Celebrating the revival of traditional rice seeds

At a time when India is planning to bring in a new Seeds Bill 2010, which essentially facilitates (call it regulation, if you like) promotion of the seeds developed by the private seed industry, a long queue of farmers waiting to get traditional crop seeds instead comes as a pleasant surprise. I find more and more farmers across the country realising the importance of all but the forgotten seeds, and making efforts not only to collect, conserve and preserve these lost varieties but also cultivate them.

Athirangam is a non-descript village in Thiruvaroor district of Tamil Nadu. Last week it hosted for the second time a traditional seed exchange festival. Thousands of people turned out from across the region, paying for their own travel. This year, 47 traditional rice varieties were distributed to 1600 farmers. In 2008, only three traditional rice varieties were given to farmers for cultivation and multiplication. It only shows that farmers are willing to go back to their lost heritage if there is an effort to revive it.

Former Union Minister Mrs Subbulakshmi Jagathessan inaugurating the seed exchange festival in Tamil Nadu. Along with her is G Nammalwar.

Says R Ponnambalam, managing trustee of CREATE, and one of the organisers of the seed exchange mela: "You will be surprised of the response from the farming community. Me and R Jayaraman, state Coordinator of the Save the Rice campaign were interviewed by the Tamil farm weekly 'Pasumai Viketan' some time back. The magazine published an article highlighting the efforts being made by CEATE and Thanal to revive traditional rice varieties and launching a seed distribution programme. We received some 700 phone calls from Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry requesting for their names to be included in the seed exchange register."

The overwhelming response encouraged CREATE and Thanal to launch an annual seed distribution exchange event. "Last year," says Usha from Thanal in Kerala, "we distribution 9 traditional varieties of rice to 1682 farmers of Tamil Nadu." What is unique about this seed exchange programme is that it simply does not end up as a seed distribution event where you do not know what the farmers eventually did with the seed they got.

Ponnambalam explains: "Last year, we signed a memorandum of understanding with the recipient farmers. The basic objective being that farmers will cultivate the seed, and return double the quantity to the organisers. In 2008, when we set up the seed centre, we distributed 2 kg of seed each to 187 farmers. They returned us 4 kg of seed after the next harvesting season. This was the year when CREATE set up a small centre for seed production." 

In 2009, when the first seed exchange programme took place, nine rice varieties were distributed to 1,682 farmers. More than 70 per cent of these farmers have met the obligations of the MoU and returned back double the quantity of seed this year. In addition, they also brought seven new varieties for multiplication and distribution. They also shared their experiences in raising traditional rice varieties, and the organic farming systems associated with it. Many farmers recounted how in the last season when floods devastated the entire crop of paddy in this region, only traditional varieties survived.

While the government has only been according lip service to organic farming, and remains mum about reviving the lost seed heritage, the well-known mentor and guide, Mr G Nammalwar, who blessed the festival, said this is how the organic movement is spreading -- one person in one village does it, and others follow. Former Union Minister of State Mrs Subbulakshmi Jagathessan asked farmers to return to organic farming as it provides the only route to salvation.

Asks Usha: "A long queue of farmers waiting to get the seeds showed how much farmers appreciate their traditional seeds and how eager they are to get a handful of it . When will our government and agriculture institutions understand this? When are they going to give such seeds to farmers instead of hybrids and genetically modified seeds inserting alien genes?"

Huge amounts spent on canal irrigation, but more irrigation from groundwater

Every time I am in a conference or a media discussion on agriculture I cannot help but quietly swallow my exasperation when I find almost every 'expert' worth the name pointing to the declining investment in irrigation (they surely mean mega irrigation projects/dams) as the primary reason for the prevailing agrarian distress. Universities, B- schools, consultancy firms, banks, and of course the media houses (mostly the TV channels) are full of such arm-chair experts who have done more damage collectively to the country's fragile environment than everything else put together.

These 'experts' have rarely moved out from the comforts of their air-conditioned offices, and based on what they get from Google search, and that syncs well with what they have read in their text books, come out with their unsolicited advice on how to revitalise agriculture. Some of them I meet on panel discussions on TV and also in seminars here and there and believe me hearing them my blood start racing up.

It is therefore heartening to read a report Let's respect the water cycle in The Times of India (May 30, 2010). Written by Amit Bhattacharya, this report formed part of the full-page special report on monsoon. I found the Special Report much better than the weekly environment page that appears every Friday, which carries hardly anything that is inspiring and motivating.

Anyway, coming back to Amit Bhattacharya's report, I found it very informative and analytical. I am highlighting a few facts that every economist and the so-called experts in agriculture, must read. I hope it will help clear the mist from their computer-savvy brains, a mist that has been clouding the prospects for sustainable agriculture.

1. More than 60 per cent of India’s 62 million irrigated hectares is fed by groundwater. Which means it is not dams and canals that irrigate the Green Revolution belt comprising Punjab, Haryana, Western UP and parts of AP. Bulk of the irrigation is from groundwater.

2. Between 1991-92 and 2006-07, the government spent Rs 1.3 lakh crore on major and medium irrigation projects without achieving any net increase in the irrigated area. In other words, the big irrigation projects have failed to bring in any additional area under assured irrigation in the past 15-years.

3. India’s total canal-irrigated area has decreased from 17,791,000 hectares in 1991-91, to 16,531,000 hectares in 2007-08. In simple words, the canal irrigation frequency is declining every year. Big irrigation projects are slowly silting up or for other reasons becoming cost ineffective in the long run.

