Root Cause

“I am yet to formulate the agenda for NAC. NREGA and RTI were the successes of UPA- I. The NAC has been advised to focus on an effective implementation of both of these two. Tribal unrest and violence is one issue that has been bothering me a lot and I feel that an effective implementation of the NREGA can be a great tool to solve this issue. Tribal involvement in the implementation is missing in the current implementation of NREGA. Currently it is about numbers wherein that state or the local body says they have employed these many people in these many days. It should be about creating the right kind of jobs for the local people. And as far as tribals go,eco-restoration,forest regeneration,soil and water restoration are the right jobs that need to be created,” says Gadgil one of whose areas of expertise is community management.

Gadgil plans to point out the disconnect between research work and its implementation at the grass root level. “Once when I was a part of the assessment team for the Zoological Survey of India campus at Jodhpur,we found out that they had 32 bungalow-like quarters for the scientists in the campus out of which 30 were lying unused. This is an example of funds allotted that don’t reach the roots but reach construction work where there’s an excellent scope for corruption. During my tenure at the NAC I plan to work towards formulating policies that ensure appropriate utilisation of funds,” says Gadgil.

About 25 years ago,the Ministry of Science and Technology had proposed the formation of local,state level science councils. It was only Karnataka that effectively started and implemented it. Gadgil aims at re-looking at the proposed plan and work towards imparting momentum to it.

Opposing the developmental projects which under the name of environment,have become a trend Gadgil blaming the system says,“A proper assessment of the project is important. During my tenure at the Indian Institute of Science at Bangalore,we created such report for Mangalore wherein we assessed- what kind of projects can be proposed for the region,what is the desired level of industrialisation in the area,environmental impact assessment and so on. While the then Deve Gowda government could not implement it further because of him becoming the PM,it was an example of how to go about assessing the projects. Most of the times,the agency involved in making projects does these reports; as a result of which they are always in favour of the project and far from reality. And that’s when people are not taken into confidence. Setting up an independent body is something very crucial for avoiding the bias and in turn peoples’ agitation to such developmental work.”

Talking about his tryst with such convenient interpretation Gadgil says,“When we were working for the Konkan Railway project,I had given a few inputs that could have saved the wetlands in Goa. But when the report came out,the agency had edited the suggestions. I was so upset that I wrote a column in one of the magazines. ‘Political will’ is a sweet name given to corruption by the think tanks.”

“We have been pursuing technology without sufficient research. Even in case of BT Brinjal,Jairam Ramesh had asked me about the feasibility of the crop to which I had said that we need to research the cross pollination of BT crops. I do not know any one in India who has done a research on cross pollination. In fact the Department of Biotechnology just turned down one such research that could have been useful saying it was irrelevant,” smiles he.

While many have been objecting to the idea of having a NAC criticising the role of Sonia Gandhi,Gadgil feels that there is nothing wrong in the government seeking advice from an external panel. “I don’t have anything to do with politics. They have asked me for an advice and it is my duty to give it to them. And why not? The scenario in India is much better than most of the developing countries. We are moving in the right direction,our democracy is much stronger than many other countries and we have every reason to smile and work towards bringing a change,” he concludes.