FOREWORD

" Recall the face of the poorest and the weakest man whom you have seen, and ask yourself if the steps you are going to contemplate are going to be of any use to him. Will he gain anything by it? Will it restore to him control over his own life and destiny?"

This sentence, attributed to Mahatma Gandhi, was quoted by Professor Monkombu Sambasivan Swaminathan in a key note speech that he gave at the World Conference on Science (Budapest, June 1999). I believe that this concept has been the guiding principle of Professor Swaminathan throughout his long and very productive scientific life. He studied in the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the USA, and travelled widely afterwards. Although Indian culture is deeply rooted in him, he can be considered a citizen of the world, like many great minds of human civilisation. Like the late Abdus Salam he links the western and third world cultures. He worked on problems of the third world and achieved results that are important for industrialised countries.

Through this book the reader gets first-hand information from one of the actors of the Green Revolution, an important event in the history of science, of science policy and world politics. After the Second World War, the danger of a lack of food, with consequent social unrest and widespread wars, was real and it was considered imminent. Swaminathan isolated the semi-dwarf wheat that changed the prospects of India. As a consequence, this country, so much humiliated and looted throughout its history, became self-sufficient in cereal production and able to feed an increasing population. Most armed conflicts can be traced to economic, rather than ideological differences. Thus, investments in agriculture are important to achieve food security and therefore prevent future wars: from this point of view, research in agriculture is a very effective contribution to world peace.

The book consists of a brilliant, continuous interview with Professor Swaminathan. We are taken through his experience as a State Secretary for Agriculture in the Indian government, as a Director General of the Rice Research Institute in the Philippines, and as the founder of his own research foundation in Madras.

In the Middle Ages, developing countries had their own technological systems of knowledge. Later on, modern science and technology started in the already rich Europe and gave rise to the European industrial revolution, which was instrumental in the acquisition of extra resources and labour, thus leading to an increase in the technological gap, already existing in those times, between rich and poor countries. The colonial empires changed the education system in the colonies and almost ignored science and technology in the teaching curricula, thus widening the differences. Today, what is needed by developing countries is not technology, but the scientific knowledge and institutions which will enable them to reacquire their own autonomy and self-sufficiency. This has been the philosophy that guided Professor Swaminathan in his professional life and this was the message of the UNESCO World Conference on Science.

The importance of moral values has today much declined as compared to the past. In the minds of many, globalisation means trying to get as much as possible in economic terms, without taking care of the needs of the poor and of poor nations. If we do not act soon the gap between rich and poor will increase. Yet, how can the world hope to survive in the face of a massive upheaval in developing countries? To avoid a disaster we need a socially equitable development of the Third World. Science and Technology have been, and will continue to be, major factors for industrial development and economic growth. We therefore need great scientists that not only achieve important results, but also organise and perform research and set an example in their own countries. This book honours a great man, but at the same time indicates the way for the politicians of developing countries.

Maurizio Iaccarino
Secretary General, World Conference on Science
Professor of Microbiology at the University of Naples
Ex-assistant director general for natural sciences of UNESCO