4. According to a 2005 World Bank report, the annual maintenance bill for India’s canal network comes to around Rs 17,000 crore. Less than 10 per cent of that money is available. So when the Finance Minister provides the Budget allocations for irrigation, it seems he is not even able to provide money for the upkeep of canals ! 

Amit Bhattacharya has provided enough water for thought. Given the constraints of diminishing investments, it is time to analyse whether big dams and canals is the right approach to provide irrigation or should the country adopt a more localised and farm-centric approach that conserves and harvests available water. In addition, there are also issues of water seepage from canals, salinisation of agricultural lands, and the role of water guzzling crops that form the cropping pattern besides displacement and rehabilitation.

This reminds me of two statements made by people who should be knowing what they said. Former Environment & Forests Minister Maneka Gandhi had once remarked that 90 per cent of India's dams do not have canals. These dams in fact add on to the flood woes at the time of rains rather than providing any succour. Before that, Mrs Indira Gandhi's advisor late P N Haksar had once told me that the rate of siltation of major dams in India was actually 500 per cent more than what the engineers had stipulated in project design.

Putting it all together, it is quite clear that the era of Big Dams is all but over. If you don't want to accept it, you do it at the cost of public exchequer, environment and the future generations.

Let us respect the water cycle
Times of India, May 30, 2010

Amit Bhattacharya

Think of water and chances are you wouldn’t picture a farmer digging a tubewell. Most urban Indians can’t think beyond their own water woes — dry taps; waking up at odd hours to tank up for the day. Yet, 80% of all the water India uses goes into agriculture. But even so, 60% of our farmlands remain dependent on the rains. Just as water evaporates, it seems, so do the resources that go into water management in the countryside.

The scale of this ‘evaporation’ is so massive it is surprising the issue hasn’t generated more public debate. Nothing illustrates this better than the money spent on canals. In the 15 year-period from 1991-92 to 2006-07, the government spent Rs 1.3 lakh crore on major and medium irrigation projects without achieving any net increase in the irrigated area!

If anything, India’s total canal-irrigated area has decreased from 17,791,000 hectares in 1991-91, to 16,531,000 hectares in 2007-08, according to provisional figures released by the agriculture ministry. The story behind this dubious feat encapsulates almost everything that’s wrong with water planning and use in agriculture.

Himanshu Thakkar, coordinator for South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People, should know. Last year, he co-authored a paper that contained exactly those startling statistics. He says it’s not about too few new canals but about “many old ones have stopped functioning, at least partially, due to siltation, lack of maintenance and faulty assumptions of water use. Then there are water management and sharing issues. Often there’s intensive water use in upstream areas which leaves no water at the tail-ends.”

Thakkar says it boils down to bad investment decisions. “The government keeps pushing for big irrigation projects without taking care of the existing ones, which in itself is a huge task. According to a 2005 World Bank report, the annual maintenance bill for India’s canal network comes to around Rs 17,000 crore. Less than 10% of that money is available,” he says.

Experts lament that new irrigation projects often fail to take into account the larger hydrological processes they would affect. They also pay little attention to water-use patterns. This has led to river basins such as the Krishna becoming over-irrigated.

Planning Commission member Mihir Shah calls such policy practices “hydroschizophrenia (or) a schizophrenic view of an indivisible resource like water, failing to recognize the unity and integrity of the hydrologic cycle.”

Shah elaborates: “It’s a strange situation. Water management in villages comes under two ministries — rural development ministry and ministry of water resources. Often the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing.”

Read the full report at: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/sunday-toi/special-report/Lets-respect-the-water-cycle/articleshow/5989817.cms

Exposure to organochlorine pesticides can give you Type 2 diabetes

If you are suffering from type 2 diabetes, don't blame it only on your lifestyle. Exposure to organochlorine (OC) pesticides can also be the reason for your getting this disease. Recent studies in Stanford have established the link, and have also called for more research to ascertain the biological pathways by which the persistent organic pollutants (POPs) affects glucose homeostasis.

Although there has been a global movement against the POP chemicals, but somehow the pesticides industry has managed to ensure that these deadly and hazardous chemicals are not banned. In the US and also in India, both countries leading the global spread of diabetes, organochlorine pesticides are extensively used and abused. The 2001 OECD Outlook indicates that since 1970 global sales of chemicals have grown almost nine-fold. More recently, International Council for Chemical Association (ICCA) estimates that in 2007, the turnover for the global chemical industry was US $ 3,180 billion.

Under the Stockholm Convention, a lot of effort is being made to ascertain the impact of POPs and also find ways to phase them out. All over the world we find that while the farmers as well as the civil society is in favour of its phase out, and have come up with sustainable alternatives, yet the governments are reluctant. The reason is obvious. To know more about it, I draw your attention to an excellent report 'Practices in the Sound Management of Chemicals', a UNDESA, Stockholm Convention and ENEP publication.

My idea of bringing all this to your attention is not only to create awareness about how the vicious cycle operates but also to mobilise public opinion on the immediate need to remove chemical pesticides from the food chain. Please don't be carried away by the industry claim that if pesticides are withdrawn, food production will collapse. They have used the hunger argument for several decades now, and much of the health problems the world faces today are the outcome of this.

You need to stand up and be counted. You can force the governments to behave. Demand the withdrawal of POP chemicals. I can assure you the health of your family as well as future generations would be much safer. The choice is yours.

