| |
| Conferences and Workshops |
| |
| Many conferences and workshops were
organized during the year, both at Chennai and the various
site offices. Some of them have been reported under
the respective programme areas, such as the various
regional consultations on Mission 2007: Hunger free
India. The series of events organized to commemorate
the International Year of Rice has been reported as
a special project, to highlight the importance of the
activity. A few of the other important meetings organized
during the year are highlighted in this section. |
| |
| Agenda for National Happiness,
4-5 August, 2004, Chennai |
| |
| A small group of 35, comprising
academicians, bureaucrats, nutritionists, doctors, civil
activists, economists, journalists, and representatives
of UN agencies and NGOs, debated for a day and a half,
on happiness and how to achieve a state of national
happiness, at an interdisciplinary dialogue on “Agenda
for National Happiness”, on 4 and 5 August, 2004. The
meeting was one of the events organized to commemorate
the birth centenary of the eminent industrialist and
philanthropist, Bharat Ratna late Shri J R D Tata. |
| |
| The dialogue was formally inaugurated
by Mr. Russi Lala, former Director of the Sir Dorabji
Tata Trust, who set the tone by emphasizing the human
aspect and highlighting several instances of positive
humanism from Shri J R D Tata’s life. Shri M V Rajasekharan,
Honorable Minister of State for Planning, Government
of India, presided over the inaugural session, Professor
M S Swaminathan explained the theme and purpose of the
dialogue and Mr Pedro Medrano, Country Director, UNWFP,
delivered the Keynote Address. |
| |
| Summing up the discussion, Professor
Swaminathan held up 4 Fs as prerequisites in fostering
a mindset for happiness: Freedom from Want, Freedom
from Fear, Freedom of Worship and Freedom of Expression.
The role of education as a tool, the importance of social
and gender equity, the role of media, the need to rise
above dogmatism and fundamentalism, health security
for all, greater power to the people through local self-governance
and people-centred development, were among the many
aspects that were stressed. There was considerable debate
on measuring and monitoring tools, on the relativity
of the concept of happiness and how it differs from
person to person and group to group. |
| |
| Interactive Workshop on Crop Biofortification
for Alleviating Micronutrient Malnutrition, 22-23 August,
2004, Chennai |
| |
| An Interactive Workshop on Crop
Biofortification for Alleviating Micronutrient Malnutrition
was held on 22 and 23 August, 2004, to discuss the strategy
that could be adopted to complement the fortification
measures already being implemented in the country, and
the prospects of employing biotechnological options
for enhancing the nutritional status of the staple foods,
to combat the problems of malnutrition. In order to
gain an in-depth understanding of the global efforts
on Biofortification, the Harvest Plus team of the CGIAR
was invited to participate in the meeting. About 40
participants discussed the possible role of the biotechnological
tools that could be used to address the issue of malnutrition
on a network model. The Secretary, DBT, Dr M K Bhan
and the Programme Director of Harvest Plus, IFPRI, Dr
Howarth Bouis, set the tone of the proceedings. |
|
| |
| A major recommendation of the workshop
was to develop networks on rice, wheat and maize biofortification,
with experts drawn from different institutions. The
National Institute of Nutrition would provide testing
facilities for the nutrition components and bioavailability
of iron and zinc in vitro and in vivo of the biofortified
products to be developed under various networks and
provide overall guidance on matters related to the nutrition
status of the target populations. Linkages will be developed
with the Harvest Plus programme so as to avoid duplication
and get the benefit of their experience as well. The
DBT would consider proposals for setting up the facilities
necessary for testing nutrients and the bioavailability
of micronutrients. At the same time, a partnership between
the public and private sectors would be fostered on
the basis of an ethical code designed to ensure the
supremacy of the principles of public good and social
inclusion in relation to the dissemination of the varieties
emanating from this coordinated project. |
| |
| Farmers’ Distress: Causes and Cures,
4 September, 2004, Chennai |
| |
| A one-day consultation was organized
in collaboration with the NCF to deliberate on the root
causes for farmers’ distress across the country and
identify the short-term and longterm measures needed
to face the crisis. The well-known journalist Mr P Sainath,
who has been covering the issue extensively, set the
tone for the meeting with his keynote address. Farmers’
Associations from TN, AP and Kerala were represented
and the problems facing them were discussed. The problems
in Karnataka and Orissa were also highlighted. The Agriculture
Minister of AP, Shri Raghuveera Reddy, participated
in the discussion on AP. Government officials, academicians,
journalists, NGOs, bankers and officials from leading
insurance companies were among the other participants.
