The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : “India should learn from experiences of Japan”

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Monday, Jun 22, 2009
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Tamil Nadu - Chennai

“India should learn from experiences of Japan”

Special Correspondent

— Photo: M. Vedhan

SHARING A POINT: M.S.Swaminathan, chairman, MSSRF with Kazuo Minagawa, Consul-General of Japan, at a special lecture in Chennai on Saturday.

CHENNAI: India should learn from the experiences of Japan in land and water management and Japanese appreciation of the subjects such as bio-diversity and climate change, said M.S. Swaminathan, Member of Parliament and Chairman of the Dr. M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF).

Delivering a lecture on ‘Environment, ecology and lessons from Japan,’ at a meeting organised by the Indo-Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry here on Saturday, he said Japan, conscious of its scarce land resources, had promoted long ago the concept of green revolution, which was essentially achieving productivity improvement in perpetuity without causing ecological harm. It was also one of the early countries that accomplished high productivity despite having small farms. This was possible because of application of technology. Explaining how Japan gave importance to rice cultivation, Dr. Swaminathan said once there were suggestions from the United States to Japan to stop the cultivation of rice. For Japanese, the question was not just of raising a crop but it of cultural significance. A number of rice-associated festivals were being celebrated there. The Japanese government had been promoting rice cultivation even though it was expensive.

On issues concerning water, Japan paid as much attention to demand-side management as to supply-side management. Recycling of wastewater was widely practised in the corporate sector. As against the normal rule, that forests disappeared as agriculture advanced, Japan adopted land-saving and forest-saving agriculture in scientific manner, he noticed.

Dr. Swaminathan commended Japan for contributions in the area of climate change. It had helped other countries including Thailand and Malaysia in establishing gene banks, he added.

Kazuo Minagawa, Consul-General of Japan in Chennai, recalled his office’s association with the MSSRF in implementing an eco-system protection project in Kerala. N. Krishnaswami, president of the Chamber, said it would celebrate the 20th anniversary in December.

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