Urine can replace chemical fertiliser. It is happening in Delhi outskirts

When I was a student at Palampur in Himachal Pradesh, and that was more than 30 years ago, I vividly recall the day I was walking with my agronomy professor. We passed a student who was urinating -- like a typical Indian, standing by the roadside in the comfort of a bush -- and the professor exclaimed: "He is providing nitrogen for the plant."

We laughed, and walked by. I must accept that it didn't strike me that in reality urine does provide the much needed nitrogen.

More recently, I was attending a conference at the swanky Indian Institute of Management (IIM) campus in Bangalore. I went to the loo, and was surprised to read a small message above the toilet seat, saying something like: 'This toilet does not flush. Please do not pour water after you have used it'. I thought this must be some latest sophisticated technology that only IIM could afford (with all its government subsidies). I did think of checking it out with IIM fellows later but the moment I was back in the conference hall it was all but forgotten.

Not a pleasant sight. But turning urine into an economic activity will probably put a stop to this. 

Like most of us, I do talk but rarely believe in following the traditional wisdom. We are so indoctrined by the craze for new technological gadgets that somehow we have been made to believe that only new technological tools (coming mostly from the west) will solve all our problems. So just sit back, and wait.

We all laugh whenever there is a reference to the urine therapy that former Prime Minister Morarji Desai used to subscribe to. It doesn't suit our lifestyle, nor our mindset which have been programmed to accept only tasty processed (and unhealthy) products. So for a moment I was taken back when I read in Business Standard the other day that urine is replacing urea fertiliser in the outskirts of Delhi.

My thoughts immediately returned to what my professor had said years back.

Writing in Business Standard (Mar 29, 2010), Kalpana Jain says: "On the outskirts of Delhi, a little-known non-government organisation, Fountain for Development Research and Action, is laying the ground for the first urine bank. It has diverted urine from two schools, where it has installed odour-free urinals, into a tank and transferred the run-off to a village nearby for use as fertiliser." 

I think there can be nothing more exciting than this news. Especially for a country like India, which many believe is an open urinal, imagine if we could collect all the urine that continues to flow endlessly. With 1.1 billion people, India could literally clean-up its surroundings, and provide a clean odourless environment. Imagine walking into a building and searching for a washroom. Normally you don't have to look for the signs pointing you to the washroom, the stink coming from one corner tells you where the toilet is.

To rephrase what Kalpana Jain says it takes the stink out of urine, literally and metaphorically.

Anyway, the urine therapy can be a boon to agriculture. Chemical fertilisers have already played havoc with the soil health, polluted the groundwater, lakes and rivers and also drained the exchequer as well as emptied the farmers pockets. There is a desperate need to replace urea -- the common nitrogen fertiliser -- and I can see the potential in human urine. I would look forward to the day when Chambal fertilisers, National Fertiliser Ltd (NFL) and our fertiliser cooperatives -- IFFCO and KRIBHCO -- start investing on urine collection and evolve a supply chain linking it to the farms.

Interesting to hear that Germany is already making money from selling urine. “Communities in Germany are exporting urine to neighbouring countries that are using it on their farms, says Chariar, explaining how it could be diverted for use as a nutrient by a simple plumbing." Dr V M Chariar is an assistant professor at the IIT Delhi who has developed a simple technology, called Zerodor, that fits into the waste coupler in the pan and diverts the urine through a drain where it is collected and harvested. The idea is not to allow it to mix with water at any stage.

IIT Delhi uses the Zerodor technology. In other words, what I saw at IIM Bangalore was probably Zerodor technology.

India can surely pip Germany in the race to make economic gains from collecting and selling urine. More than exporting urine to neighbouring countries (I am sure South Asia will never have any shortage!), I see its huge potential in restoring soil fertility within the country. If you think urine will stink, think again. Dr Chariar tells us that urine smells only when mixed with water.

According to the report, Delhi government too uses the technology in 200 of its public urinals. In the forthcoming Commonwealth Games, the Delhi government is planning to install 1000 such urinals. I only hope that the Delhi government does not drain the urine collected during the games into the Yamuna river, but provides it to fertilise the farms in the outskirts of the National Capital Region (NCR).

We can't wait anymore. India should immediately go in for replacing the toilet seats throughout the country (including, at the household level) with zerodor technology. Every time you go to the loo, for hardly 250 ml of urine that you spill, you flush out almost 12 litres of water. This criminal wastage of water must stop, and nothing better to bring in a technology that does not require water in urinals. No one will complain.

You can read Kalpana Jain's full report, entitled "Urine-processing technologies yield rich cash flow potential" at: http://epaper.business-standard.com/bsepaper/svww_zoomart.php?

How the food prices are manipulated

You have been witness to a stupendous rise in food prices. Some say that the price rise has broken a 10-year record. You have also heard the Prime Minister, Finance Minister, Food Minister and the deputy chairman of the Planning Commission repeatedly telling the nation that prices will come down in 2 to 3 months time. You have probably even lost count of how many times they said so.

You have also been following the daily reports about price rise in the newspapers. Popular TV channels have been holding special programmes on the food spiral. More often than not you have come across party spokespersons fighting it out in the TV studios. But none of the TV channels and the print media took you to where the real action is.

I am talking about a visit to the wholesale market.

I was therefore delighted to read a newsreport by two young and enterprising reporters Vikas Kumar and Abhishek Kumar of The Sunday Indian magazine who actually took the trouble of taking a walk in the Azadpur mandi. This is what they say: "A walk in Azadpur Mandi in Delhi, one of the biggest wholesale markets of fruits and vegetables, is not the most enchanting experience but it opens one’s eyes. Here one comes face to face with reality, the murky world of arhatias, commission agents and traders who are ready to take hapless farmers for a ride. No market theory can explain this phenomenon."

So when Montek Singh Ahluwalia says that price rise has benefitted the farmer, you know who is he trying to cover up. If only the government had cracked down to break the nexus at the country's big wholesale markets, prices would have come tumbling down.

The reporters learnt firsthand what I have been saying for long. The price rise had nothing to do with the supply demand constraint. It was simply the outcome of price manipulation. This is what The Sunday Indian digs out: "There are approximately 5,000 licensed commission agents in Delhi which include 1000 big commission agents. Having established monopoly in the market, they have created an elaborate nexus. They have employed vegetable retailers at monthly salaries and supply vegetables in the residential areas."

“They are supposed to deal with wholesale trade only but the reality is that some of them also control the retail trade. I cannot take action against them as they are very dangerous. One more question that needs to be investigated properly is that when prices of food products are rising steeply, how revenues of most mandis are falling,” says another top official of a mandi on the condition of anonymity. The number of fake commission agents is huge," the news report quoted an official on assurance of anonymity.

In addition to the wholesale-retail nexus, I have also been calling for a strict action against the Big Retail. They came to India on the assurance that they will buy directly from the farmers and by squeezing out the middlemen, will sell cheaper to the consumers. Nothing like this happened. In reality, the Big Retail behaved like the small hawkers and exploited the situation to the hilt. They made Big Money.

"Even Mother Dairy and Safal outlets are busy making money by selling vegetables and fruits at even higher prices. Mother Dairy, a wholly owned company of the National Dairy Development Board, had been established to support farmers by purchasing directly from farms and supplying to consumers without the added expense of middlemen. However, we found that prices at various Safal outlets in the city were higher than those at local retailers’. The obvious question arises that if Mother Dairy is not benefiting either farmers or consumers, then why is the government doling out subsidies to the entity?"

But then, the problem is that the government is hand-in-glove with the retail trade. Even the small hawkers -- the rehriwallas -- have formed local unions, and if their leaders have to be believed these unions also fund the political parties.

You can read the complete report entitled "The true story of rising prices" published in The Sunday Indian (April 4, 2010) at:
http://thesundayindian.com/04042010/storyd.asp?sid=8737&pageno=1

This is merely a tip of the iceberg. If you want to know more, I suggest you take a walk or a series of walks through the Azadpur and Okhla mandis in Delhi. Be a citizen journalist and investigate for yourself. If your report is not picked up by TV channels, you can send it to Ground Reality.

And now a simple riddle. Have you ever thought why the prices of eggs, whether you buy in Delhi or Mumbai or Bangalore or in Ludhiana, are almost the same? How come the poultry hens cater to the demand of the city -- and I am sure the city varies in numbers -- in a manner that the prices should remain the same? Shouldn't they vary depending upon what the economists call as the demand and supply factor? And also because of the transportation cost, shouldn't the price of eggs differ from place to place?

Food Security Act or Food Entitlement Act?

The debate on hunger in the light of the proposed National Food Security Bill is now getting broadbased and therefore meaningful. It is heartening to learn that the focus is shifting from streamlining the Public Distribution System (PDS), from providing food stamps or direct cash transfers as part of food entitlements; to a broader definition of food security that includes physical, economic and social access to food for all for all times to come.

The path to hell is paved with good intentions. Hunger is also the outcome of our policies (read good intentions), and our inability to accept that the delivery system is not delivering. To improve the delivery system, the government is once again thinking of borrowing ideas from abroad. Replacing the existing subsidy mechanism with coupens/cash transfers directly to the poor household is one such move.

Delhi government is reportedly ready to experiment direct cash payments to poor households to buy kerosene.

Dr M S Sawminathan has listed the existing 22 programmes/schemes to fight hunger, food and nutritional insecurity. The Ministry of Women and Child Development, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Ministry of Human Health and Welfare, and the Ministry of Food and Agriculture has this impressive list:

-- Integrated Child Development Service (ICDS).

-- Kishori Shakti Yojna

-- Nutrition Programme for Adoloscent Girls.

-- Rajiv Gandhi Scheme for Empowerment of Adolescent Girls

-- Mid-day Meal programme for schools

-- Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan

-- National Rural Health Mission

-- National Urban Health Mission

-- Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojna

-- National Food Security Mission

-- National Horticultural Mission

-- Rajiv Gandhi Drinking Water Mission

-- Total Sanitation Campaign

-- Swarna Jayanthi Gram Rozgar Yojna

-- Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme

-- Targeted Public Distribution System

-- Antyodaya Anna Yojna

-- Annapoorna

Despite such impressive programmes already running, and the Budget allocation for which is enhanced almost every year, the poor still go hungry. The number of hungry and impoverished has increased with every passing year. UNICEF tells us that more than 5000 children die every day in India from malnourishment.