The deliberations revealed the multi-dimensional nature
of the agrarian crisis. The output from the meeting
contributed to the first report of the NCF, submitted
to the Government of India in December 2004. |
| |
| Access and Benefit Sharing Policies
and Laws for Asia Pacific Region, September 22-24, 2004 |
| |
| Experts from South Asian countries
and Europe participated in the three-day workshop. It
provided an overview of the current trends in South
Asian countries and information on the Indian scene.
|
| |
| Workshop on ICT-enabled development:
South-South Exchange through Travelling Workshop, 15-22
October, 2004, Chennai |
| |
| The South-South Exchange travelling
workshop took place for the third year in succession
in October, 2004. It brought together 21 development
practitioners from 15 countries (including four from
India) to learn about the MSSRF approach on using ICT,
share their knowledge with others and interact directly
with the villagers. Participants discussed the hub and
spokes model, technical specifications, institutional
structure, local content creation and rural livelihoods. |
| |
| Workshop on Up-Scaling pro-poor
ICT policies and practices, 17-19 November, 2004, Chennai |
| |
| MSSRF and SDC together organized
a workshop on the use of ICT for poverty reduction.
Practitioners and policy makers from Asia and Africa
met from 17-19 November, 2004 in Chennai, India, to
review experiences in Asia and Africa in the use of
ICT for poverty reduction. The event was organized in
coordination with and supported by the Global Knowledge
Partnership (GKP), One World South Asia and the UNDP. |
| |
| The Chennai Statement was issued
at the end of the workshop. It reflects the shared concerns
of the participants. Among the participants were representatives
from multilateral organisations, bilateral agencies,
nongovernmental organisations and the private sector.
The Chennai Statement will serve as an input for the
on-going global debate on the role of ICTs for development,
and in particular, the poverty reduction agenda for
the implementation of the World Summit on the Information
Society (WSIS) principles and action plan, in the context
of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) |
|
| |
| Symposium on Uncommon opportunities
– A Roadmap to Peace, Employment and Food Security,
20-22 November, 2004, New Delhi |
| |
| This symposium was held on the occasion
of the tenth anniversary of the International Commission
on Peace and Food (ICPF), chaired by Prof M S Swaminathan
in 1994. The symposium was jointly organized by MSSRF,
WFP, NCF, International Commission on Peace and Development,
and Mother’s Service Society, Pondicherry. The symposium
had four sessions. The inaugural session was on 20 November.
It was followed by three sessions on peace, employment
and food security on 21 and 22 of November, 2004. |
| |
| The symposium was designed to address
interrelated issues of peace, employment and food security
and highlight the importance of the components of food
security, livelihood security and internal and external
security. |
| |
| Prof M S Swaminathan introduced
the topic of uncommon opportunities for employment,
food security and global security. The External Affairs
Minister Mr. Natwar Singh, delivered the keynote address.
This was followed by the inaugural address by His Excellency
the President of India, Dr A P J Abdul Kalam. Mr Pedro
Medrano, Country Director, WFP, gave a special address
on the occasion. Several eminent persons including members
of the International Commission on Peace, the President
of the World Academy of Arts and Sciences, Dr Walt Anderson,
its Past President, Dr Harlan Cleveland, the author
of the Book, World Peace Army, Mr Robert Von Harten
and the Secretary General of the Pugwash Conference,
Prof Paolo Cotla Ramusimo, participated. A number of
retired defence personnel and analysts and members of
the diplomatic corps from India and abroad, were also
present. There was active participation in the first
session on peace and global security. Topics ranging
from nuclear disarmament to internal and external threats
to peace were discussed. The forenoon session on 21
November, on Employment, was chaired by Dr S P Gupta
and the afternoon session was chaired by Dr Montek Singh
Ahluwalia, Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission.
This session had many presentations on employment opportunities.
