| No success or achievement in material terms is worthwhile
unless it serves the needs or interests of the country and its
people and is achieved by fair and honest means. — JRD
Tata |
This principle has guided the Tatas through the 140 years in
which they've served the community while generating economic prosperity
both within the country and around the world.
Today, in the 21st century, India is on the verge of a food scarcity
crisis. The domestic production of food grains, oil seeds and sugar
is not adequate enough to provide sufficient nutrition to India’s
growing millions. The green revolution of the 1960s and 70s successfully
addressed the production of grains like wheat, rice and maize that
provided food for the population, but it left out the cultivation
of pulses. For India’s 1.1 billion population, it is pulses
that contribute a very large part of the family’s protein needs,
much more than milk, eggs or meat.
Pulses, the most important source of protein in the diet of almost
every Indian, have long been marginalised.
Statistics revel that in 2007–2008, India was the world's
largest producer of pulses; it was also the largest consumer. In
2007–2008, India produced 15.11 million tonnes of pulses and
consumed 18 million tonnes. The balance was imported from countries
such as Canada, Myanmar and China.
In an estimate by the World Health Organization, every Indian needs
80 grams of pulses every day to meet his or her protein needs. This
implies that by the year 2018, India will require 38 million tonnes
of pulses to meet its population's nutritional requirements. The
current demand-supply gap entails the country paying huge import
bills to meet its pulses needs, a burden which is passed on to the
consumer.
The GrowMorePulses campaign has been launched to counter this scenario.
The campaign is an initiative supported by Tata Chemicals and Rallis
India to promote the cultivation and availability of pulses in India.
We believe that there is a wide spectrum of knowledge on high-yield
seeds, crop management techniques and crop protection methods that
can go a long way towards improving India’s production of pulses.
The GrowMorePulses campaign aims to bring together those communities
associated with the production of pulses, including the academic,
agricultural and government sectors.
It will spread awareness of the benefits of cultivating pulses,
develop a stronger and more accessible knowledge base for pulse
cultivation, and provide the agricultural community with information
and tools that can help improve its production of pulses.
Creating an online knowledge exchange for pulses, www.growmorepulses.com
is a small step taken by the Tatas to build a community, inform
the many, connect the engaged and excite the passionate.
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