Therefore, to add another couple of schemes to the existing lot is certainly not going to make it any better for the hungry. Nor a mere tinkering of the approach will help. Replacing the ration cards for the PDS allocations with food stamps is one such misplaced initiative. I am sure if we persist with such borrowed ideas, hunger will continue to multiply. I wouldn't be surprised if 10 years from now, you still end up reading newspapers headlines like India's safety net collapse in Bolangir (read in Hindustan Times today, a full page report http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-s-safety-nets-collapse-in-Balangir/H1-Article3-524453.aspx).

I am a strong supporter of the right-based approach to fight hunger. But to expect another piece of legislation that enshrines Right to Food as the basic human right is not going to make any difference to those who live in hunger and penury, and to the millions who are added to this dreaded list year after year. Right to Food cannot be ensured by simply ensuring on paper half the food entitlements (which has even failed to reach the needy) that a human body needs for normal human activity and growth.

Knowing that the existing programmes and projects have failed to make any appreciable dent, it is high time the opportunity provided by the proposed National Food Security Act be utilised in a realistic manner. It is a great opportunity, and we will fail the nation if we fail to bring about a radical overhaul of the existing approach to fight hunger. The entire debate has to therefore shift from the hands of a few bureaucrats/experts who have monopolised any decision-making when it comes to hunger. It has to be taken to the nation, through a series of regional deliberations.

Poverty line

First and foremost, the time has come to draw a realistic poverty line. The Tendulkar Committee has suggested 37 per cent of the population to be living in poverty. Arjun Sengupta Committee had said that 77 per cent (or 836 million people) of the population is able to spend not more than Rs 20/day. Justice D P Wadhwa Committee has now recommended that anyone earning less than Rs 100 a day should be considered below the poverty line.

Knowing that India has one of the most stringent poverty line in the world, I think the fault begins by accepting the faulty projections. During Prime Minister Narasimha Rao's tenure, Planning Commission had even lowered the poverty estimates from 37 per cent to 19 per cent. Poverty estimates were restored back when the new Planning Commission took over. I am sure if we had persisted with the same poverty line of 19 per cent (in the beginning of 1990s), India would have banished hunger in official records by now.

It doesn't therefore help in continuing with faulty estimates. I therefore suggest that India should have two lines demarcating the percentage of absolute hungry and malnourished from those who are not so hungry. The Suresh Tendulkar Committee suggestion of 37 per cent should be taken as the new Hunger line, which needs low-cost food grains as an emergency entitlement. In addition, the Arjun Sengupta committee's cut-off at 77 per cent should be the new Poverty line.

The approach for tackling absolute hunger and poverty would therefore be different.

Zero Hunger

Like in Brazil, the time has come when India needs to formulate a Zero Hunger programme. This should aim at a differential aproach. I see no reason why in the 600,000 villages of the country, which produce food for the country, people should go hungry. These villages have to be made hunger-free by adopting a community-based localised food grain bank scheme. I agree with Ela Bhatt when she says that the village needs should be met from within a 100-km radius.

In the urban centres and the food deficit areas, a universal public distribution system is required. The existing PDS system also requires to be overhauled, and this can be done. Also, there is a dire need to involve social and religious organisations in food distribution. They have done a remarkable job in cities like Bangalore, and there are lessons to be imbibed. Nothing can succeed if we do not ensure safe drinking water and sanitation to be part of the hunger mitigation programmes.

Food for all

It is often argued that the government cannot foot the bill for feeding each and every Indian. This is not true. Estimates have shown that the country would require 60 million tonnes of foodgrains (@35 kg per family) if it follows a Universal Public Distribution System. In other words, Rs 1.10 lakh crore is what is required to feed the nation for a year.

In Budget 2010, Pranab Mukherjee has announced a "revenue foregone" of Rs 5 lakh crore, which means the sales, excise and other tax concessions plus income tax exemption for the industry and business. The annual Budget exercise is of roughly Rs 11 lakh crores. Which means, the government is subsidising almost 50 per cent by way of direct sops to the industry, in addition to the what is provided in the Budget itself. The 'revenue foregone' is outside the Budget allocations.

I suggest that Rs 3 lakh crore from the 'revenue foregone' be immediately withdrawn. This should provide resources for feeding the hungry, and also for ensuring assured supply of safe drinking water plus sanitation. In addition to wheat and rice, the food allocation should also include nutritious coarse cereals and pulses.

Policy changes

But all this is not possible, unless some other policy changes that do not take away the emphasis on long-term sustainable farming, and stops land acquisitions and privatisation of natural resources. It has to be supplemented by policies that ensures food for all for all times to come. This is what constitutes inclusive growth. A hungry population is an economic burden. It is also a great economic loss resulting from the inability of the manpower to undertake economic activities. The proposed National Food Security Bill provides us an excellent opportunity to recast the economic map of India in such a way that makes hunger history.

Are we ready?

Monsanto seeks legal right to claim royalty over Bt cotton seed

In lot many ways, Monsanto's application before the Andhra Pradesh High Court reminds me of the infamous broad patent on cotton granted to the US-based Agracetus in 1991, and revoked in October 1994. Patent 214436 filed in Nov 1999 by Monsanto, and granted in Feb 2008 by the Indian Patent Office, is a process patent for "methods for transforming plants to express Bacillus thuringiensis delta endotoxins." The patent is valid for 20 years from the date of filing, which means from Nov 1999 to Oct 2019.

Agracetus had claimed patent coverage for all transgenic plants regardless of the techniques and genes used for the transformation, and had filed for multiple patents in several of the major cotton producing countries -- India, China and Brazil. I remember some of us had raised this issue in India, and it was only after the direct intervention of the then Prime Minister Narasimha Rao that the Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR) had challenged the patent.

According to The Times of India (Jan 25, 1995) a secret government paper had explained that the very objective of this patent was to deny the opportunity to biotechnologists in India to develop pest-resistant cotton plants by recombinant DNA techniques. And this was considered to be prejudicial to the public. I must also acknowledge that the then deputy director general of ICAR (who later became the director general) Dr Mangla Rai was actively associated with the challenge to the patent.

Interestingly, Agracetus was later acquired by Monsanto, which then went on to claim monopoly control over all transgenic soyabeans and cotton varieties. Monsanto had earlier opposed the Agracetus patent, but after acquiring Agracetus in 1996, it fought tooth and nail to preserve it. Eventually, after a 13-year legal battle initiated by ETC and Greenpeace, the European Patent Office turned it down.

Monsanto's legal case before the Andhra Pradesh High Court is essentially to stop the State government from fixing the seed price for its Bollgard-II transgenic cotton variety. The company argues that the State Government has no role to regulate the royalty that the company can get. The issue of price fixation had cropped up recently when the National Association of Seed Companies had made a plea for raising the seed price of Bollgard-II in view of the growing sales.

Incidentally, the technology fee (read royalty) as part of the seed price that farmers pay for Bt cotton (Bollgard-1) is the highest in India. In the US, royalty is around Rs 108 per acre whereas in China it is about Rs 38. In India, it was initially Rs 1200 per acre and has now come down to Rs 300 per acre.

But before we go into the price issue, I think it will be also useful to understand how wide is the patent claim. It is not only confined to cotton, but covers all Bt crops using the same technological process. Anyway, we will examine this later, but first let us hear what my colleague Dr G V Ramanjaneyulu from Hyderabad has to say:

Monsanto filed a case in AP High Court three days back to stop the State Government from taking any action to reduce trait value. It argued that State government has no role as it falls under the purview of the Central government and that cotton is back into Essential Commodities Act, so the new transgenic cotton regulation of act is not valid. Its argument is that the license agreement with seed companies is a private agreement and State government has no role to regulate the royalty. Among the papers submitted to the court, Monsanto also presented a paper, which shows that it acquired a process patent on transforming plants to express Bacillus thuringenesis delta endotoxins from Nov. 1999. The patent was granted in 2008. It may be noted that the Indian Patent Act 1970 was amended in 1999 to allow for process patents.

Though it has a process patent, the company is using it to control the entire Bt cotton market (which means making it work like a product patent).

As you may be aware, AP govt initiated actions again to reduce the trait fee (mind you not the cotton seed price) of the Bt cotton. This was to help some of the seed companies which want to have more share in the seed price. Monsanto is charging Rs 150 for 450 g  plus sales tax on Bollgard-1. The seed companies are paying Rs 150 for 450 g to the cotton seed producers, and keeping the remaining (from the seed price of Rs. 650 for 450 g) with them. Recently the National Association of Seed Companies made a request to AP government to allow them to increase seed price as the farmers are highly benefited with their Bollgard seeds (apparantly this is driven by vibha, pioneer etc who are allies of Monsanto) where as AP farmers unions (mostly driven by Nuziveedu seeds, pravardhan seeds etc) asked the State government to reduce trait fee.

Dr Ramanjaneyulu asks the more pertinent question: Whose 'food security' GM technology is going to ensure?

Meanwhile, do read the earlier blog post How Monsanto takes control over seed. The link is: http://devinder-sharma.blogspot.com/2009/12/how-monsanto-takes-global-control-over.html

आयातित शिक्षा पर सवाल

Dainik Jagran published my analysis on imported education in its yesterday's edition (Mar 26, 2010). I am pasting the article below.

Often during translation, the meaning of some particular words or acronyms are conveyed differently. In para 4 below, I had talked about the 'land grant' system of education in America. It does not mean that the US was providing land for education as this article depicts. Please keep that in mind while you read this article.