The session on food security on 22 November and the
concluding session that followed were chaired by Prof
M S Swaminathan. Several presentations dealt with the
problems of food production of small farmers. The role
of ICT in reducing knowledge gaps was discussed. |
| |
| The B V Rao Centre for Sustainable
Food Security and the Ford Foundation Chair for Women
and Food Security were actively involved in organizing
the event, making summary presentations and bringing
out a booklet of the important speeches. |
| |
| Workshop on Learning from ICT for
Rural Development Projects in Asia, 1-3 December, 2004,
Chennai |
| |
| MSSRF and IDRC organized this workshop
from 1-3 December, 2004. Participants from Afghanistan,
Bangladesh, Bhutan, Canada, Laos, Malaysia, Pakistan,
Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and USA met and exchanged
experiences and validated the key learnings from the
various projects. They also discussed common issues
facing ICT for rural development projects, such as appropriate
connectivity, content, and sustainability. |
| |
| Beyond Tsunami: Saving Lives and
Livelihoods, 10 January, 2005, Chennai |
| |
| The meeting was convened jointly
by MSSRF and the NCF, a fortnight after the tsunami
struck, to discuss the rehabilitation measures to be
initiated at different levels and time frames. Water,
shelter, sanitation, health and revival of livelihoods,
psychological rehabilitation, repair of catamarans and
achieving convergence and synergy among all on-going
programmes with similar objectives, were identified
as the immediate tasks. Ecological rehabilitation, agronomic
rehabilitation, economic rehabilitation and disaster
preparedness, mitigation and management were identified
as the mediumterm tasks over the two-year period of
2005- 07. Strengthening environmental defense systems,
enlarging opportunities for sustainable livelihoods
based on a pro-nature, pro-poor, pro-women orientation
to technology development and dissemination, improving
the productivity, profitability and sustainability of
agriculture and fisheries were listed as the longterm
measures needed over a 5-year timeframe. About 50 people
actively associated in post-tsunami relief and rehabilitation
in South India participated. |
|
| |
| Inter-disciplinary Dialogue on
Biotechnology and Organic Farming, 7-10 March, 2005,
Chennai |
| |
| The evergreen revolution methodology
is based on an integrated natural resources management
strategy, and is not just commodity-centered like other
green revolution technologies. Soil health care, water
conservation and management and integrated pest management
receive attention on a systems basis. Biotechnology
could play an important role in this as it involves
a basket of technological approaches to promoting the
productivity, profitability, sustainability and stability
of major farming systems. The biological software essential
for sustainable agriculture like biopesticides, biofertilizers,
vermiculture and similar techniques receive intensive
attention. The aspect of Biotechnology which is of concern
to organic farmers, is recombinant DNA technology. Such
transgenics have been the subject of considerable debate
and discussion. Biosafety protocols are still being
evolved in different countries, although the Cartagena
Protocol based on the Global Biodiversity Convention
is now being implemented. While it is recognized that
the Green Revolution was a product of public research,
the Gene Revolution is largely viewed as being in the
hands of the private sector. The need for the desegregation
of the various concerns relating to the gene revolution,
and whether there could be a possible co-existence of
biotechnology and organic farming, were the areas of
discussion in this dialogue. Over 50 participants who
represented the stakeholders attended the dialogue. |
| |
| The main issues of contention identified
by the participants in the GM debate included the priorities
for research and who sets them, the need to assess the
alternatives before choosing a path, whether the research
is being driven by markets, and ethical considerations.
It was agreed that risk assessment measures should be
put in place and good monitoring plans should be prepared
before products of such technologies are taken to the
field or marketed. Finally, the participants agreed
that well-defined National Policies in Biotechnology
were absolutely necessary. |
| |
| Nanobiotechnology: Implications
for food, health and nutrition security, 11-13 March,
2005, Chennai |
| |
| This year, the annual dialogue was
Interdisciplinary and focussed on Nanobiotechnology:
Implications on Food, Health and Nutrition Security.
This was jointly organized by IFPRI and MSSRF from 11
to 13 March, 2005. The Governor of TN, Shri Surjit Singh
Barnala, inaugurated the dialogue. There were about
50 participants from both India and abroad, including
the IFPRI trustees, deliberating on the applications
of nanobiotechnology. |
| |
| The main recommendations of the
meeting included the need for conceptual clarity on
the role of nanobiotechnology in food, health, ecological
and livelihood security, the design and launch of a
National Challenge Programme on Nanobiotechnology and
Food and Health Security, and the need for regulatory
mechanisms. The proposed National Biotechnology Regulatory
Authority could have a Standing Committee on Nanobiotechnology,
and a few centres of training, retraining and retooling
in the techniques and rules of Nanobiotechnology, should
be identified. There is an urgent need for greater interaction
between scientists and media personnel on the risks
and benefits associated with biotechnology and nanobiotechnology.
The proposed National Board for Strategic Agricultural
Research should launch a National Mission for Nanobiotechnology
for Sustainable Nutrition Security. |
| |
| Beyond Tsunami: Significance of
the Dandi March, 2 April, 2005, Chennai |
| |
| The meeting convened to commemorate
the Platinum Jubilee of the Dandi March and Gandhiji’s
Salt Satyagraha, focused on the importance of seawater
as a social resource. Sea Water Farming, Enhancing Livelihoods
in Coastal Areas, Biotechnological Tools for Salinity
Resistance, Multiple Micronutrient Fortification of
Salt, Salt Pans and Coastal Livelihoods, Shelterbelts
and Protection of Coastal Communities and Livelihood
Opportunities for Fisher Communities, were among the
issues discussed. The subject assumed greater relevance
in the context of ongoing post-tsunami rehabilitation
activities. Shri Mani Shankar Aiyar, Union Minister
for Petroleum & Natural Gas and Panchayati Raj, was
the Chief Guest on the occasion. Government officials,
including officials from the Salt Commissioner’s office,
representatives from marine and fisheries institutes,
scientists and NGOs participated. |
|
| |
| UN Millennium Development Goals
- Five years later: Agricultural Biodiversity and Elimination
of Hunger and Poverty, 18-19 April, 2005 |
| |
| MSSRF, the International Plant Genetic
Resources Institute (IPGRI) and the Global Facilitation
Unit for Underutilized Species (GFU), in association
with other partners, organized an International Consultation
on 18 and 19 April, 2005, to highlight the role of plant
biodiversity in achieving the UN MDG on Hunger and Poverty.