Here is the PANUPS update on Pesticides linked to diabetes.    
http://www.panna.org/resources/panups/panup_20100528

A new study out of Stanford reinforces the link between type 2 diabetes and organochlorine (OC) pesticide exposure by pioneering a new method for assessing the contribution of environmental factors to disease formation more generally. More than 23 million people in the U.S. suffer from the disease, which is on the rise, and genetics have thus far offered little insight. The studies specific findings were that the development of type 2 diabetes correlates strongly with the presence of the OC pesticide-derivative heptachlor in blood or urine, with environmental contaminant polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) also showing a significant association. Beta-carotenes had a protective effect against the development of type 2 diabetes. At least as significant as the study's findings were its methodological advances in documenting environmental contributions to health outcomes.

Disease formation is enormously complex, requiring analysis of myriad causal factors over long time frames. Accordingly, the demonstration of causality for increased incidence of chronic diseases like cancer, type 2 diabetes and other autoimmune and metabolic disorders has been difficult. Over the last few decades, much more money has been devoted to the study of genetic and lifestyle causal factors than to environmental ones -- one effect of which has been the "gross underestimation" of environmental contributions to disease-formation. The Stanford authors piloted an Environment-Wide Association Study (EWAS) in which epidemiological data are comprehensively and systematically interpreted in a way that builds upon Genome Wide Association Studies (GWAS). Using National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data, scientists performed multiple cross-sectional analyses associating 266 environmental factors with the occurrence of type 2 diabetes. Of those 266 environmental factors, OC pesticide-derivative heptachlor showed the strongest correlation. According to Scientific American, the idea for conducting what amounts to a "mass-screening" of environmental risk factors came from a Stanford graduate student, Chirag Patel, the study's lead author. Patel wanted to find a way to "use bioinformatics for the environment," in part to address widespread dissatisfaction with what genetics have been able to explain about disease risk factors. "The time is ripe, to usher in 'enviromics'," claim the study's authors.

You can also read the Stanford study quoted in the report above.
Organochlorine Exposure and Incidence of Diabetes in a Cohort of Great Lakes Sport Fish Consumers
http://ehp03.niehs.nih.gov/article/fetchArticle.action?articleURI=info:doi/10.1289/ehp.0800281

Agriculture has not translated into income for farmers

I have never given much importance to the B P Pal Memorial lecture that is held routinely at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) in New Delhi. Of late it has become a boring exercise with retired scientists from the Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR) being invited, who in their talks tow the same official line that has failed the country's farmers.

Reading the coverage of this year's lecture, delivered by economist Dr Abhijit Sen, who is with the Planning Commission, I was not only pleasantly surprised but delighted. After long, I find someone having the courage to tell agricultural scientists that "there are many achievements that the ICAR can be proud of, yet things don't add up." 

I missed the lecture. But what I read in today's newspapers gives me an idea of how elaborate the presentation must have been. The problem with ICAR is basically the mindset the scientists carry. The entire education system, designed on the land grant pattern borrowed from the US, is not only faulty but completely out of sinc with the realities prevailing in this country. This is where the problems begin, and unless the top brass of agricultural sciences make a sincere effort to revisit the farm education system I don't see much hope.

These agricultural scientists will always refuse to accept they are at fault or that there is anything wrong in what they are doing. I am therefore glad that Abhijit Sen was able to show them a bit of the mirror. As he said: "Unless farm sector delivers incomes to farmers, growth will not be inclusive."

In another news report (in the same newspaper), the headline says it all: Let down by agriculture, villagers counting on steel prosperity. The news report is datelined Kulpeni in West Bengal where a Rs 10,000 million steel plant is likely to come up. Not only in West Bengal, farmers everywhere in the country have been let down by agriculture. The challenge for agricultural scientists therefore is to measure up to this desperate call from the farm, and shift focus from technology-oriented focus on crop varieties to integrate farming systems in a sustainable and economically viable manner.

This is where agricultural scientists have failed. This is where even the Planning Commission has failed. They are so obsessed with figures like 4 per cent growth in agriculture that they have simply ignored the human factor, the plight of the farming class. At a time when the entire focus should be to ensure how to raise farm incomes, Planning Commission is mired in this stupid exercise of 4 per cent growth in agriculture.

Even if agricultural growth rises to 6 per cent (it can this year, because 2009 was a drought year) it does not mean that there will be something for the farmers to cheer. Yes, of course the Planning Commission will make us believe that because of growth in agriculture, all is well on the farm. Nothing but a fallacy, which the illiterate media of India will play up.

Another report in The Economic Times (ET, May 28): "Factories set to better farm nos" says as per the advance estimates of GDP growth in2009-10 released by the Central Statistical Organisation in February, the manufacturing sector was expected to overtake agriculture. manufacturing sector contributed Rs 7,07,512 crore to the economy, overtaking the Rs 6,49,370 crore from agriculture, forestry and fishing.

Let me at the outset say that the GDP estimates are done in such a manner that it does not reflect the positive contribution to the economy from agriculture, forestry and fisheries. Take for instance the forest sector. The trees that are standing today are worth three times the country's GDP. Unless they are cut down, it does not add on to GDP numbers. So what are we measuring?

GDP is not an indication of growth, but depletion of resources.

This is a very clever way of hoodwinking the nation to believe that the economy is on the right path. It is a highly biased analysis, and does not reflect on the true wealth that the country has. Therefore do not be enamoured by the GDP figures.

This means that in the days to come, economists, policy maker and the industry lobbying groups -- FICCI, CII, ASSOCHAM and the Business TV Channels/news papers -- will find a justification to encourage industry at the cost of agriculture. We will see agriculture coming under more stress in the near future. Inclusive growth will remain another buzzword, remaining confined to the official press releases.