आयातित शिक्षा पर सवाल

देविंदर शर्मा

कुछ साल पहले मुझे लंदन में एक बैठक में आमंत्रित किया गया था, जिसमें विमर्श का मुद्दा था कि इंग्लैंड विकासशील देशों में टिकाऊ कृषि को प्रोत्साहन कैसे दे सकता है। यह बैठक इंग्लैंड के तत्कालीन गृह सचिव हिलेरी बेन द्वारा बुलाई गई थी, जिसमें करीब 15 लोगों ने भाग लिया था। इंग्लैंड के कई संगठनों ने अन्य विकासशील देशों के साथ-साथ भारत में टिकाऊ कृषि में सहयोग देने संबंधी अनेक प्रस्ताव और परियोजनाएं पेश कीं। इसके बाद हिलेरी बेन ने मुझसे सुझाव मांगे। मैंने कहा, 'मेरी राय में ब्रिटिश कृषि पूरी दुनिया में पर्यावरण को सबसे अधिक नुकसान पहुंचाने वाली कृषि व्यवस्था में से एक है। मुझे नहीं लगता कि आपके विश्वविद्यालय और निजी संस्थान इतने काबिल हैं कि वे भारतीय कृषकों और संगठनों को टिकाऊ खेती के बारे में कुछ सिखा सकें।'

यह सुनकर हिलेरी बेन चौंक गए और मुझसे पूछा कि इंग्लैंड की कृषि व्यवस्था में सुधार कैसे संभव है। मैंने जवाब दिया, 'इंग्लैंड की सरकार को भारतीय किसानों को वहां बुलाना चाहिए, जिन्होंने टिकाऊ खेती व्यवस्था में शानदार प्रदर्शन किया है। और उनसे ही सीखने की कोशिश करनी चाहिए।' कहने की आवश्यकता नहीं है कि बैठक वहीं समाप्त हो गई। इससे पहले हम कपिल सिब्बल के तुरही बजाकर विदेशी विश्वविद्यालयों को भारत में अपने कैंपस खोलने की अनुमति देने के मुद्दे पर आएं, मैं आपका ध्यान उस नुकसान की ओर खींचना चाहूंगा, जो आयातित कृषि शिक्षा और अनुसंधान के कारण भारत को उठाना पड़ा है। पहला कृषि विश्वविद्यालय उत्तराखंड के पंतनगर में खोला गया था। इसके बाद से 50 से अधिक कृषि विश्वविद्यालय गठित किए जा चुके हैं।

कृषि अनुसंधान और शिक्षा के क्षेत्र में 50 साल की उपलब्धियों से बेहतर कोई अन्य पहलू नजरिए में परिवर्तन को स्पष्ट नहीं कर सकता। कृषि अनुसंधान व शिक्षा व्यवस्था का ढांचा अमेरिका की आवश्यकताओं के अनुरूप तैयार किया गया था न कि भारतीय कृषि की समस्याओं को दूर करने के लिहाज से। हमें बताया गया कि हमारी कृषि निम्न स्तरीय, पिछड़ी और नाकारा है। यह हमारे कृषि विश्वविद्यालयों में पढ़ाया जाता है। इन विश्वविद्यालयों में अमेरिकी कृषि पर आधारित पाठ्यक्रम होता है। बताया जाता है कि अगर आप भारतीय कृषि को सुधारना चाहते हैं तो अमेरिकी कृषि माडल को अपनाना होगा। जबकि हमने अनुभव से सीखा है कि इसी रास्ते पर चलने से हम आज कृषि के सबसे बड़े और गहरे संकट में फंस गए हैं।

ऐसे बहुत से लोग हैं जो यह सोचते हैं कि अमेरिकी कृषि अनुसंधान और शिक्षा व्यवस्था से भारत को बड़ा लाभ हुआ है। मैं इससे इनकार नहीं करता। आखिरकार, हरित क्रांति हुई और इससे देश खाद्यान्न के क्षेत्र में आत्मनिर्भर हुआ। विद्वान इस पर माथापच्ची कर रहे हैं कि हरित क्रांति कितनी सफल रही, किंतु इस तथ्य पर वे विचार नहीं कर रहे हैं कि इसी प्रौद्योगिकी की वजह से वर्तमान कृषि संकट पैदा हुआ है। चाहे हम स्वीकार करें या न करें, सच्चाई यही है कि यूएस एजेंसी फार इंटरनेशनल डेवलपमेंट के तहत अमेरिका में जिस तरह शिक्षण संस्थान के लिए सरकारी जमीन अनुदान में दी जाती है, ऐसा करने पर भारत में खेतों में अभूतपूर्व खूनखराबा हुआ है। हम नहीं कह सकते कि भारत में जिस तरह की कृषि अनुसंधान और शिक्षा व्यवस्था जारी है, उस पर भयावह कृषि संकट की जिम्मेदारी नहीं है।

एक देश में, जहां कृषि अनुसंधान के क्षेत्र में दुनिया का सबसे विशाल सार्वजनिक ढांचा है, किसान आत्महत्या क्यों कर रहे हैं और कृषि को त्यागने पर विवश हैं? अगर कृषि अनुसंधान और शिक्षा में अमेरिकी माडल इतना ही अच्छा है तो किसान आज विपत्ति में क्यों हैं और कृषि बर्बादी के कगार पर क्यों पहुंच गई है। एक राष्ट्र के रूप में हमें इसकी पड़ताल करनी चाहिए और पीछे मुड़कर देखना चाहिए। इसमें कुछ बुनियादी गड़बड़ी है। कृषि, चिकित्सा विज्ञान, इंजीनियरिंग या प्रबंधन क्षेत्र कोई भी हो, हमें सिखाया जाता है कि हम जो भी करते हैं वह निम्न स्तरीय, पिछड़ा और बेकार है। ऐसे में हमारे पास विकास का पश्चिमी माडल अपनाने के अलावा कोई चारा नहीं बचता, यहां तक कि प्रबंधन के क्षेत्र में भी। हमारे इंडियन इंस्टीट्यूट फार मैनेजमेंट और आईआईटी भी यही कर रहे हैं। ये संस्थान जनता के पैसे से निजी क्षेत्र के लिए छात्रों को शिक्षित करते हैं। मैं अकसर सोचता हूं कि अगर आईआईएम के छात्र को निजी क्षेत्र में ही जाना है तो उद्योग जगत इन संस्थानों को वित्तीय सहायता क्यों नहीं प्रदान करता? इन संस्थानों के वित्तीय पोषण के लिए करदाताओं का पैसा क्यों खर्च होना चाहिए?

भारत में ऐतिहासिक शुचिता की बेहद जरूरत है। आईआईएम और आईआईटी जैसे संस्थानों से पैसा बचाकर कृषि व स्वास्थ्य के क्षेत्र में श्रेष्ठ केंद्र स्थापित करने में खर्च किया जा सकता है। आयातित जोखिमभरी और गैरजरूरी प्रौद्योगिकी के बजाए कृषि विश्वविद्यालयों की पुनर्र्सरचना की आवश्यकता है, ताकि ये किसानों के लिए अधिक सार्थक व उपयोगी बन सकें और विद्यमान टिकाऊ प्रौद्योगिकी में सुधार लाया जा सके।

भारत में बड़ी संख्या में ऐसे लोग हैं जो पूरी तरह अमेरिकापरस्त हैं। वे रहते तो भारत में हैं किंतु सपने अमेरिकी देखते हैं। वे भारत में उच्च शिक्षा व्यवस्था में खामियां तलाशते हैं और दोयम दर्जे के अमेरिकी, यूरोपीय और आस्ट्रेलियाई कालेज व विश्वविद्यालयों के देश की शिक्षा व्यवस्था पर छा जाने में कुछ गलत नहीं मानते। कोई भी शिक्षा व्यवस्था में सड़न को दूर नहीं करना चाहता। यह सड़न दोयम दर्जे के विदेशी विश्वविद्यालय आयात करने से दूर नहीं होगी। आप एक बुराई को दूसरी बुराई से खत्म नहीं कर सकते। देश के सामने पहली चुनौती विद्यमान उच्च शिक्षा व्यवस्था का कायाकल्प करना है। इसकी शुरुआत शैक्षिक पाठ्यक्रम के साथ-साथ शिक्षकों के आकलन की प्रक्रिया में मूलभूत बदलाव लाकर की जा सकती है। साथ ही, पाठ्यक्रम को इस रूप में पुनर्निधारित किया जाना चाहिए कि यह भारत की आवश्यकताओं की पूर्ति कर सके।

हम इसे पसंद करें या न करें, आईआईएम जैसे प्रतिष्ठित संस्थानों में भी शिक्षकों का स्तर भयावह रूप से गिरा हुआ है। कुछ अपवादों को छोड़ दें, तो अधिकांश उपयुक्त मानदंडों पर खरे नहीं उतरते। उपकुलपतियों का हालत तो और भी दयनीय है। पिछले 15 वर्षो से मैं ऐसे उपकुलपति की तलाश में हूं, जो विश्वास पैदा कर सके। उच्च शिक्षण संस्थानों में इस कदर कमजोर अध्यक्षों के रहते चमत्कार की आशा करना बेमानी है। कपिल सिब्बल उच्च शिक्षा से जुड़े महत्वपूर्ण चुनौतियों से कन्नी काट रहे हैं। वह कारपोरेट खेल में शामिल हो गए हैं जो बी ग्रेड के विदेशी विश्वविद्यालय तक ऐसे छात्रों की पहुंच बनाना चाहता है, जिनके पास पैसा है। हम पहले ही देख रहे हैं कि जो छात्र प्रतिष्ठित भारतीय संस्थानों में प्रवेश नहीं ले पाते हैं वे विदेशी विश्वविद्यालयों का रुख करते हैं।

[देविंदर शर्मा: लेखक कृषि मामलों के विशेषज्ञ हैं]

When the going gets tough

We were earlier told that "When the going gets tough, the tough get going". I grew up when this saying meant something. Then I saw a variant of this in a TV advertisement. It said "When the going gets tough, the tough go naked." I felt amused, but thought how apt the underlying message was. After all, this is what the film actresses and models do nowadays.

