by the police”, he said.

Innovation is the key

Minister of State for External Affairs Ajit Panja of Trinamool Congress is a senior leader who was a Minister with independent charge in the Narasimha Rao Council of Ministers. Yet, as he cannot be given an equal rank to the Trinamool Congress President Mamata Banerjee, he continues as a MoS.

Even though he is in the MEA, the Minister cannot go abroad since there is clear demarcation as to the countries a MoS can visit. On top of it, most of the nations where the Minister can visit have already received a former MoS during the past one year before being shifted to another Ministry.

It appears, the MEA has now planned another route to enable the Minister travel to countries. Instead of approaching the host nations, they are generating invitations from Indian communities abroad.

IST works even in Pakistan

Indian Standard Time (IST) has also another popular meaning among the people which goes “Indian Stretchable Time”. But what came as a surprise was that this second saying is also applicable in Pakistan.

On a recent visit to Pakistan for the South Asian media conference it dawned that probably Pakistan was far ahead on this even than the Indians. The reception where the General spoke almost became a non-starter as he was nowhere in sight for more than two hours from the time it was scheduled to start. The large gathering of media personalities from South Asia and the guests waited almost endlessly for the CEO to arrive. Some even thought of leaving when a word went around that the General might not even turn up. And when he did, it was past 9.30 pm prompting a wag to comment that the General, a military man, a man of discipline had beaten even the Indian politicians hollow in making people wait.

The woman behind Musharraf

Begum Musharraf is the quintessential woman behind Pakistan’s Chief Executive Officer, Gen Pervez Musharraf. Elegantly attired and carrying herself with grace as a typical army officer’s wife, she was all ears when her husband indulged in some unabashed India bashing during the concluding session of the South Asia media conference organised by the Jung group of newspapers in Islamabad on July 2. An unbudging Gen Musharraf made it clear that if India did not want to talk to him then so be it. It was apparent that in his opinion if Indo-Pak ties had reached a point of no return, it was certainly not his doing as he had made the necessary overtures. If the stalled dialogue is to be started, India has to take the lead without setting pre-conditions. If the questions posed by the battery of Indian mediapersons were straight from the hip and provocative, Gen Musharraf cut out the niceties in responding to them. At times, there was no doubt that Gen Musharraf was at his blunt, blustery self. The question is does that style help in diplomacy and is it in keeping with the “mehmaan nawazi” of the subcontinent. No sooner that he finished his two-hour interface with mediapersons especially from India and returned to his seat, Begum Musharraf whispered something into his ear.

The General promptly returned to the mike and tendered an apology. He said it was not his intention to hurt anyone’s susceptibilities. That carried the long night to some extent but most felt that Gen Musharraf had ruined the carefully planned public relations exercise. A wag summed up the situation by saying “diplomatese is not beating about the bush but making your presence felt to no avail”.

(Contributed by TRR, T.V. Lakshminarayan, K.V. Prasad, Girja Shankar Kaura and P N Andley).