Here is the news report: "Unless farm sector delivers incomes to farmers, growth will not be inclusive" from The Hindu.
http://www.hindu.com/2010/05/28/stories/2010052861741600.htm

Why is Reserve Bank of India quiet on atrocities being committed by micro-finance institutions?

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is hand-in-glove with some of the crooks who masquerade as saviours of the poor. I am talking of the bad guys among Micro Finance Institutions. The RBI has simply turned a blind eye to the atrocities being committed by MFI institutions. The reason is simple. MFIs helps the RBI to show the penetration of the institutional finance in the country. This is the RBI report card.

The Finance Ministry is happy. The government is happy. So why worry about millions of poor who are being tortured, raped, abused and inflicted with all kinds of atrocities in the name of loan recovery. These loan sharks move about freely, simply because they have RBI protection.

A senior journalist, Deepak Bajpai, just returned from Adilabad district in Andhra Pradesh. He visited Rojamma whose husband had recently committed suicide unable to bear the physical and mental abuse that he was being inflicted upon by the MFI agents.

He writes this moving account: usske husband bojanna ne teen hajaar rupaye (jaraa jodna toh america waasi bhaiyon kitne dollars hue) udhar liye the ek micro finance institution se kapaas ki kheti ke liye...chuka nahin paaya...toh in loan sharks ne usse harass kiya...[Her husband Bojanna had taken Rs 3,000 on loan from an MFI for cotton cultivation (just convert this into US dollars)...He couldn't pay back.....these loan sharks began harassing him]

woh aise hi karte hain...gareeb aurton ko sexually exploit karte hain....admiyon ko dhoop men ghanton khada rakhte hain aur hunter se peetate hain etc. etc. toh beete 5 nov. ko bojanna ne socha issase toh maut jyada achchhi hai...toh ussne suicide kar liya....loan sharks ke liye achchha hi hua....loan insured tha toh unhe...usske marte hi insurance company se pure paise mil gaye....jo bojanna kabhi na chuka paata. [They do it like this...they sexually exploit the poor women....the male are made to stand in sun for hours and lashed by hunters etc.....so on Nov 5 Bojanna thought it is better to die than to undergo this torture.....this was a blessing in disguise for the loan sharks.....loan sum was insured.....so the moment he died they got the refund from the insurance company.....which Bojanna wouldn't have been able to pay back]

Rajamma's plight does not end here. There was an investigation by the State authorities to find out whether the Bojanna qualified for a compensation amount of Rs 1.5 lakh which is given to those farmers who commit suicide. Look at what my friend writes:

I have an official letter with me. The subject is: "Minutes and findings of verification and certification committee conducted on the suicidal death of sri Gollamada Bojanna, resident of lokeshwaram Mandal".

toh bhai logon sarkari report kehti hai ki jaanch men paaya gaya ki bojanna kissan tha hi nahin. The private loan was taken for going to Dubai for job pupose and also he had not used the loan for agriculture purpose [The government found that Bojanna was not a farmer....the private loan was taken to go to Dubai for a job, and also the loan was not being used for agricultural purposes]

Hence this case does not come under farmer's suicidal package as per GOM no 421 dt. 1.6.2004... yeh jhooth sirf iss liye ki krishi mantri sharad pawaar ko sansad men gareebe se marne waale kissanon ki ginati padhne men hichki na aaye [This lie is being told because Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar wants to show a low count of farmer suicides]

neeche teen saahab bahaaduron ke dastakhat hain...superintendent of police, Asstt. Director (agri.) aur Chairman and Revenue Divisional Officer. [the letter is signed by Supdt of Police, Asst Director (Agri) and Chairman and Revenue Divisional Officer]

Well, this is happening simply because we prefer not to raise our voice. We, the citizens, have always kept quiet. Why should we bother. After all, it doesn't affect us nor our near and dears. In other words, we are also part of the crime.

While the RBI is quiet, the Andhra Pradesh government is at least getting ready to stem the rot. "Rogue elements who have penetrated the microfinance sector to extract huge profits by lending to unsuspecting poor at exorbitantly high rates of interest will now find it difficult to work in Andhra Pradesh. The state government has decided to file criminal cases against microfinance institutions (MFIs) that resort to coercion and use ‘inhuman’ means to recover loans extended to the poor.

It will also invoke the provisions of the AP Money Lending Act to ensure MFIs do not fleece customers with high interest charges. “The cost of funds for most MFIs will be 9-10 per cent but they are charging ridiculously high interest rates, sometimes up to 40 per cent a year,” said R Subramanyam, principal secretary, panchayat raj and rural development department.

Read the full report AP government to discipline microfinance companies
at: http://www.d-sector.org/article-det.asp?id=1234&idFor=1234

Rajasthan heading towards water famine

Rajasthan is faced with an unprecedented water crisis. For over several years now, Rajasthan was drying up. With successive chief ministers busy inviting investments – to open up malls, hotels, water parks, real estate projects, special economic zones, golf courses -- the semi-arid lands of the Thar deserts have been sucked dry.

Rajasthan is in reality heading towards a water famine.

I do not know the yardstick that determines whether the state is faced with a famine-like situation or not but the fact remains that water trains and water tankers are quenching the thirst in all 33 districts. Reports say that daily supply of water through water trains is meeting the drinking water requirement of Bhilwara and Pali districts. In addition, water tankers are catering to the needs of 77 cities/towns and 15,287 villages.

This is certainly an alarming situation. But it did not happen overnight. In 2009 also, water trains and tankers were pressed in to service to meet the requirement of 10,918 villages and towns. In fact, with each passing year the water crisis is worsening.

