Janasanyog: Assam Press Release
India needs another green revolution: noted economist Dr. Nirupam Bajpai
Dispur, December 8: India requires yet another green revolution to make its economy vibrant and resilient, said Senior Development Adviser and Director South Asian Programs, Centre on Globalisation and Sustainable Development, the Earth Institute at Columbia University, USA, Dr. Nirupam Bajpai while delivering a lecture on Challenges of Growth and Sustainable Development in India at Assam Secretariat conference hall here today.
Dr. Bajpai said more focus should be on research and development on specific crops to step up the agricultural production. “India is an agrarian country and the focus has to be on agriculture,” he said.
The noted economist said that India has to focus more on the manufacturing sector vis-à-vis labour intensive ones and exit policies to absorb the ever increasing workforce. “70 per cent of India’s population is under 30 years of age and they have to be absorbed in sectors like manufacturing which have more potential than any other sectors,” he said.
He said that the health sector has to go a long way in meeting the basic health care needs of the burgeoning population of 700 million people of whom 200 million are below the poverty line. “It’s unfortunate that one per cent of national income is spent on health in India. That has to be reversed. It has to be in the region of three percent from the public sector and two to three percent from our own pockets,” he added. In this context, he said cardiovascular and diabetes are increasing at a fast pace and efforts must be made to arrest the upward trend or else ‘we have to pay a heavy price for it’.
He underscored the need to focus on urbanization which according to him acts as a catalyst for fast growth. “”We have to build more mid towns and satellite townships to accommodate our urban populace,” he said.
Dr. Bajpai said another challenge facing India and the entire world is climate change. “As climate change will have an impact on India, we have to go in for technology that lessens the impact that we have already wrecked havoc to our environment,” he said. He advocated the view that India has the right to ask for money and technology from the West for the havoc that they have wrecked on nature.
The noted economist said the archaic labour laws in India were acting as stumbling blocks to development. “The labour laws of the land are not in tune with the times and they are very restrictive in nature. These laws have to change for the good of the country in terms of development,” he noted.
He said that the States must develop on its own potential and resources available. “Each State must grow on its own resources if the country has to flourish and prosper,” he added.
He advocated for developing the non-conventional sector in a big way. “Solar energy must be harnessed as well as wind energy to its optimal level,” he asserted.
Speaking on the occasion, Assam Chief Minister Shri Tarun Gogoi said that the Government is giving more thrust on creating employment opportunities as it has one of the factors for fuelling insurgency. He said that his Government has given top priority to building a network of roads and bridges to bring the rural areas closer to the towns. “Connectivity is a must for economic development and that is what our Government has been doing all these years,” he pointed out.
The Chief Minister said that the Government is for providing amenities available in towns to the villages. “If we can provide the facilities available in towns to villages, then there will be no migration of people from villages in search of green pastures,” he added.
Shri Gogoi said that the Government has given added thrust on employment oriented education. “Right type of education and training has to be imparted to upgrade the skills of the people,” he said.
While lauding the efforts of Dr. Bajpai, Shri Gogoi said that the Assam Government would work in tandem with him for sustainable development in the State. He revealed that Dr. Bajpai would work towards poverty alleviation and rural health sector in five districts of the State.
Earlier, in his welcome address, Minister for Health, Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma gave a brief introduction of Dr. Bajpai and his activities to promote sustainable development.
The lecture was followed by an interactive session in which Dr. Bajpai answered to a volley of questions with élan and finesse.
The lecture was attended by several ministers, senior bureaucrats, intellectuals and academicians from several educational institutions.
The Chief Minister presented mementos and books to Dr. Bajpai on the occasion.
SN/8.12.09 |