I think we will have to carve out another version for the ministers who do not blindly tow the line of the Big Business. I am talking of such ministers (even if they are handful) all over the world, more so in new emerging economies like India, China, Brazil and South Africa. In India, which claims to be the world's biggest democracy, Big Money has now taken over the control over politics. There are of course a few ministers, honourable exceptions, who have stood up and refused to cow down.

These ministers do feel the heat. It is certainly going tough for them, and I don't think it is easy for the tough to emerge any stronger given the kind of money that floats around. I wonder how many of them will survive the deadliy sting of Big Money. I am not that imaginative and have little creative skills to rephrase the adage. But if anyone of you can give it a try, I am all ears.

When I read an editorial "Lost and not found" in the Hindustan Times today (Mar 26, 2010), expressing the plight of India's Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh in the face of a mounting attack from his Cabinet colleagues, I realise how tough it must be for him. First, he took up the courage to hold national consultations on a controversial technological product -- Bt brinjal. The 19-page report he submitted, based on the series of national consultations and direct responses, is one of the best I have ever read, and should put India's agricultural scientists and economists to shame.

He invited the wrath of three of his Cabinet colleagues -- Food and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, Science & Technology Minister Prithviraj Chavan, and the Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal. So much so, the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had to step in to call for a truce.

Knowing what happened to another tough Environment Minister Michael Meacher, who was eased out by Tony Blair, I heaved a sigh of relief when I did not see Jairam Ramesh being shifted to another ministry. It is not easy to stand up to the might of the biotechnology industry, and Jairam Ramesh needs to be applauded for his exemplary courage to protect good science.

Media reports tells us that Jairam Ramesh is also under immense pressure from his colleagues in Parliament. With over 300-crorepatis (millionaires) now sitting in Parliament, obviously they have their business interest to be pushed. They didn't come to Parliament for only making empty speeches in favour of poor and hungry. I can therefore understand how tough it must be for Jairam Ramesh to smile at them, and yet not sign on the dotted line.

Big Business will not take it easy. As the Hindustan Times editorial says: "The latest round of squabbling that the Prime Minister has to arbitrate features the Minister for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh (the born-again environmentalist) on one side and Road Transport Minister Kamal Nath, Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde and Water Resources Minister Pawan Bansal on the other.

"The trio has complained to Mr Singh that Mr Ramesh's ministry has been delaying environment clearances for key infrastructure projects. The PM has now asked the Planning Commission to formulate a procedure that will help fast-track environment clearances. While the trip must be celebrating their win, Mr Ramesh is sulking." The editorial then goes on to say: "Just when he was savouring his sudden jump in the popularity stakes, his colleagues ruined it all. And Mr Ramesh is hurt too. Only a month back, he told all and sundry that the PM was his only support in the Cabinet. But now the referee has backtracked too."

Not that all is well with the Environment ministry. I know it is not going to be that easy for Jairam Ramesh to sweep the inert dirt into a dustbin. Kanchi Kohli has been tracking the business of environmental clearances, and I do follow her writings. You can read one of her latest exposes: Environment clearance: A sham again at http://indiatogether.org/2010/mar/env-bhad.htm

Nevertheless, let us also accept it that the Mininster for Environment & Forests Jairam Ramesh does look into the complaints whenever these have been brought to his attention. His other Cabinet colleagues would never care to respond. They are so petrified with Big Business that they fear they will lose their jobs if they ever dare to open the files. Most of Jairam Ramesh' colleagues have already succumbed to Big Business and gone naked. The Empire certainly has no clothes to cover its ministers.

I think there is no reason why Jairam Ramesh should sulk. I too have faced this kind of dilemma a number of times in my career. I have a couple of suggestions for Jairam Ramesh. Take out time from your busy schedule every fortnight, and drive to Rajghat. Just at the gate of the entrance to Mahatma's samadhi, there is a famous statement of his engraved in stone. I am talking of Mahatma's Talisman.  Read it loudly, and spend a few quiet moments in the sprawling laws of the samadhi.

You will get the strength.

Secondly, and most important is to forge an alliance with good people, wherever they are. Globalisation has brought the rich and crooked together from across the globe. Real globalisation will happen only when good people come together.

Let us aim at making 600,000 villages hunger-free

A reader wrote to me in response to my posting yesterday on the Supreme Court's panel on hunger. He drew my attention to my own article published some five years ago. The article "The Business of Hunger" originally appeared in Mainstreaming ICT a bi-monthly produced by One World South Asia, in 2005. In five years since that article appeared roots of hunger have gone much deeper and wide.

Hunger multiplied at a time when we had the bogus Public Distribution System operative, made more efficient by the addition of the prefix 'targetted', and we also had the office of Food Commissioner (set up in response to a petition in Supreme Court) monitoring the food distribution supplies. Hunger and malnutrition grew at a time when we had more anganwadis set up, and more schools being provided with mid-day meals. I am not saying that all these interventions were useless, but certainly these have not been able to provide even a semblance of relief from the clutches of hunger.

In 2009, IFPRI ranked India 66th in Global Hunger Index for 88 countries.

I wonder how long can we go on with the same approach to feed the poor. Why don't we come up with approaches that can provide people with capacity to fight hunger? Isn't it strange that foodgrains are produced in the villages, and it is in these villages that we find the worst kind of hunger. Why can't we aim at making our villages hunger-free? After all, we have over 600,000 villages, and if each and every village could take care of its hunger, much of the problem would be resolved.

Am I wrong? If not, isn't there something terribly wrong at the way we look at hunger?

Why should there by hunger in villages which produce bountiful foodgrains, year after year?

The renewed debate following the recent report submitted by former Justice D P Wadhwa is unfortunately on the same off-beaten track. Let us assume that Mrs Sonia Gandhi raises the food allocation from the proposed 25 kgs to 35 kgs (as the Supreme Court has been demanding) and if she agrees to make some more amendments as demanded by a section of the Right to Food (RTF) campaign, will it remove hunger?

The answer is a big No.

With all my apologies, even the Right to Food campaign has failed to see beyond the entitlements, and in my opinion its approach is no different from what the bureaucracy in the Ministry of Food has been recommending. Unless we remove the structural causes that acerbate hunger, and most of these relate to agriculture and management of natural resources, India would not be able to make any significant difference in reducing hunger.

The other day in Raipur an activist told me how effective the PDS has been in Chhatisgarh. "Fine", I said. "If this is true, tell me why more and more people are picking up guns in the tribal regions of Chhatisgarh (where the Government has now launched an attack to flush them out under the infamous Operation Green Hunt)."

"Oh ! That is because the corporates have taken over the natural resources of the people, and driven these people out from their lands", he replied.

"And you surely want these hungry and marginalised to be served with monthly ration from the PDS..." I paused.

"Why don't you also demand that the government policy should be to keep these people on their lands? Wouldn't there be less hunger then? How can you fight hunger by first depriving people of their own control over their resources?" I asked.

The gentleman only smiled.

What I am trying to bring out is that hunger needs more than PDS ration, and that is where we are failing to focus on. It is not as if we do not know this, but saying this loudly would deprive you of a slot in some of the high-level committees. In recent times I have seen that much of the passion and compassion that some people exhibit on hunger and poverty is directly related to the committee (or the job) they are aiming for. Please don't get me wrong. I don't mean all, but a few certainly play politics and you also know it.

It is therefore not surprising that those who talk of hunger do not talk of the destruction of agriculture being wrought by World Trade Organisation (WTO) and the Free Trade Agreements (FTAs). Those who shed tears for the hungry fail to see the relationship it has with the neoliberal economic policies. You never hear them telling how detrimental the promotion of GM crops, precision farming, contact farming, food retail and future trading will be in compounding the crisis. They never talk of farm suicides, and its relation to hunger. They never talk of micro-finance and how it adds on to hunger. And so on...

If you leave hunger to some who are in forefront of the debate, making hunger history is not going to be so easy. It is time you realised you too can make a difference. Come on, wake up.

Anyway, I draw your attention to my article The Business of Hunger published five years ago, Please go through it, and let me have your comments. Here is the link: http://www.stwr.org/food-security-agriculture/the-business-of-hunger.html

Supreme Court shows the mirror on hunger

Sometime your daily newspaper can inflict a pleasant surprise. The Hindustan Times has done it today. In a lead story, "SC report jolts Sonia Gandhi's scheme to fight hunger" (HT, Mar 24, 2010), followed by another report in the inside pages as well as an editorial, it has drawn attention to the national disgrace. I have always been of the opinion that if a major newspaper takes up an issue, even if it is as deep rooted and widespread as hunger and malnutrition, it can make a difference.

I only hope Hindustan Times becomes a catalyst in addressing the most demanding need of the day -- to eradicate hunger.

At the same time, hats off to former Supreme Court Justice D P Wadhwa, who recently submitted a report for the Supreme Court, widening the definition of poverty to every Indian earning less than Rs 100 a day. Since it comes from a Supreme Court panel I am sure it will be taken more seriously. I admire his courage (to say this openly) and his understanding of the ground realities, to propose quite a real poverty line. At present, the poverty line hovers around Rs 14 a day, which we all know is merely an apology.

But the tragedy is that none of the numerous committees, economic surveys and even the Supreme Court's own advisory body on Right to Food had highlighted the dire need to change the poverty line to a more meaningful figure if the issue of growing hunger has to be nipped in the bud.

Thank you, Justice Wadhwa. You have in one stroke done what all the macro economists and policy makers in the country had failed to do for over 60 years now.

This report assumes importance in the light of the proposed National Food Security bill that the Union Cabinet had cleared last week. The proposed bill actually reduced the family food intake that has to be supplied through the public distribution system (PDS) from 35 kg to 25 kg per family. To the BPL families, the 25 kg of foodgrains will be supplied at Rs 3 a kg, which means in actual terms the government has very cleverely reduced the food subsidy.

From the projected allocation of Rs 56,000 crore for 2010-11, the expenditure on food will come down to an estimated Rs 25,428 crore. What a shame. In a country, which fares much worse than sub-Saharan Africa when it comes to hunger and malnutrition, I don't understand why are we shying to fight hunger.