A train leaves every day from Kota to Bhilwara with water, and another train departs for Sojat block in Pali district. There is a proposal to add another water train carrying 14.40 lakh litres of water every day for Bhilwara district. The crisis has reached such an ebbing point that all officials concerned with water supplies have been asked to be back on duty, and the state government is monitoring water supply situation every week.

I am aware that monsoon rains have been playing truant for quite some time. But this is not the first time in history when rain gods have not been so kind to people living in Rajasthan. Yes, history tells us that Rajasthan was never faced a water famine like situation that it is passing through now. And that too at a time when Rajasthan has given the country two well-known water warriors – Rajender Singh and Lachchman Singh.

Some time back my friend Anupam Mishra of the Gandhi Peace Foundation in New Delhi wrote an excellent book “Aaj bhi khare hain talaab”. The book is based on the remarkable water harvesting and traditional water conserving structures that Rajasthan provided. The book has been best-seller for several years, and is being referred to globally. But unfortunately, successive governments and the policy makers in Rajasthan never made an effort to read the book, and instead travelled to Israel to learn about drip-irrigation.

The water crisis that Rajasthan is faced with is in many ways a man-made crisis. I have always been saying that blame for water crisis is 30 per cent on the truant monsoon, and the remaining 70 per cent is man-made. We are primarily responsible for accentuating drought conditions because of the relentless water mining that we have indulged in merrily over the years. But have we learnt any lessons? Are we willing to make necessary corrections howsoever radical they may be? The answer is NO.

I do not understand why a dry state like Rajasthan encourages golf courses. Each 18-hole golf course daily consumes water equivalent to the needs of about 20,000 households. Each supermarket mall that is being built, consume on an average 1,000 litres of water per person who comes to shop. Each five-star hotel consumes another 600 litres per person per day. The worst are the real estate projects. They literally mine water.

What is the use of saving water in the parched and arid lands of Rajasthan if we allow the marble industry, producing almost 91 per cent of total marble in India, to guzzle every hour around 2.75 million litres of water. No wonder the majestic lakes of Rajasthan have all gone dry.

It doesn’t end here. I have never fathomed the wisdom of allowing sugarcane and cotton to be cultivated in the semi-arid regions. To make it much worse, water-guzzling cut flowers and jetropha cultivation is being promoted. We need to know that sugarcane for instance requires three times more water than wheat and rice put together. Common sense tells us that we should be cultivating crops which require less water in the dry lands. Why can’t Rajasthan cultivate mustard, jower and bajra on a large scale, and also take to pulses. All these crops require very less water.

To make its economics workable, Rajasthan must adopt an agricultural policy that lays emphasis and provides assured market for these coarse cereals and pulses. It needs to redesign the price structures in such a way that farmers do not lose out when they cultivate pulses and crops like jower and bajra. In fact, Rajasthan can easily turn into a pulse bowl of the country, meeting the shortfall that the country faces continuously in cases of pulses.

At the same time, I am shocked to learn that that agricultural universities in Rajasthan actually promote the cultivation of hybrid crops -- hybrid rice, hybrid sorghum, hybrid maize, hybrid cotton and hybrid vegetables -- which require almost 1.5 times to 2 times more water than the high-yielding varieties. On top of it the government is now busy pushing Bt cotton, whose water requirement is 10-20 per cent more than even the hybrid varieties of cotton.

You can ignore these suggestions at your peril. Don’t forget, a recent report by NASA has already warned that Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan are consuming 109 cubic kms of water in six years. NASA finds that the groundwater withdrawal is 70 per cent more in this decade than in the 1990s. At this rate, Rajasthan would be the worst affected. It already is.

If Rajasthan does not wake up now, the time is not far away when there will be mass exodus from within the state. People will be left with no alternative but to migrate. Let us not forget, Mohenjo daro civilisation collapsed not very far away from where Rajasthan is today.

Source: http://www.d-sector.org/article-det.asp?id=1244

The Pig Factory

Sometime back I featured a video on this blog about the beef industry in the United States. It was basically a short film that tells you the number of cows slaughtered every hour in the United States. As an avid reader pointed out, probably the number of cows being slaughtered in India is more than the US count. The only difference being that India does not have a transparent system like that in the US (not that all is well in the US). But nevertheless, the film did bring us face to face with the shocking reality.

Barbara Panvel from the UK has now sent me these links to another deadly food industry -- The Pig Business. I think it is important that people know what they are eating, and how it is being produced and made available to them at a cheap price in the grocery stores. The next time you order pork in a five-star restaurant be sure it has been manufactured in a pig factory, and transported all the way to your nearby restaurant.

Try to spend some time to watch the documentary on the pig business. You need to know the true cost of cheap meat.

Here is the link to part 1 of the film. Once you are on the YouTube page, you will see on the sidebar links to the remaining 5 parts of the film. You can continue watching the series.

The Pig Business
http://www.youtube.com/user/PigBusinessFilm#p/c/0/cz1_knWUpVk

ICAR is the shadow warrior for GM companies

From the 'Letters' page of the popular weekly Outlook (May 31, 2010)

Helping Hands

"You did not highlight the role agricultural scientists and economists play in lobbying. The Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR) is the shadow warrior for big agribusiness and biotechnology companies. The moratorium on Bt brinjal has already disheartened the scientific community; it is now pitching for an independent scientific review to bring it back into the market. For years, these scientists have promoted chemical pesticides and fertilisers; now they are promoting GM crops. While farmers are dying, the stocks of agribusiness companies are going up. And while close to 200,000 farmers have committed suicide since 1997, ICAR and the universities have not held even one major national conference/seminar on the issue. Every third day, however, you find them holding conferences and workshops on GM crops, biosafety and the glorious future these biotech seeds and foods hold for our farmers."

