Modadugu V Gupta awarded World Food Prize

Ohio -- Indian scientist Modadugu V Gupta has been awarded the prestigious World Food Prize for year 2005 for developing a low input, high yield aqua culture technique, for the rural people in Asia.

In India alone, the revolutionary aqua culture technology will benefit millions of fish farmers and their families.

At the consumer end too, the newly developed aqua culture technique is all set to make a huge impact in terms of meeting the nutritional requirement of the world, especially Asia.

The annual award, regarded as the equivalent of the Nobel Prize in the field of food and agriculture, was created by Nobel Laureate Norman Borlaug in 1986 for outstanding achievements in food and agriculture aimed at reducing hunger, malnutrition and rural poverty, and is funded by the prominent Ohio philanthropist, John Ruan.

It carries a proclamation by the Governor of Ohio and a citation, an original sculpture created by Saul Bass and a cash award of 250,000 dollars.

Iowa Governor Thomas J Vilsack read out the proclamation honouring Dr Gupta. Indian Ambassador to the US Ronen Sen read out a message from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh felicitating Dr Gupta for his path-breaking work. 

Sen also recalled the India-US Knowledge Initiative in the field of Agricultural Research launched during Dr Singh's recent visit to the US
Dr Gupta said, ''The World Food Prize has been a great motivator for me and others like me who are involved in similar work. I have always believed that science by itself will not help to improve the lives of the rural poor."

"Science must find the right applications for the society at large for it to make a real difference. The same also applies for any business, whose impact on the society can be judged by the level of social involvement it demonstrates. It is an honour to be recognized for my efforts.''

Dr Gupta is the sixth Indian to receive the World Food Prize since it was established in 1986.

Previous recipients include M S Swaminathan (1987), Verghese Kurien (1989), Gurdev Khush (1996), B R Barwale (1998) and Surinder K. Vasal (2000).