The government somehow gives an impression that the country does not have the money to feed the hungry. Nothing can be further away from truth. If the government could provide an unwanted Rs 3.5 lakh crore as economic stimulus to the industry (which in my opinion actually the industry did not need it), and also provide for Rs 5 lakh crore as revenue foregone in the 2010-11 fiscal, which are the sops and concessions to the industry and business, I see no reason why the government should say it has no money.

What it actually lacks is the political will to fight hunger.

Sonia Gandhi has very right expressed her desire to launch a bold effort to free the nation of hunger. I don't expect her to look at every clause and section of the proposed bill. The mandarins in the Food Ministry, Planning Commission and the Prime Minister Office (PMO) should have seized this opportunity to get the country rid of the shameful scourge of hunger. The fault lies squarely with them.

I hope Sonia Gandhi would take a relook at the proposed bill. There is need to make some radical and drastic changes, and launch a fresh attack on hunger. In some of my earlier postings on hunger, I had made some suggestions. I draw your attention to: http://devinder-sharma.blogspot.com/2009/07/can-india-make-hunger-history.html

Business as usual will only add on to hunger, and thereby fuel naxalism.

[The Hindustan Times report can be viewed at: http://www.hindustantimes.com/SC-report-jolts-Sonia-Gandhi-s-scheme-to-fight-hunger/H1-Article3-522605.aspx]

India follows the US: Pushing farmers out of agriculture, and inviting industry to take over

About 100 years back, the United States had pushed some 25 million people off the farms. In India, we are now trying to do the same. In the US, the native Indians were in lot many ways exterminated. In India, we are also picking up a leaf from the US copybook, and adopting it ruthlessly.

The latest essay by Arundhati Roy "Walking with the comrades" (Outlook, Mar 2010) tells you all. Ever since I read it believe me it has become difficult for me to let my thoughts emerge out of the jungles of Chhatisgarh. I admire the courage of Arundhati, and I feel she is perhaps amongst the great writers who have taken it upon themselves to stand by truth. As Arundhati wrote to me: "I am haunted by what is going on." I can understand how and why she feels like this.

But the urban population in India gives a damn. While I still can't believe that the industry and government are so blatantly hand in glove in driving out these simple tribal people from their habitat, the upwardly mobile in India are actually happy. In many ways the bigger tragedy is that people living in Delhi/Mumbai or the other burstling towns have no clue about the gun battle that goes on in the name of Operation Green Hunt.

The urbanites are happy and content, feeling safe and spend hours watching the IPL cricket matches. They live in their own make believe world, buttressed by government subsidies and doles in the name of development, and have little idea about the country beyond the outer limits of Delhi Metro (the new rail subway) for instance. They genuinely believe the war against Maoists is in some alien land. Who cares?

Anyway, I take you back to the farming model that India has adopted from the US. Paul Stephens, a 4th generation homestead-farmer from Highwood (in US), long ago driven off the land, had in Jan this year, sent me this communication:

"The Montana Agribusiness Association and the Grain Elevators Association are meeting today here in Great Falls - a big trade show, prominently featuring GMO firms like Monsanto and Bayern. They have been covered heavily (and completely uncritically) by Northern Broadcasting and other Montana media.

It seems unbelievable to me that most farmers and even grass-roots agriculture organizations like the Farmer's Union are almost completely ignorant of the massive destruction wrought by the promotion and use of GMO seeds, recombinant bovine growth hormones, the introduction of insecticide-producing genes into corn and other crops, and the whole movement toward "tillage-free agriculture", in which the ground is soaked with chemicals and herbicides instead of regular farming which aerates and loosens the soil to provide a healthy seed bed.

Last week, they had an even bigger convention, the MAGIE, which featured a spraying machine costing several hundred thousand dollars. Large corporate farms are adopting satellite technology (GPS) to control their machines. One salesman, probably unintentionally, made the bizarre statement that such a machine could save some small number of hours a year of farmer's time - at a cost, probably, of $1000's/hour for this "savings." It's like something out of science fiction, and yet, smaller, family farms (less than 2000 acres) are all but extinct here, and the larger ones exist entirely by government subsidies, amounting to billions of dollars a year just in Montana.

I've been trying to talk to farmers I knew for the past 40 years about the threats posed by factory farming and being taken in by the agribusiness monopolies. Unfortunately, their kids are the ones who are now selling it to them - trained by "land grant" universities like Montana State which have virtually been taken over by firms like Monsanto, becoming "partners in crime" with their program to destroy the small, family farm, and force everyone to use their toxic products.

I know it is a tough battle, and small farmers just don't think they have a chance of surviving by doing anything different. In fact, it's their only chance for survival."

Not only forced eviction, even technology is pushing farmers off the land. I am sure you can see a similar pattern being followed in Indian agriculture. This only goes to endorse what I have been saying for long. The entire objective of reforms in agriculture is to push farmers out of agriculture. It is an exit policy for farmers.

Barbara Panvel, another amazing activist from UK, has today sent me an analysis
which draws from a recent news report from the pages of Financial Times. The report entitled: "India's tribals in land fight with business" (FT Mar 9, 2010) is by Amy Kazmin, and she writes from Lohandiguda. This is what she says:

First, the land surveyors came. Then the rumours spread through the villages: Tata, one of India’s biggest conglomerates, would build a steel mill in the district.

Finally, government officials came to ask the villagers in Lohandiguda in Chhattisgarh state, who are mainly illiterate farmers from the Gond tribe, to relinquish their fields for the promise of cash, jobs and a better future.

For Banga Ram, the 65-year-old patriarch of a large family, the request was absurd. “What will we do with the money?” he asked. “We have to do agriculture to feed these children.” But local officials were not taking “No” for an answer.

Banga Ram was arrested. After he spent 13 days in jail, he says his sons signed away the land and accepted compensation.

In nearby Chindgaon village, Sundar Kashyap, who earns Rs10,000 ($219, €161, £146) a month working for the government animal husbandry department, says his bosses warned him of trouble if his younger brothers refused to sign over two of their five acres. They, too, signed.

Yet five years after Tata Steel announced its plans for the mill, the families of both men are still cultivating their ancestral fields. Officials are struggling to complete the contentious land acquisition, with 20 per cent of the required 5,000 hectares still outstanding and a local civil rights lawyer threatening legal action against the process.

“I am going to challenge it,” says Pratap Agrawal, an attorney in the nearby small town of Jagdalpur. “Villagers are absolutely against handing over even an inch of their land.”

Battles over forcible acquisition of agricultural land for industry are raging across India. But nowhere are they as fraught as in India’s tribal belt, where long-neglected indigenous animist tribes, known as adivasis, have upset the plans of corporate groups such as Vedanta, Tata Steel, Essar Steel and National Mineral Development Corp to tap mineral riches. (You can read the full report at http://www.chs-sachetan.org/?page_id=18)

Well, did you notice how similar with the US is the approach that India is following? Once these tribals are displaced, and the World Bank has suggested training them to become industrial workers, the agribusiness industry will move in with their own battery of economists and agricultural scientists. They will shout from the roof-top that the industry is required for launching the 2nd Green Revolution, and the Planning Commision will oblige by reforming the food security parameters (see todays lead story in ET: Montak calls for sweeping reforms to boost farmville).

It is the beginning of the end of farmers.

Shouldn't we thank the US for showing us the way to get rid of our farmers? It all begins with exterminating the native population (in India, since we do not use the word native, we call them tribals).

Mera Bharat Mahaan!

Microfinance continues to kill. The nation remains unmoved.

I always feared this. When I opened an email a few minutes ago, I wasn't prepared to see the funeral pyre of a farmer who had allegedly taken a loan from a micro-finance institution. The email said: "Sir, did you get to see this news. You were always right."

I immediately clicked on the link. The NDTV had carried a Bhubaneshwar dateline story on March 19, 2010: "Orissa: Loan driving farmers to suicides." It made a poignant reading, something that I had always warned. I would have missed seeing this if the alert reader of this blog had not taken the pains to share this disturbing report with us. This report is from Sambalpur in Orissa. I think the picture says it all.

Ironically, the last blog posting on micro-fiance that I had posted, was entitled: "Microfinance also kills". It had carried of a similar report from Andhra Pradesh.

I don't know how many more human lives need to be sacrificed before the Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and the Researve Bank of India (RBI) wake up to the grave tragedy. I don't know how much more blood needs to flow before the Nobel Prize Committee apologise for giving an award where it was the least deserving.

The MFIs, which are nothing more than organised money lenders, must be stopped. We cannot allow loan sharks to extract their pound of flesh from innocent and gullible poorest of the poor.

Pasted below is the NDTV news report. You can see the news video also if you scroll down to end of the news report on the NDTV website.
http://www.ndtv.com/news/india/orissa-killing-fields-killing-finance-18040.php

In 2009, 43 farmers in Orissa committed suicide. It was a year that saw a massive farm loan waiver by the UPA government and also a record investment of over Rs 1400 crore in farm credit by the state government. But they were all small farmers who couldn't access institutional loan and had to borrow from microfinance NGOs at an exorbitant rate of interest. Many, even the state government, suspect it's this exploitative loan network that may have driven loan farmers to commit suicide.

A farmer in Sambalpur, didn't get water for his fields, subsidies, or insurance cover. What he got readily was a loan from a local microfinance NGO, at an incredibly high 24 per cent interest. The fear that he would never be able to pay back, drove him to suicide.

As more and more farmers commit suicide in Orissa, crushed under debt, loans have become a scare.

"I fear taking loans. I've never taken it nor will I ever," said Shankar Dhurua, a farmer from Kusumdihi in Sambalpur.

In rural Orissa today, Microfinance NGOs operate through Self Help Groups and local fertiliser and pesticide dealers - people who are most likely to know which farmer needs a loan.

Banks give loans at 5 per cent interest, but unable to provide documents, small farmers end up going to these NGOs where loan disbursal is quick, but the interest charged could be anywhere between 24 per cent and 50 per cent.

"Ninety per cent small farmers fall prey to well-organised loan campaigns by multiple players, without assessing whether it will benefit them or land them in trouble,'' says Durga Bag, a farmer.