Devinder Sharma, on email  

Artificial life is simply not another breaking news. It has grave implications for humanity.

This is not simply another Breaking News. The media (not only in India, but globally) has failed to understand the grave implications it has in store for the future of humanity. That is why the news is buried in the inside pages. Also, because it has no immediate threat to the Wall Street, the media has no reason to question.

I am talking of the news report which goes something like this as far as the headlines are concerned: "Pioneering geneticist creates synthetic life." Craig Venter and his team pave way for designer organisms, says one newspaper. This is the first time that someone is trying to play God. In fact, God now has competition.

Craig Venter has created the first synthetic cell controlled by a synthetic genome. "This is the first synthetic cell that's been made," said lead researcher Craig Venter. "We call it synthetic because the cell is totally derived from a synthetic chromosome, made with four bottles of chemicals on a chemical synthesiser, starting with information in a computer."

The way genetic engineering is now becoming an out-of-garage activity, and in many colleges/universities students are involved in various permutation and combinations to move genes across microbes, I am surely worried. I am sure millions across the globe would be equally worried. Society cannot view this breakthrough lightly. We cannot let this pass as yet another development in genetic engineering. It has grave and frightening implications. People must force the governments to wake up, and analyse the threat.

I am aware that some would feel excited. After all, it heralds the dawn of a new era with possibilities of organisms providing human spare parts and so on. As I have said often, the path to hell is paved with good intentions. This path surely leads us to hell, with no speed breakers on the way.

It is the beginning of a Grave New World.

The day is not far away when we will have a parallel form of life, another living race amidst us. Whenever man has tried to imbibe genetic engineering from Gods, as is evident from Ramayana and Mahabharta, the two great Indian epics, he has only turned into an evil force.

The day is also not far away when biological warfare will acquire a new meaning, with human, animal and bacterial clones and chimeras roaming the planet. The latest version of Avtar will be a reflection of the more deadly and sinister forms that synthetic life can create. This time, the creator of the world, the ultimate power (if religious scriptures are to be believed) will not come down on the Earth to get rid of this evil force.

I am not a religious person. But at the same time I do not support science and technology to remain outside the control of the society. We cannot allow science to be left to the inside of the board rooms of the corporates. Few people sitting in a board room cannot be left to decide what is good for us. It has gone on for long, and the world is facing the negative consequences through global warming. Synthetic life is a far too serious a threat, and no greenhouse accord can reverse the deadly fallout.

It is high time we woke up, and be counted.

Pioneering geneticist creates synthetic life http://www.thehindu.com/2010/05/21/stories/2010052164011600.htm

Ian Sample

Craig Venter & team pave way for designer organisms

U.S. geneticist Craig Venter and his team have built the genome of a bacterium from scratch and incorporated it into a cell to make what they call the world's first synthetic life form in a landmark experiment that paves the way for designer organisms that are built rather than evolved.

The controversial feat, which has occupied 20 scientists for more than 10 years at an estimated cost of $40 million, was described by one researcher as “a defining moment in biology.”

Dr. Venter said the achievement heralded the dawn of a new era in which new life was made to benefit humanity, starting with bacteria that churn out bio-fuels, soak up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and even manufacture vaccines.

Condemnation

However critics, including some religious groups, condemned the work, with one organisation warning that artificial organisms could escape into the wild and cause environmental havoc or be turned into biological weapons. Others said Dr. Venter was playing God.

The new organism is based on an existing bacterium that causes ‘mastitis' in goats, but at its core is an entirely synthetic genome that was constructed from chemicals in the laboratory.

The single-celled organism has four “watermarks” written into its DNA to identify it as synthetic and help trace its descendants back to their creator, should they go astray.

“We were ecstatic when the cells booted up with all the watermarks in place,” Dr. Venter told the Guardian. “It's a living species now, part of our planet's inventory of life.” Dr. Venter's team developed a new code based on the four letters of the genetic code, G, T, C and A, that allowed them to draw on the whole alphabet, numbers and punctuation marks to write the watermarks. Anyone who cracks the code is invited to email an address written into the DNA.

The research was reported online on Thursday in the journal Science.

“This is an important step both scientifically and philosophically,” Dr. Venter told the journal. “It has certainly changed my views of definitions of life and how life works.” The team now plans to use the synthetic organism to work out the minimum number of genes needed for life to exist. From this, new micro-organisms could be made by bolting on additional genes to produce useful chemicals, break down pollutants, or produce proteins for use in vaccines.

Julian Savulescu, professor of practical ethics at Oxford University, said: “Venter is creaking open the most profound door in humanity's history, potentially peeking into its destiny. He is not merely copying life artificially ... or modifying it radically by genetic engineering. He is going towards the role of a god: creating artificial life that could never have existed naturally.” This is “a defining moment in the history of biology and biotechnology,” Mark Bedau, a philosopher at Reed College in Portland, Oregon, told Science.

Controversial figure

Dr. Venter became a controversial figure in the 1990s when he pitted his former company, Celera Genomics, against the publicly funded effort to sequence the human genome, the Human Genome Project. Dr. Venter had already applied for patents on more than 300 genes, raising concerns that the company might claim intellectual rights to the building blocks of life. — Guardian News & Media 2010

Orissa backs Posco. Repression of the poor tribals continues in the name of 'development'

Continuous ranting and chanting on the TV channels goes on. In fact, the way electronic media is playing up the corporate agenda of bringing 'development' to the naxalite-affected tribal belt, and projecting as if the naxals are the main obstacle in this pious objective, I sometimes wonder why do we accuse Doordarshan of being the only government's mouthpiece.

