Prime Minister Narendra Modi has rightly said that a tri-colour revolution can definitely bring fast progress to the country. The preamble of the Constitution calls for peaceful coexistence within the country and within the world.
The peaceful coexistence can only be possible through friendship alone. If peace and coexistence are there, progress cannot be far behind.
Modi stressed upon a four-fold ways to grow, which are really a crying need for India. He has given much importance to agriculture. Unless India becomes self-sufficient on agrarian products, nothing can be expected from hungry Indians. India has sufficient land, water and human resources. If these things work together, then India can lead countries in removing hunger from the universe. It requires political will and coordination among States and between States and union.
Expressing grave concerns over hunger in India, Modi said nobody should go without meal. A country cannot progress if a single man spends a day in hunger, he said. Now more than one-thirds of Indians are spending nights without food which is very shameful thing for the Indians. Providing rice per Re 1 per kg to the poor families is not the solution. The dignity of life is most important for every citizen of India, said Modi.
If we consider the case of Odisha, about 40 per cent of families don’t get two square meals a day. Recently, the Union Government has cautioned the State to spread awareness on wastage of food.
Provision of subsidised rice cannot mitigate hunger from the country despite that fact that Odisha is self-sufficient in agrarian land, water resource and human resource. There is certainly lack of political willpower for proper management of all the resources.
The peasants of the State are very poor who are unable to afford sufficient food to their families. Again only 12 per cent of cultivable land is irrigated and the rest is rain-fed. This is a reason why multi cropping is not possible in a majority of land. Only one crop or at best two crops are done.
The Government should share the responsibilities, and the State as well as the Union Government should declare agriculture as industry and take pro-farming measures on a grand scale to boost the sector and the agriculturists.
The land of Odisha is very much known for its river system. Major river Mahanadi alone is having 43 tributary and sub-tributary rivers and 22 branches. There are also other two major rivers like Bramhani and Baitarani. If all the tributaries, sub-tributaries and branches and also the branch lets are suitably joined in a planned manner for irrigation of land, right from hills and valleys to coastal plains, Odisha can surpass all the States in agricultural production and growth. This, however, needs political will and firmness.
The second slogan of Modi is energy revolution and a call to promote renewable energy. India has wider scope for harvesting solar as well as wind energy where expenditure is very low as compared to other systems of energy harvesting through non – renewable process. Renewable energy is eco friendly, whose production does not pollute the environment. So the source should be efficiently tapped for the general wellbeing of the Indians.
If we consider the case of Odisha, we find that the State has great potentialities for tapping the solar as well as wind energy. The State has 500 km coastline from where the solar as well as the wind energy can be tapped like Gujarat. Other than coastlines, the solar energy can be tapped from inner parts of the State. Similarly, both solar and wind energy can be harvested from the hill tops. The Eastern Ghat regions are the suitable regions for tapping of both solar and wind energy. Energy can also be tapped from sea waves.
The third pronouncement of Modi is ‘white revolution.’ The main source of milk is cattle. The mulching cattle include cows, buffaloes, goats and camels whose milk is edible. Even ass milk is edible, but in commercial market, the milk of cow and buffalo is more popular. We have indigenous species of cows and buffaloes which are suitable for our tropical and sub-tropical continent .These species are part of our biodiversities. Similarly, we have great potentialities of herbs. The mammals like cows and buffaloes are herbivorous, which need plenty of grass and fodder to yield milk. The State has great potentialities of fodders. The climate of the State is very suitable for bovines, which include cows and buffaloes.
Odisha is not self-sufficient in milk. So it needs to start a white revolution and promote farming of the milk producing animals at a commercial rate. Besides, it should create facilities for procurement, transport, storage, and marketing and value addition of milk.
Modi also has laid stress on blue revolution. Without the development of fisherman, the revolution cannot be possible. He has laid stress on three important points for the success of the revolution; welfare of fisher man, cleaning of sea and rivers and conservation of water.
The rivers of the country now have become filthy. Sewage drains of cities and towns gush into the water bodies. So their cleaning is most important. Fish production cannot be possible without sorting out these issues.
(The writer is a former senior forest officer and an environmentalist. Tel no 9937460649)