A farmer who takes this loan is trapped in a life-long cycle of debt - a burden that has started driving them to suicide.

''The exploitation is visible in cases where farmers had received microfinance from NGOs, and they are exploiting the farmers,'' said Dr Damodar Rout, Orissa Agriculture Minister.   

Food processing does not make food available for the poor.

At a TV panel yesterday on food security I wasn't surprised when Amit Mitra, Secy General of the industry-lobby group FICCI, said that India ranks 66th among the 88 countries categorised in the IFPRI Global Hunger Index. This is happening at a time when 40 per cent of fruits and vegetables go waste due to improper storage and in transportation, and that too in a country which is the second biggest producer of vegetables.

This flawed arguement was very cleverly used to clamour for the urgent need to push in for food processing. Whether this will help in ensuring food security for the poor and have-nots is something that is very clearly ducked by the industry. No wonder, the Planning Commission is making available roughly Rs 1.50 lakh crores in the 10th and 11th Plan period for the food processing industry. It isn't therefore surprising when you hear radio advertisements telling you about Rs 50 lakh subsidy available if you set up a food processing plant.

When the issue was passed on to me, I made it abundantly clear that the statistical figure of 40 per cent existed when I was a student some 30 years back. I am sure ten years from now, we would still be quoting this data of 40 per cent wastage, with actually no body making an effort to find out whether the wastage has been reduced or increased. The figure of food loss is used by the industry to seek more subsidy, more funds. And the academicians, and the policy makers, ostensibly appalled by the extent of food wastage, and in their ognorance support the massive investment that is being made.

I was therefore happy when Swami Ramdev interjected and made it abundantly clear that the Patanjali Vidyapeeth in Haridwar had recently set up a food processing unit, probably one of the biggest in the country. But as someone who is actually engaged in food processing, it was revealing to learn that processed foods do not feed the poor and hungry. In fact, he said that the processed foods are expensive and therefore not an answer to the bigger question of feeding the country.

Only a few days, I was asked by a food processing publication to comment on Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee's Budget allocations for the food processing industry. Just to draw you back into what the Budget 2010 provided, Finance Minister did make a provision to set up 5 more food parks, and also provided some exemptions for the import of processing machinery. Fair enough.

The Finance Minister in my opinion has been more than kind to the food processing industry. He has allotted five food parks and given concessions on machinery for food processing equipments, which ofcourse would be welcomed by the industry. Considering the impact of the policies, I wonder how will it help in addressing the food challenge for the country. Now, I am aware that food waste has to be minimised, but why do it in the name of feeding the poor?

Often the industry quotes another statistics -- only 2 per cent of the food in India is processed, which is a pittance considering what the US and Europe does. This is something that I cannot digest. In fact, this is simply a misinformation campaign simply to hoodwink the gullible consumer to believe how urgent is the need to set up food processing plants.

Let us look at it dispassionately. In the Indian households most of the food is cooked and is processed at the home level. In other words, 100 per cent food is processed, the only difference being that it is done at the household level. The statistics that we quote are therefore misleading. If this food is not being processed by the industry, is there a problem? Does it mean that the processed food in the market would be more healthy and nutritious? If not, than why are we promoting a shift in our food cosumption habits and patterns just to expand the reach of the market?

In the US and Europe people increasingly rely on processed foods from the shops because they do not know how to cook. British food for instance is considered to be bland. In the OECD countries, the agri-business industry has over the years succeeded in building up the dependency for food supplied through shops. People have simply forgotten (and I am talking at the macro level) on how to cook at home and eat healthy.

I am therefore not surprised to know that in the US alone, more than than 4 lakh people die every year from obesity, and its related suffering. In other words, from eating the wrong food.

I am sure you will agree that there is no need for us to follow the US and European models and increase the sale of processed foods in the shops. There is no need for us to spread the faulty information and 'educate' the people (including the housewives) that they don't have to waste time in cooking, and that it is demeaning for the women to be in the kitchen. But yes, there is an increasing percentage of the neorich class that feels ashamed in spending enough time at home to cook, and it is this class or generation that suffers more from diabetes and heart-strokes.

With growing awareness over health issues, consumers in India (and elsewhere) should be directed to reduce their growing preference for processed foods. The other day, I picked up ready-to-serve paranthas from a departmental store in New Delhi. I had to throw them in the dustbin, they were so bad. I was amused to also find canned dal makhani on the supermarket shelves. Oh dear ! what an aweful taste (and I am not even talking about the harmful ingredients it carries). Please don't get me wrong. Some of you may find these products very useful, but I strongly feel that we need to educate the young on the advantages of cooking at home. It is not only economical, but also healthy and nutritious.

All industries thrive on subsidies and bailout packages. This is how the GDP goes up, and the Industrialists loot the State exchequer. I think the industry is capable of taking care of itself and does not need support or handholding from the government. The subsidy allotted for the food processing industry should be removed and instead it should be given to the farmers who are in any case dying. If the farmer welfare is given adequate consideration, the entire food chain would be safe. And if you and me shun processed foods, the industry will not be able to do damage to the present generation, and also save the future generations from the unhealthy and hazardous foods that are being marketed.

Swami Ramdev has already inspired the nation to take control of their own health in their own hands. We now have to extend this to the food that we consume. We have to take control of the food we eat. There is a need to build up a nationwide campaign on healthy cooking and healthy eating. As to the role the agri-business industry can play, I suggest we divert the attention of the food processing industry to focus on rampant food adulteration that prevails.

If the industry can somehow ensure that the raw material and the ingredients that we need for our daily consumption are safe and pure, believe me it would be no less than a revolution. At the same time, processing industry need not be always high tech and sophisticated in the manner that it bypasses some of the normal requirements that people have, like milk-based products (especially sweets) that are at present highly adulterated.

I am equally worried at the increasing dependence of the industry on imported fruit concentrates. If you import orange concentrate from Brazil/Chile and then provide juice in tetrapacks, this will not help reduce the 40 per cent fruits that go waste. In fact, the fruit wastage will increase. How can one justify that our own harvest of oranges/kinnows goes waste while the industry finds it convenient to import concentrates from abroad.

Millions go to bed hungry as millions of tonnes of wheat rot in open in Punjab

Wheat lying in the open in Sirhind, Punjab. NDTV photo

As you drive through Punjab, stored wheat lying in the open is a usual sight. For at least three decades now, you have been seeing wheat stacked in the open facing the vagaries of the inclement weather. You have got used to it.

I was therefore pretty surprised when CNN-IBN and NDTV decided to take on the issue prominently in their prime time bulletins. I remember, two decades back, when I was the Agriculture Correspondent of the Indian Express, and based in Chandigarh, stored grain in the open was quite a frequent picture on the front page. My photographer colleague Swadesh Talwar and I had travelled quite extensively, and we did highlight the sad plight of rotting foodgrains time and again.

I must acknowledge that our efforts did not succed in making the official machinery, deep in slumber, wake up and do something meaningful. Ninety per cent of the procured grains still lies in the open.

In other words, the criminal neglect of foodgrain continues. What makes it a heinous crime is that those who are at the helm of affairs do not realise that these rotting stocks could have fed several million hungry. Even in Punjab, the frontline agricultural State in India, millions are faced with hidden hunger if not starvation.

Punjab, the food bowl of India, fares much below Sudan in the IFPRI Hunger Index.

For three decades now, the government has failed to act. I don't know what it means when Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar says that he will hold an enquiry. Ever since I had been on the foodgrain chase, I have heard this promise time and again. For a sound-byte hungry journalism, these statements come in handy while reporting, but after the next story takes over, the bytes are all but forgotten. I hope CNN-IBN and NDTV do not let the issue die down once again.

Look at the startling figures reported by NDTV the other day:

Punjab's rotting food mountain 2007-2010

-- 72 lakh metric tonne wheat grain stored

-- 65 lakh metric tonnes wheat grain lying in the open

-- Rs. 500 crore to Rs. 800 crore worth wheat grain rotting

While the Ministry for Food and Agricultural is trying to pass on the blame to the Punjab government, the fact remains that the food bowl provides roughly 50 per cent of the country's surplus wheat. Punjab has all these years kept the country in a comfortable position when it comes to food security. In fact, Punjab is the single most important factor in turning the country 'self-sufficient' in foodgrains. The nation therefore has to pay back, and it becomes the duty of the country to ensure that not even a single grain of what is produced in Punjab goes waste.

The problem compounds when the stocked foodgrains are not lifted in time. While Punjab is saddled with wheat stacked for over two years, the new harvest is around the corner. The bigger problem for Punjab therefore is where to find additional space for the bountiful harvest that is expected to flow in. Much of the stocks have already become unfit for human consumption.

This reminds me of a story that the noted economist and a former vice-chancellor Dr S S Johl had once shared with me. It was in this connection, that he narrated a story of a farmer who grew papaya in his backyard. Every day, he would pluck one ripened fruit and eat it. One day, he had to go out to his in-laws and he knew that he would not be able to return before the next two days. So he plucked 3 unripened papayas from the plants and kept them in the kitchen.

When he came back, the three fruits had ripened. But the one that was meant to be eaten the first day, had almost rotted. To ensure that he does not waste the fruit, he ate the over-ripened fruit (almost nearing rotting) the first day. The next day, the other fruit also became over-ripened, and he consumed it. The third day too he was left with an almost rotten fruit, which he ate.

The moral of the story is that unless the Punjab government (or the Food Corporation of India) disposes-off as cattle feed the sub-standard wheat that is stocked, it will end up feeding the population with rotten wheat year after year.

It is all a question of setting your priorities right. If successive Prime Ministers had realised the importance of saving every grain I am sure by now India would have put in place a modern network of grain silos throughout the country. If the country can invest in Special Economic Zones (SEZs) at a pace that defies the bureaucratic obstacles that are normally thrown in, and also look at the amazing speed at which the national highways are being constructed, I see no reason why foodgrain storage cannot receive the same priority, if not the topmost.