Many private TV news channels have not only beaten Doordarshan in its tracks, but have in fact gone a step further. They have been crawling for quite sometime now (which Doordarshan mercifully does not do) when they were not even asked to bend.

No sensible person would support naxal violence.

At the same time each and every concerned citizen would agree that no sensible person could support repression and atrocities in the name of 'development'. However I find that none (barring one or two) of the regular faces on the TV channels have had the courage to express even slightest of anger and indignation at the continuous exploitation and displacement of the tribals in the name of 'development'. Big Business in India (and their brand of commentators and economists) I find are not at all sensible enough. With the government supporting crony capitalism, who cares?

Mass protest: Villagers participate in a rally organised by the Posco Pratirodh Sangam Samiti at Balitutha in Jagatsinghpur district of Orissa on Wednesday -- The Hindu photo

Big Business is merrily extracting its pound of flesh with impunity, and does not give a damn for the resulting human cost. 'Development' is actually an euphemism for 'commerce' [Read an excellent analysis Stand Up and Be Counted by Malvika Singh http://bit.ly/9nFyvs]. And the tragedy is that much of the elite in the country thrives on it. The middle-class is a beneficiary of this corrupt and exploitative system and therefore spares no effort to sing pangs of praise for 'development'.

At a time when the mainline media blacks out any news report which show the dirty ways of Big Business, I was pleasantly taken by surprise to read a six-column report (along with a six-column picture) in today's edition of The Hindu. The report under the headline "6 parties back stir against Posco project" (May 20, 2010) tells us about the massive protest organised by the Posco Pratirodh Sangam Samiti  in Jagatsinghpur district on Wednesday.

Only a few days back, on May 15, hundreds of armed policemen had resorted to lathicharge and firing to chase away agitators who were on a dharna. You didn't hear about it because the business-controlled media blacked it out. What you therefore see on the TV channels nowadays is what the Big Business wants you to see. This is perhaps the reason why reality shows have become popular in India. Knowing that news is manipulated, it is much better to watch Indian Idol for instance. That's what I do.

Here is The Hindu report:

6 parties back stir against Posco project
http://www.hindu.com/2010/05/20/stories/2010052063331600.htm

Prafulla Das

BALITUTHA (ORISSA): The agitation against the steel plant project of Posco-India got a shot in the arm with senior leaders of six Opposition parties joining hands with the villagers of three gram panchayats in Orissa's Jagatsinghpur district on Wednesday.

Addressing hundreds of men and women who gathered here under the banner of the Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti, Communist Party of India general secretary A.B. Bardhan condemned the May 15 police action against the agitators and demanded shifting of the project to some other location.

It was at Balitutha, the main entry point to the three gram panchayats of Dhinkia, Nuagaon and Gadakujang, the site selected for the proposed steel plant, that hundreds of armed policemen resorted to lathicharge and firing on May 15 to chase away agitators who were on a dharna.

“If the State government further uses force against the villagers who have been peacefully opposing the project for the past five years, the agitation will only grow stronger,” Mr. Bardhan said.

“If Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik wants to set up the Posco steel plant at any cost, he should choose an alternative site,” Mr. Bardhan said, urging the villagers to continue their movement in a peaceful way.

Mr. Bardhan said the State government should hold a dialogue with the protesters to resolve the issue.

The CPI leader questioned a South Korean company's plan to set up a captive port near the proposed steel plant saying it would have an adverse impact on the existing Paradip Port. He opposed the State government recommendation to the Centre to grant the captive mining lease to Posco for sourcing iron ore.

Leaders of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), the Forward Bloc, the Samajwadi Party, the Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha addressed the agitators.

The president of the Sangram Samiti, Abhay Sahoo, warned State government to stop using the police against the people who were facing displacement and loss of livelihood sources. “Posco can never establish the project in this area as people were determined to make any sacrifice to save their land and homes from being taken over by the company,” he said.

Mr. Sahoo alleged that the State government had furnished wrong information to the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests on the forest land where hundreds of people had been living for generations together.

Of the 20,000-odd people living in the three gram panchayats, hundreds of families had been using the forest land for their livelihood.

South America is the new destination for land grab.

It is now the turn of South America. India is among the few countries which are now eyeing the vast tracts of fertile land in South America. After having swallowed quite a significant proportion of Africa, the land grabbers are now moving to spread their tentacles to South America.

The tragedy is that like the African governments, some of the South American countries -- Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay -- are willing partners in this wave of neo-colonism. As a news report below states Brazil has offered 30 million hectares, Argentina 32 million and Uruguay 10 million with lesser acreage in other countries. This sure is some sort of globalisation where the land grabbers and the land owners join hand in what appears to be an unbridled exploitation.

What is shocking is that the political leadership in South America has so quickly forgotten its sordid and disastrous colonial past. Lure of personal monetary gains is making the political leaders accept a still worse form of neo-colonism. People's struggles to oust the Spaniards (Much of Latin America was under Spanish rule) is all but forgotten. Look at the irony of fate. The same people who fought the colonial masters, are now welcoming the new masters with open arms.

Land grabbing is now becoming a global phenomenon. Please read my earlier post on Africa. Several other analytical pieces can be found on my blog if you search under the label of 'land grab'.

