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There is urgent need to enable decentralised institutions, especially panchayats, to manage resources more efficiently and on a sustainable basis.
This would strengthen their capacity to propel themselves towards the lofty goal of inclusive growth, said Dr K. Kasturirangan, Member, Planning Commission.
His comments came during the keynote address at the inaugural ceremony of the 23rd Kerala Science Congress that began here on Saturday.
Uneven distribution
The nation is severely handicapped from the uneven distribution of benefits of economic development and the widening of gaps in income.
While extolling the crucial role that science and technology can play a role in driving inclusive growth, he said this could not happen without grassroots-level access to better technologies.
Kerala must take advantage of its human resource that boasts the country's highest development index to transform itself into a green economy, Dr Kasturirangan said.
The observation came in the context of the special theme of the 23rd Kerala Science Congress, which is ‘Science and technology for transforming Kerala as a green economy.'
The State would need to improve productivity and income in the traditional sectors. The small size of holdings entails tweaking of available technologies to make them suitable for the smaller scale of operations.
Dr Kasturirangan observed that low productivity and low wages have cut down on the availability of labour and make the State look to migrant workers for deliverance. The only option is to improve productivity of both land and labour locally in order that better incomes are generated, he said.
Of particular importance were value-addition technologies and adaptive strategies aimed at reducing the carbon footprint.
Pressure on supplies of fossil fuels would put a question mark on the sustainability of most technologies. Given this, emerging shift towards renewable energy technologies becomes relevant.
Building a sustainable and equitable society demands significant investments in science and technology. Some incremental investments may have been committed in recent times, but they fail to add up.
Dr Kasturirangan regretted that many science institutions were still wallowing under traditional management, which was not conducive for the development of science.
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