While I think it is the nation's responsibility to safely store what Punjab produces, but still I don't think Punjab government should be allowed to go scott free. If Punjab government can lay out and approve blueprints for setting up (or modernisting) 40-odd new townships, there is no reason why Punjab government couldn't have focused on storing its own harvested crops. Both the Centre and the Punjab government therefore are at fault. It takes two to Tango.

Landless poor to subsidise the IT sector !

Anyone who has a hammer in his hand, treats everything as a nail. I have always found this statement not only amusing but immensely thought-provoking. This holds true for any new technology. The hammer in this case being the new technological product. Be it the computers or the mobile telephony. In order to sell the technological products, it is not unusual to see a chorus from the academicians and the industry on the need and relevance these technologies have for the poor and the marginalised.

Some months back, Sam Pitroda was at pains to tell us how the Knowledge Commission (that he chairs) is trying to look into the possibility of making the computers an engine of growth in the rural areas. I have repeatedly heard some of the distinguished economists and scientists speaking at conferences and seminars about the turnaround that the computers can make to the life of a farmer. Of course, I am aware that with a hammer in their hand, they are looking for another nail to be nailed. 

The IT industry is desperately trying to justify its role in rural development, in other words looking for an opportunity to sell the computers in the villages. Considering that India has 600,000 villages, look at the size of the market that the industry, already faced with a downturn, is eyeing. And if they can somehow convince the government to purchase computers (obviously equipped with Window 7 software) for the poor, it will help to keep the industry afloat. This will be a bailout package. 

With the financial year coming to  close on March 31, this is time when business activities are its peak. No wonder, the Union government has sent a letter, dated March 11 2010, to all the State governments and the Union Territory administrations, asking them to lay emphasis on the computerisation of the panchayat offices. Now this is nothing surprising considering that the government had already decided to set up panchayat ghars in the name of Rajiv Gandhi Seva Kendra under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) programme.

But what is surprising is that Rs 2,400 crore has been allocated for the computerisation programme, which has to be deducted from the MNREGA administration expenditure. Knowing that not more than 4 per cent of the total MNREGA allocation can be used for administrative purposes, the government has very cleverly changed the rules extending it now to 6 per cent.

According to Dainik Jagran (March 19, 2010) there is no direct relationship between the rural employment programme and the construction of panchayat offices or the computerisation of these new offices. What is however more shocking is that the money that should have actually gone in for creating additional rural employment opportunities for the poorest of the poor is now being used to bail out the IT industry (and its hardware suppliers). Now, if you are from the IT industry, you don't have to feel agitated. I know you are doing a 'great service' to the poor, and the nation should be in fact grateful to you.

In simple words, the poor and marginalised will now be subsidising the multi-billion dollar IT industry. I don't know why the IT industry, which has been enjoying income tax exemptions, and is considering to even provide helicopter services to ferry its employees to avoid traffic snarls in a city like Bangalore, can't be generous with the poor. I am sure the IT industry can on its own install computers in the panchayats (if it feels computers would be helpful) instead of exracting its pound of flesh from the poor landless labourers. Isn't it sad that you pay fabulous salaries to your employees, and you can't even appreciate a few lakh more poor to earn a pitiable Rs 100 a day!

Rs 2,400-crore can provide two square meals a day for lakhs of poor landless workers. Come on, have a heart. You can't be that treacherous. The IT sector too has a corporate social responsibility. You don't have to literally move with a hammer in your hand.

Maize crop failure leads to farmer suicides in Bihar

I have often been asked as to why only farmers in Vidharba region of Maharashtra are committing suicide. My reply has been that it is not so. Farmers all over the country are in crisis and many are committing suicide. It is only that the NGOs working on agricultural issues in that particular region have not been keeping a count of the spate of farm suicides. In the absence of any compilation of the data about suicides that is locally available, the national media does not get to focus on the farm tragedy.

It was therefore quite surprising to see a news report about the deepening agrarian crisis along the Kosi river in Bihar, and how the loan waiver and the supply of sub-standard seed led a farmer to take his own life. This news report did not appear in any of the local newspapers in Bihar, but was carried by Deccan Herald, a major daily published from Bangalore. I am sure there must be numerous other stories like this, which have failed to draw media attention.

This news report will however come in handy for the seed industry to seek government support for marketing its so-called improved seeds. What will never be acknowledged is that it was the sale of spurious seed of an improved variety that led the farmer to take the fatal route. Instead of being penalised and prosecuted for selling fake seeds, the industry will actually seek more benefits in the name of making improved seed available to farmers.

I hope the Bihar government prosecutes the erring seed company, handing out a deterring punishment that becomes a lesson for the other seed suppliers. Meanwhile, here is the report:

Loans, substandard seeds lets farmers down in Bihar

Abhay Kumar
DH News Service

Patna, Mar 15:

All those UPA leaders, who are basking in the glory of multi-crore loan waiver scheme for farmers, should take a look at this story.

Forty-year-old Jagdish Sharma, a small-marginal farmer of Katihar in the Kosi belt, had borrowed Rs 15,000 from a money lender. Having seen deluge in 2008 and drought in 2009, Sharma was quite cautious this time. Instead of paddy and jute, he opted for maize cultivation because of the high yield the crop ensured.

Sharma had thought that he would repay the borrowed amount once the crop was farmed. That’s why he accepted the money lender’s condition for a 7 per cent (84 per cent annually) loan. But the crop failed. The maize that he had farmed was without kernels, hollow from inside.

Distressed and dejected, Sharma committed suicide by consuming poison. “The maize killed my husband,” said his wailing wife Champa Devi.

In a similar incident, Purnia-based Md Nazim and his wife consumed an insecticide after the couple found that their maize crop had failed, and they had thousands of rupees to repay the money lender.

As soon as they started vomiting, alert villagers rushed them to hospital, and saved their lives. “The maize that I had raised after borrowing money failed me. The kernels were hollow from inside. The crop won’t fetch me a single penny,” lamented Nazim, recuperating from the extreme step he had resorted to.

But then, Nazim and Sharma are not the only farmers who are ruing their fate. Yadavendra Choudhary of Purnia, too, found to his dismay that the maize crop had failed. “I had sowed maize seeds at the right time, and followed all the suggestions made by the agriculture officers. Still, what I have on my 15 acres are stalks,” said Choudhary, who has appealed to the government to book all those companies which were selling poor quality of seeds. Purnia District Magistrate N Sharavan Kumar, who was aware of the problem, said the report submitted by the agriculture officer confirmed that poor quality of seeds had led to the crop failure.

Third time in a row

Purnia, which was one of the badly hit districts during the Kosi floods in 2008, has 12,225 hectares under maize cultivation this year. But the crop failure for the third consecutive year is likely to break the backbone of farmers.

"I will raise this issue in Parliament. Besides, I will also talk to the Bihar government for the speedy redressal of the problem of poor quality of seeds,” said BJP Lok Sabha member from Kaithar Nikhil Choudhary.

http://www.deccanherald.com/content/58387/loans-substandard-seeds-lets-farmers.html

जीएम उत्पादों पर जोर-जबरदस्ती

This article of mine appeared in Dainik Jagran, Mar 17, 2010

आपातकाल का भूत फिर से जाग गया है। वास्तव में, अब हालात आपातकाल से भी बदतर होने जा रहे हैं। कुख्यात इमरजेंसी काल में सत्ता से सवाल करने वाले किसी भी व्यक्ति को सलाखों के पीछे कर दिया जाता था। अगर विज्ञान और प्रौद्योगिकी विभाग की चले तो आपको अपने आनुवांशिकीय संवर्धित भोजन की सुरक्षा पर सवाल उठाने पर गिरफ्तार किया जा सकता है। जिस प्रकार आदिवासी बाहुल्य इलाकों में नक्सलवादियों के खिलाफ भारी पुलिस अभियान 'आपरेशन ग्रीनहंट' चलाया जा रहा है, उसी प्रकार सरकार सुरक्षित खाद्य पदार्थ की मांग उठाने वालों को चुप करने के लिए एक और पुलिस अभियान चलाने की तैयार कर रही है। प्रस्तावित बायोटेक्नोलाजी रेगुलेटरी अथारिटी बिल पारित होने के बाद सरकार अपने ही नागरिकों के खिलाफ एक और युद्ध छेड़ने वाली है। इन लोगों का अपराध यह पूछना है कि जिस भोजन को खाने के लिए उन्हें बाध्य किया जा रहा है, वह स्वास्थ्य के लिए सुरक्षित है भी या नहीं।

प्रस्तावित बिल में बहुराष्ट्रीय कंपनियों और बड़े औद्योगिक घरानों को सूचना छिपाने, अनुसंधान के नतीजों में छेड़छाड़ करने और भोले-भाले नागरिकों को नुकसानदायक उत्पाद पेश करने से रोकने का कोई प्रावधान नहीं है। न ही किसी हादसे के लिए कंपनी को जिम्मेदार ठहराया जा सकता है। स्पष्ट है कि यह बिल बड़ी कृषि-उद्योग कंपनियों के हित में और उनका मुनाफा बढ़ाने के उद्देश्य से लाया गया है। संभवत: बजट सत्र में पेश होने वाले बीआरएआई बिल के कुछ अंश प्रत्येक नागरिक को संविधान द्वारा दी गई बोलने की स्वतंत्रता पर एक अभूतपूर्व छींका लगाते हैं। सेक्सन 63 के चैप्टर 13 में लिखा है, 'जो व्यक्ति बिना साक्ष्यों या वैज्ञानिक रेकार्ड के जनता को उत्पादों की सुरक्षा के बारे में गुमराह करेगा उसे कम से कम छह माह और अधिक से अधिक एक साल की कैद या दो लाख रुपए तक के अर्थदंड या फिर दोनों सजाएं सुनाई जा सकती हैं।'

