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Journalism of Courage
PUNE, JANUARY 7: Following the success of the biovillage concept, the M S Swaminathan Foundation is going to start a biotechnology park at Chennai which will cater to women from urban centres.
Announcing this, scientist and `Father of the Green revolution’ M S Swaminathan, said that this would help women become entrepreneurs thus making them self-reliant.
Speaking at an unscheduled lecture at the `Women and Science Congress’ at the Indian Science Congress-2000 on Thursday afternoon, the scientist also announced a national-level community banking programme to be launched next month.
"This network will help villages in getting venture capital to start their small or medium projects," he said. The biotechnology park, expected to start by March-end, will have a group of 33 women who will be trained by the park’s faculty.
"Usually most of the top positions in academics are taken up by women. Yet there is very little exposure of women to enterprise and a whole lot of talent is wasted," said Swaminathan. The park will address such women of potential and also help others to develop theirs, he said.
"We will provide support right till the marketing stage so that the women can develop their own entrepreneurial projects," said Sudha Nair, senior scientist with the foundation. Nair has been one of the main forces behind the biovillage programmes and is also actively involved with the new venture.
"We want to create a brand image of our products so that our products sell and enable women to generate income," she said. From 265 applications, they have chosen and trained 33 women and are enabling them to go in for "value additions".
This translates into taking science to the grassroots and enabling the locals to reap benefits. "Although we have started with most women who are graduates, we also have some Std X pass women," she said. The idea is to provide them support in coming up with simple products that are steeped in tradition with an upgradation that modern science has to offer.
"From the cooking masala that has a better shelf life to food additives, we have a wide range of products," she said.
As a part of their networking the park will also set up a web page that will enable their trainees to post their biodatas and their products. "This will widen their market base and give them more exposure," said Nair.
The park has been started as a society that has a governing body and has active participation from the Government of Tamil Nadu. An initial start up cost of Rs 6.7 crore has already been invested. The park has also been thrown open to those women who already have their products but need some value additions to get a better market positioning.
