Mother Of All Revolutions

Come Independence Day, detractors of the ruling party make it an annual ritual to mock whatever is happening in the country. For them there is nothing but negativity to talk about. May I ask them to please pause a while before you condemn India's administration for every ill in the land. Open your eyes to the great Indian revolutions since independence, which have stunned the world whose eyes have remained wide open since then. This may help them not to lose hope in India's capacity for collective action to overcome any hardship, and, perhaps, to get rid of much of their morale sapping pessimism.

The Green Revolution

The story of how what came to be called the Green Revolution began is an exciting one. The story's moral is that hope is always buried within tragedy. The Great Famine of 1943-44 has no equal. Heavily taxed and left to themselves and the monsoons, India's farmers began the forties with falling, failing crops. When India attained independence from the British in 1947, India lost some of its most fertile lands to the Partition. Total food production hung around about 50 million tones. Food reserves were nil. India was just about meeting its deficit with imports. India was a massive importer, the tonnage peaking at 10 million in 1966. India was desperate for a breakthrough.

It was then that India made the most dramatic discovery ever in agricultural science. A small field at Pusa, later known as Indian Agricultural Institute, was seeded with the miracle dwarf seeds and the results were unbelievable. It was what India had been waiting for. It was a milestone to cherish. The Green Revolution was independent India's greatest achievement and its most successful revolutionaries were India's political leadership, bureaucrats, scientists and of course the farmers. Of the ones that are easily named are C. Subramaniam, B. P. Pal and M.S.Swaminathan. They managed to stand up and falsify many prophesies of doom. India was the greatest success story of the Green Revolution. India's food-grains production has hovered around a fifth of a billion tones mark in recent years. More than self-sufficient, India frequently exports its surpluses. India has emerged from famine ridden colonial times, as a famine free Republic. From famine to plenty, from humiliation to dignity, the Green Revolution was, indeed, the most rewarding revolution in the history of independent India.

The White Revolution

Operation flood, also referred to as “White Revolution”, is a gigantic project propounded by Government of India for developing dairy industry in the country. The United Nations has commended India's "White Revolution," saying a sharp increase in the production of milk has achieved twin goals of raising incomes of rural poor families and nutrition status of the people. The report forecasts that India's dairy production will triple by 2020. With government policies that facilitate rural credit and provide essential support services to promote milk production, the White Revolution will continue to play a significant role in reducing poverty and hunger. Gujarat-based Amul (Anand Milk Union Limited) was the engine behind the success of Operation Flood and in turn became the biggest company based on the cooperative approach. Verghese Kurien (chairman of NDDB at that time), gave the professional management skills and necessary thrust to the cooperative, and is considered the architect of India's 'White Revolution'. His work has been recognized by the award of a Padma Bhushan, the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership, the Carnegie-Wateler World Peace Prize, and the World Food Prize.



The IT Revolution


The Indian IT services industry began to develop when the government opened the country to the forces of globalization, ending regulation at home and lowering barriers to foreign investment, in the early 1990s. The 21st century has given the Indian IT industry a brand image that has universal value and recognition. This image is based on the ability of Indian IT professionals to provide global solutions, business strategies, investment markets ands cost effective technologies. Within the country, the focus of Indian policy makers has been on world class value added services, product development and connectivity, as India moves into the next orbit of growth where knowledge sharing is inevitable. India views Information Technology as a catalyst for change, a change that encourages people to use IT tools for self-sufficiency and empowerment. India’s spectacular Information Technology revolution has taken the world by storm. The industry has grown by more than 50% annually in the last decade. IT revenues are on track to rise to US$ 87 billion by 2008 of which US$ 50 billion would be exports. At present Indian software is exported to more than 150 countries, and accounts for one fifth of global software development. With 100 million Internet connections within a couple of years, India's IT juggernaut rolls on.



The above three great revolutions of free India give us hope, confidence and cause for celebration of their successful culmination. They also inspire us to initiate the Blue Revolution, the water equivalent of the green revolution that primarily refers to the management of water resources that can steer humanity to achieve drinking water and crop irrigation security. The challenge of ensuring adequate water availability is big. But it is well within our means provided we take it up on a mission mode. Let us all blow the bugle on this Independence Day to start the Blue Revolution by resolving not to waste a single drop of water in our homes, offices and anywhere we consume water. If we take this wow with all sincerity and seriousness, we will see that by the next Independence Day, drop by drop, we shall be able to save substantial amount of water to have solved half the water problem, and motivate the government machinery to come into action to solve the other half. It will then be the time to celebrate free India's fourth revolution, the Blue Revolution, may be, the mother of all revolutions.