इमरजेंसी के दौरान राजनीतिक मतभिन्नता के कारण लोगों को महज जेल ही जाना पड़ा था, किंतु अगर बीआरएआई बिल कानून बन गया तो जेल जाने के साथ-साथ अर्थदंड भी चुकाना पड़ेगा। यहां तक कि आलोचनात्मक लेख के लेखक को भी जेल में डाला जा सकता है। जो प्रयोगों का विरोध करेगा या फिर इसमें बाधा उत्पन्न करेगा, उसे भी जेल की हवा खानी पड़ सकती है। प्रयोगों का स्वास्थ्य और पर्यावरण पर पड़ने वाले दुष्परिणाम जानने के लोगों के अधिकार को भी कुंठित कर दिया गया है। विधेयक के आर्टिकल 27 के अनुसार जीएम उत्पादों के शोध, अनुमोदन और विज्ञान के विषय में जानकारी हासिल करना भी सूचना के अधिकार के दायरे से बाहर किया जा रहा है। नेशनल कैंपेन फार पीपल्स राइट टु इंफोर्मेशन के अनुसार सेक्सन 2 (एच) 'गोपनीय व्यावसायिक सूचना' की परिभाषा को इस रूप में सीमित और निषिद्ध करती है कि अथारिटी के पास उत्पादों के शोध, परिवहन या आयात संबंधी किसी भी दस्तावेज को जनता को उपलब्ध नहीं कराया जाएगा। यही नहीं, इसका सेक्शन 81 सूचना के अधिकार 2005 के प्रावधानों का उल्लंघन करता है। प्रस्तावित विधेयक के अनुसार, 'इस एक्ट के प्रावधान किसी भी रूप में प्रचलित कानून से किसी भी प्रकार प्रभावित होते हैं तो इन्हें ही प्रभावी व बाध्यकारी माना जाएगा।'

भोजन जैसी साधारण चीज के संबंध में भी आलोचना के स्वर दबाने का सीधा सा मतलब है की स्वास्थ्य के लिए नुकसानदायक जीएम खाद्य पदार्र्थो को जनता के हलक के नीचे उतारने का सरकार ने इरादा बना लिया है। जीएम फसलें पर्यावरण और पारिस्थिकी पर गंभीर नकारात्मक प्रभाव डालने के लिए जानी जाती हैं। इसकी स्वीकार्यता के लिए मजबूर करने से जैवविविधता संरक्षण कम हो जाएगा। यह स्वामीनाथन टास्क फोर्स रिपोर्ट की अनुशंसाओं के खिलाफ है, जो कहती है- किसी भी जैवविविध नियामक नीति को हर हाल में पर्यावरण और कृषि के किफायती व पारिस्थितिकी टिकाऊ तंत्र की सुरक्षा करनी चाहिए। बेशक, विधेयक का मसौदा यह भी कहता है कि बीआरएआई अपनी खुद का पुनर्विचार संबंधी ट्रिब्यूनल गठित करेगा, जो बायो प्रौद्योगिकी संबंधी किसी भी मामले की सुनवाई करेगा। किसी भी विवाद की स्थिति में याचिकाकर्ता केवल सुप्रीम कोर्ट में ही अपील कर सकेगा। दूसरे शब्दों में, विवादों का निपटारा केवल सुप्रीम कोर्ट में करने के प्रावधान के कारण प्रस्तावित विधेयक आम आदमी की कानूनी सहायता तक पहुंच दूभर कर देता है। हर कोई आसानी से सुप्रीम कोर्ट तक पहुंचने के साधन व पैसा नहीं जुटा सकता। किसी भी नियामक तंत्र को विज्ञान और प्रौद्योगिकी के संबंध में लोगों की जबान पर ताला लगाने के बजाए इनमें जनता का विश्वास पैदा करना चाहिए। पहले ही भारत में जीएम फसलों के पर्यावरण पर प्रभाव के संबंध में अनुमति देने वाली जेनेटिक इंजीनियरिंग अप्रूवल कमिटी (जीईएसी) बायोटेक्नोलाजी उद्योग की पिट्ठू बनने के कारण अपनी भद पिटवा चुकी है।

यह भी समझ से परे है कि विवादास्पद जीएम फसलों के लिए एकल खिड़की त्वरित अनुमति व्यवस्था की क्या जरूरत है। यहां तक कि अमेरिका में जीएम फसलों को अनुमति प्रदान करने के लिए त्रीस्तरीय व्यवस्था काम कर रही है। फिर भी, अमेरिकी नियामक प्रक्रिया पर समय-समय पर सवाल उठाए जाते रहे हैं और इसे दोषपूर्ण बताया जाता रहा है। सबसे पहले तो जीईएसी को बीटी बैगन को अनुमति प्रदान करने के घपले के लिए जिम्मेदार ठहराया जाना चाहिए और इसके अधिकारियों को दंडित किया जाना चाहिए।

[देविंदर शर्मा: लेखक कृषि एवं खाद्य मामलों के विशेषज्ञ हैं]http://in.jagran.yahoo.com/news/opinion/general/6_3_6260690.html

Educating India, in a B-Grade American style.

The Union Cabinet has cleared the Foreign Educational Institutional (regulation of entry and operation) Bill, which aims to allow foreign universities to set up campuses in India. This Bill follows the two controversial Bills pending for Parliamentary approval -- the Nuclear Liability Bill and the Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of India (BRAI) Bill.

I am not the least surprised.

Kapil Sibal, the Minister for Human Resource Development, is visibly excited. He is quoted in the media, saying: "A larger revolution than even in the telecom sector awaits us." Well, we all know that the path to hell is paved with good intentions. But if you have known Kapil Sibal, be sure the intentions are not as pious as he often claims. Given a choice, he would even make the Congress party adorn the colours of the Republican party.

Nothing can be more dangerous than programming the mindset of the young generation of India through an education system that has nothing to do with the great culture, tradition and wisdom that the Indus civilisation endowed us with. The present crop of politicians, more worrying are the younger lot that the Indian Express talks about every day, are so myopic that they can't see anything beyond Europe and America.

If this is all that these these politicians are capable of thinking and doing, I sometimes wonder why shouldn't we have political representatives from Europe and America sitting in Indian Parliament? After all, they will do the job of re-colonising the country much more efficiently than their sub-standard Indian clones.

There are a large number of people in this country who are sold out to everything American. They live in India, but have an American dream. They will find fault with the higher education system in the country, and wouldn't mind even if the country's education system is eventually taken over by second-grade colleges and universities from North America, Europe and Australia. It is in this context that I find the editorial in the Economic Times (Mar17, 2009) under the title University of California, Ghazipur? interesting. This is what it says:

But such a law is unlikely to open the floodgates for foreign providers of quality education. The reality is that ‘for-profit’ describes hardly any of the world’s best institutions of higher learning. In any case, the Bill stipulates that all profits would have to be ploughed back into the Indian venture and not repatriated.

Only secondrate outfits not allergic to some accounting innovation that allows them to circumvent this ban are likely to invest in Indian campuses. But even these would offer competition to our own citadels of scholarship, such as they are, and alleviate the present, severe scarcity of educational opportunities and so are welcome.

I have nothing against the foriegn universities. They may be good in their own environment. But I always thought India had a lot more to offer to these educational institutes. Any visionary national leader would prepare for a day when Indian universities regain their lost glory. Ironically, the first two universities the world has ever known -- Takshila in 700 BC, and Nalanda University, was built in 4th century BC. It was considered to be one of the greatest achievements in the field of education. More than 10500 students studied over 60 disciplines.

Isn't it a shame that the country that gave the world its first unievsrities, is now feeling thrilled that some of the foreign universities are likely to open campuses, if the government has its ways.

I have been lecturing at various universities abroad, and have always come back disappointed at the level of competence. Please don't get me wrong, I don't mean that everyone who passes out is incompetent. The fact remains that if these foreign universities were so good, I don't see any reason why the globalisation process should reach a dead end, why the world witnessed an economic collapse, and why the world was faced with an unprecedented food crisis in 2007-08. More importantly, if these foreign universities were so good, I fail to understand how come the world has reached a tripping point.

The foreign universities have hardly any semblance to the existing ground realities. These universities are so designed that it actually aims at the building excellence in exploiting natural resources, and is aimed at programming the younger generation to the virtues of growth economics. Everything ends up with the fundamental premise on how to make more profits, by commodifying culture, nature, human body and even knowledge.

This faulty learning has been very cleverly brought out in James Cameron's Avtar. If you have had a chance to view this movie, you would have realised how faulty and miscalculated would be the futuristic thinking (obviously an outcome of the educational learning) and design of the civilised race would be 150 years from now (in the year 2154). It tells you that the programming of the human race towards commodifying nature, through the educational system, will go on unchecked in the decades to come.

No wonder, you felt outraged at what the scientifically empowered civilised generation from the Earth tried by way of first displacing and then exterminating a native population across the galaxy that lived in complete harmony with its surroundings. Without realising the intrinsic values and linkages the people had with the natural surroundings, the attack on the 'Pandora' was misplaced, and you almost felt like clapping when the evil forces from the Earth were undone by the simple folks.

The futuristic insight that Avtar provides looks like to be a scene from the tribal regions of Orissa and Chhatisgarh. Oh, my God ! it looks the world is not going to change. Our education system will continue to prepare us for the doomsday.

Well, we will continue to debate on this in the days to come, but first I want to draw your attention to the damage done by the imported agricultural education and research system. Nothing better illustrates the change in mindset than what has been achieved a century and half later through agricultural research and education. All that was taught as part of the land grant model of education that the USAID brought into India has actually resulted in an unprecedented blood-bath on the farm.

The agricultural research and education system was basically tailored to what America does, not what we do in India. We are told that our agriculture is sub-standard, backward, and inefficient. This is what we are taught in our agricultural universities, all programmed after the US farm curriculum. If you really want to improve Indian agriculture you have to follow the American model of agriculture. That is what is taught to us. We have learnt it the hard way and no wonder today we are faced with one of the biggest and worst crisis in agriculture.

Why is it that in a country, which has the second largest public sector infrastructure in agriculture research in the world, farmers should be dying or wanting to quit agriculture? If the American model of agriculture research and education is so good than why should farmers be in distress and agriculture virtually ruined? As a nation, we need to introspect and look back. There is something fundamentally wrong.