ever been abroad. All family members had come to the railway station to bid him farewell. Unfortunately, an essay by a student from St Stephen's College in Delhi was finally selected for the honour. Sharad was dejected and lamented that despite his having done very well, at the very last minute destiny snatched away that cup of ultimate success. Even in later years he had confessed to having that feeling when the expected success did not eventually come to him. Another noteworthy event was the essay he wrote in 1956 for a competition held by Bombay University. He had researched hard for it and the title of the essay was River Valley Projects and their role in the Agricultural Development of India. This time success did not elude him. He received the first prize of Rs. 300 given in the name of Homjee Kursetjee Daddy. The amount was substantial in those days. Sharad studied various river valley projects in India and his conclusion was that the projected benefits were highly exaggerated by the planners. Highest rainfall was considered as a benchmark and it was assumed that every year it would rain that much, filling the dam to the expected level. Projection for irrigated area was also highly overestimated. But in reality the statistics had proved wrong. In fact the conclusion drawn by Sharad was that farmers, who continued with their farming after the dam construction, ended up being poorer than the farmers who were displaced by the dam and therefore were compelled to move to cities for alternative occupation. That city occupation brought more prosperity than so-called improved agriculture. The research Sharad did for this project proved to be the basis for his subsequent conviction that any modification in existing agriculture practice would not bring in the expected prosperity unless farmers got much higher price for their produce. Personally, Sharad found this project important because he had mentioned that in the bio-data he had prepared many years later in 1976 while still in Switzerland. Early Years
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