Dr. Surinder M. Sehgal has never been afraid to dream big. He helped revolutionize agriculture in the developing world by making international hybrid seed technology work for the poor across Latin America, Eastern Europe and Asia.
Now he is fixing his sights on India's 600,000 rural villages, where poverty limits far too many dreams.
Suri Sehgal does not believe in quick fixes to complex problems. If poverty were that easy to cure, others would have done it long ago.
So he guides his Sehgal Foundation team to first listen and learn from the poor. To learn about their hopes and the obstacles that stand in their way. And then to help them find solutions that they can implement themselves over the long run.
Suri Sehgal realizes that these solutions will vary from one village to the next, yet many elements are in common. Water supplies are usually limited and often contaminated. Electricity is usually unavailable at the household level. Health care and education are usually inadequate. The main enterprise of poor villages is usually farming, but the farming methods are outmoded.
The problem is that each of these constraints feeds the other. Without good water supplies, health is compromised and crops wither in droughts. Without health, it is difficult for farmers to work their fields. Without better agriculture, food supplies are meager, causing ill health. Without education, children cannot get work later in life to help improve their village. And the circle goes round and round.
By tackling these numerous elements together in an integrated fashion, Suri Sehgal believes that his namesake foundation can help break poverty's grip on rural India. He believes that the communities themselves must lead the way, with support and advice from the Foundation team.
Only if the communities are determined to break out of poverty, will they succeed. Suri Sehgal is helping them find their voice, and reach their dream.
See Suri Sehgal in action with the Foundation team in this short 3.5 minute video clip
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