Expert: India, Driven by Greed, Will Never Have Second Green Revolution

March 15 (EIRNS)—Prominent Indian agronomist M.S. Swaminathan, in an interview with the Indian news agency refiff.com, said that he is tired of the "lip service" to food production provided by the Manmohan Singh Administration, and has come to the conclusion that India will never have a second Green Revolution, which is a dire necessity for reviving the agricultural sector and making India food sufficient.

Swaminathan, known as MSS, is one of the so-called troika, the other two being the legendary American agronomist Norman Borlaug and then-Indian Agriculture Minister C. Subramaniam (both deceased). The troika was set loose by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, and later, by Prime Minister Morarji Desai, to make India food self-sufficient. Between 1965 and 1978, India turned from a hugely food-dependant nation to a food-surplus nation, because of the introduction of technology and seed-science ushered in by the troika and Mrs. Gandhi.

In his interview, MSS, comparing the Green Revolution period with the present anti-agriculture policies of the Singh government, said: "It was totally different then. The country was under pressure. We were importing 10 million tons of wheat and the population was only 450 million. A number of books then said India would not survive and Indians would die like sheep going to slaughter houses. There was political support and determination to make the country self-sufficient. Now all that is gone."

Although MSS did not emphasize the requirement of building an adequate infrastructure to set the stage for the second revolution, he did say that for another Green Revolution, "you need four ingredients: technology, which gives a quantum jump in yield; and services, like electricity and water," as two of the four. He pointed out that India's "strong economic growth" (which is being used by the Singh government as the opium to silence rural discontent) "reflects neither in food intake nor in the prosperity of farmers.... The GDP may be growing, but the contribution of agriculture to GDP is going down."

Deeply frustrated, MSS identified this anti-farm policy of the government as the degeneration of political leaders who are now in power. "Their aim is to bring in foreign companies," he said. "They want to hand over the retail sector to WalMart and others. These companies have access to people in power, whether it is Montek Singh Ahluwalia or others." Ahluwalia, deputy chairman of the Planning Commission, and the prime minister's comrade-in-arms in formulating anti-farmer policies, is, like the prime minister, a product of the World Bank, and receives a pension from that institution.

Philippines LaRouche Movement Sparks Fight-Back on Nuclear Power

March 18 (EIRNS)—With the Philippines being inundated with anti-nuclear hysteria over the past week, Butch Valdes, head of the Philippines LaRouche Society, and the Save the Nation (SANA) organization which he formed in conjunction with organizations representing engineers, broadcasters, scientists, and others, counterattacked with a well-attended press conference blasting the lies about the situation in Japan, and presenting the truth about the urgency of nuclear power if the Philippines, and the human race, are to survive.

The Philippines press widely reported last week that Mark Cojuangco, the sponsor of the bill before Congress to reopen the mothballed Bataan Nuclear Power Plant, had withdrawn his bill. However, when Valdes notified Cojuangco of the press conference to refute the lies, Cojuangco joined in the event, giving a detailed description of the features of the plant and its structural reliability to withstand natural calamities. He added that he was not abandoning his proposed bill, but merely called for a moratorium on the debate in deference to victims of the earthquake and tsunami, as well as lack of real facts on the condition of the Fukushima nuclear facility.

The mechanical engineers were much more emphatic in their presentation. Bert Lozada described his training in Japan's nuclear power plants, and the higher-level technology that went into the construction of the Bataan plant. His colleague Lemy Roxas lamented the flawed political decision not to run the nuclear plant, explaining that the Philippines Society Of Mechanical Engineers had submitted a paper to President Corazon Aquino at the time (1986), declaring that safety measures were sound, and recommending its immediate start-up (the plant was never used). The engineers reported that hundreds of Filipinos are now working in nuclear power plants around the world, but are anxious to come home and build nuclear plants in their homeland.

Valdes commended the efficient bureaucracy of the government of Japan, its patriotic civil servants and scientists, who immediately reacted to address the problem at hand, almost unperturbed by international media lies and manipulation. They earn their people's trust, said Valdes, that all that can be done, is being done.

He asked those present not to lose focus, reminding them of the "three urgent steps" to save the nation—a revolution in food production, restored nuclear power, and a moratorium on the foreign debt. He stressed that the principal issue is not a nuclear crisis, but rather the ongoing collapse of the financial system, which is causing populations of all nations to demand a better way of life. The natural calamities are at present, not always foreseeable, he said, but only through a willful change of the economic order can we create the science to understand and protect ourselves from such destruction.

U.S. Admits Fear-Mongering on Japanese Radiation Was a Fraud

March 18 (EIRNS)—U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) chairman Gregory Jaczko told a Congressional hearing March 16 that the spent fuel cooling pond at the #4 plant at Fukushima Daiichi had no water, and threatened a massive release of radiation endangering the population. The Obama Administration immediately called for a 50-mile evacuation policy for U.S. citizens, conflicting with the Japanese 12-mile policy.

Jaczko's claim was a total fabrication. He is not a nuclear specialist at all, but a "science policy" man, whose first job was as a science fellow in the office of anti-nuclear hysteric Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.). Then he went on to join Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.).

Japan immediately refuted the claim that the cooling pond was dry, and flew a helicopter over it to show that it was full of water, before getting back to serious business at the other sites.

Today, an NRC spokesman partially admitted the fraud, saying that the "evidence is so far inconclusive."

North Korea Offers Cooperation to South on Volcano Issue

March 18 (EIRNS)—The North Korean news agency KCNA reports that the director of the country's Bureau of Earthquakes sent a letter to the chief of the Weather Office of South Korea yesterday, proposing that the North and the South jointly promote research into the volcanic activities on Mt. Paektu, in the common interests of both nations.

The letter referred to the fact that earthquakes and volcanic phenomena have frequently occurred in various parts of the world in recent years. The great quake that hit Japan underscores the urgency to conduct, "in a foresighted and successful manner," research into earthquake and volcanic activities on the Korean Peninsula, since it is geographically located close to Japan, the statement said.