About a hundred experts and policy makers with varied
backgrounds from 24 countries took part in the event.
The task was to consider how agricultural biodiversity
can help the world to achieve the MDGs, and in particular
the goal of freedom from hunger and poverty. |
| |
| The output from the Consultation
was the development of a “Platform for Action” for enhancing
the use of agricultural biodiversity in addressing UN
MDG on extreme poverty, hunger and health. This document
may be presented to the UN General Assembly in September
2005, (“UN Millennium Assembly and Summit plus 5”) which
will facilitate the international community to revise
the action plan related to the MDGs. The highlights
of the Chennai Platform for Action for a Hunger and
Poverty Free World are the need to recognize that incorporation
of agricultural biodiversity conservation and sustainable
use in national development plans, such as Poverty Reduction
Strategies, along with the creation of crosssectoral
linkages and coherence among concerned Ministries at
the national level, is important for the delivery of
the MDG. Emphasis on the need for a decentralized and
community-managed sustainable nutrition security system
based on expanded agricultural biodiversity; recognition
and reward for the invaluable contributions of rural
and indigenous people, particularly women, in the conservation
and enhancement of agricultural biodiversity and conferring
of social prestige and economic benefit to its primary
conservers; promotion of local markets and access to
international markets for the products of agricultural
biodiversity, especially traditional and functional
foods; ensuring equity and fairness among all participants;
the launch of national nutrition literacy programmes
and the promotion of coarse cereals as nutritious cereals
were the other issues taken up for discussion. |
| |
| Science-Society Interface on Tribals
and Biodiversity Related Legislation, 26 –27 April,
2005, Calicut |
| |
| A national level, two-day consultation
was organized by CAbC Waynad in collaboration with the
Kerala Institute for Research, Training and Development
Studies (KIRTADS). Shri A P Anil Kumar, Hon. Minister
for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and Cultural
Affairs, Government of Kerala inaugurated the two-day
interface. Several local dignitaries participated in
the meeting. The issues discussed included the Biodiversity
Act 2002, the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’
Rights Act 2001, and Traditional Knowledge. Representatives
of various tribal groups from different parts of Kerala,
scholars and officials participated in the meeting.
The meeting was conducted in bilingual mode on the first
day to enable maximum benefit to the participants. On
the second day the programme was conducted in the local
language, Malayalam. The tribal people felt that they
should have a better say in influencing the decisions
of the State Biodiversity Board. It was recommended
that more young adivasis should be given training in
biodiversity laws, to be able to play an active role
in safeguarding biodiversity and scientific validation
of their traditional practices, especially the use of
medicinal plants. It was also suggested that ‘bare foot
lawyers’ should be formed among the young tribals and
given training to impart their knowledge to other tribal
people. |
| |
| Consultation on Post-Disaster Manage-ment
and Prevention Strategies, 13-14 May, 2005, Chennai |
| |
| MSSRF and IDRC organized a two-day
consultation on Post-Disaster Management and Prevention
Strategies at MSSRF, Chennai, on 13-14 May, 2005. Participants
discussed the issues related to local governance, livelihood,
reducing vulnerability, adaptation, and information
empowerment at the meeting. The consultation was triggered
by the devastation caused by the tsunami in South and
Southeast Asia, including the east coast of India and
the need for long-term prevention and management strategies. |
| |
| National Consultation on The Role
of Panchayati Raj Institutions in Spearheading a Rural
Knowledge Revolution, 9 June, 2005, Chennai |
| |
| MSSRF, NCF, Gandhigram Rural Institute
and Microsoft Unlimited Potential Programme together
organized this consultation. Panchayat leaders from
TN, NGOs, representatives from the Government, NABARD
and Microsoft discussed the issues of the location of
VKCs, content development, capacity building, ICTSHGs,
evaluation and monitoring, and sustainability. Panchayat
leaders expressed their desire to be actively associated
with the movement. |
|
|
|