Food pirates are extending their reach. Africa is an easy target
http://devinder-sharma.blogspot.com/2009/06/food-pirates-are-extending-their-reach.html

It is time South America woke up to the emerging threat. It is time the people of South America, in most cases they are as poor, ignorant and marginalised as bulk of the Indian population is, resisted the move of their own governments to sell off their land. Remember, by allowing the food pirates to come and farm in your own countries, you are actually allowing them control over your land. Once your land goes away from your control, it wouldn't take long to push you all in the category of 'land less'.

You will become political refugees in your own country.

Come on Latin America. Say no to these land grabbers. Keep these food pirates, even if they are from India, away from your shores. As Jawaharlal Nehru had said when India was fighting for Independence from the British: "Freedom is in peril. Defend it with all your might."  

Govt wants Indians to buy land in South America

Jayanth Jacob, Hindustan Times

http://www.hindustantimes.com/Govt-wants-Indians-to-buy-land-in-South-America/Article1-545480.aspx

New Delhi, May 18, 2010

The government is encouraging Indians to buy farmland in Latin American countries and grow crops there.

The external affairs ministry is preparing a policy framework to enable Indians to do so, maintaining that if the produce is shipped back home, it could help address the country’s food security problem, specially during years of drought.

In many South American countries there is abundance of fertile land, as well as cutting edge farm technology. There are no restrictions on foreigners owning land. In some places, land prices are lower than in parts of India.

“The cost per hectare is less than half the price of agricultural land in Punjab,” said R. Viswanathan, Indian ambassador to Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay.

Since the land acquisition will be by private parties only, the chances of such purchase becoming a political issue were remote, officials felt. “When government land is being leased or sold to another country, it becomes a political issue. Not in this case,” Viswanathan added.

Officials estimated that Brazil had around 30 million hectares on offer, Argentina, 32 million, and Uruguay 10 million, with lesser amounts in other countries.

Early investors include Sri Renuka Sugars, one of India’s largest sugar producers, which has signed an agreement with a Brazilian conglomerate Grupo Equipav to buy a controlling 50.79 per cent share in it, with which will come control over the company vast sugarcane fields.

As yet however, there is no financing available to buy land in these countries.

Unlike in Africa, there is no competition with China here either. China does have around $ 24 billion invested in South America, but it does not encourage private ownership of land. It prefers that the state itself buy land, as it has done in many African countries, but in Latin America, that is not possible.

Bill Clinton apologises for flooding Haiti with cheaper rice; Need to immediately stop WTO and FTAs from inflicting more damage.

This is surely something from the blue. Former US President Bill Clinton apologising for flooding Haiti since early 1990s with cheaper American rice, which had destroyed Haiti's ability to feed itself, lends support to the global opposition to the free trade regime.

“It may have been good for some of my farmers in Arkansas, but it has not worked. It was a mistake,” Clinton—now a UN special envoy to Haiti—told the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee March 10. “I had to live everyday with the consequences of the loss of capacity to produce a rice crop in Haiti to feed those people because of what I did; nobody else” [Red the complete report below]

Frank acceptance of his own faulty policies is a refreshing change in a world where political leaders remain committed to promote the commercial interests of the MNCs and Big Business. They do it with impunity, and with the global media backing them who is there to question.

Bill Clinton's acceptance should put to shame mainline economists and trade negotiators all over the world who have relentlessly been pushing for more aggressive opening of the developing country markets. They are the real culprits, and need public bashing. In fact, I invite Pascal Lamy, the man who has single-handedly been responsible for destroying millions of farm livelihoods across the globe, to publicly seek repentance, and therefore take a dip in the holy Ganges.

Some years back, just before the 2005 WTO Ministerial at Hong Kong, I had produced a study, entitled: "Trade Liberalization in Agriculture - Lessons from the First 10 Years of the WTO" (published by APRODEV, Brussels). This study computes the global destruction of farm livelihoods from the WTO process. I am sure if Bill Clinton were to have a look at this report, he would regret the US decisions to force the developing countries to open up to cheap and highly subsidised agricultural commodities.

Importing food is like importing unemployment. Importing cheaper food destroys the ability of the importing country to produce food thereby once for all destroying its ability to remain self-sufficient. In any case, Bill Clinton must know that out of the 149-odd Third World countries, 105 have already become food importing because of the faulty economic policies being pushed by WTO/IMF (and subsequently WTO) in the past 30 years or so.

I am sure the remaining of the Third World countries too would soon join the ranks of food importing countries if the Doha Development Round gets through the way it is.

Take a look at the report below:

Former U.S. President Clinton Apology to Haiti Surprises NS Activists.

By Bruce Wark
The Dominion
http://axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/Article_59880.shtml

Sunday, May 16, 2010

HALIFAX—Nova Scotia activists are expressing surprise that former US president Bill Clinton has apologized for flooding Haiti with cheap American rice beginning in the mid 1990s. During testimony before a US Senate committee last month, Clinton admitted that requiring Haiti to lower its tariffs on rice imports made it impossible for Haitian farmers to compete in their domestic economy. The trade policy forced farmers off land and undercut Haiti's ability to feed itself.

“It may have been good for some of my farmers in Arkansas, but it has not worked. It was a mistake,” Clinton—now a UN special envoy to Haiti—told the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee March 10. “I had to live everyday with the consequences of the loss of capacity to produce a rice crop in Haiti to feed those people because of what I did; nobody else.”

“I would like to believe that Clinton has had a change of heart,” wrote Heidi Verheul of the Halifax Peace Coalition in an e-mail. “But he actually needs to do something to challenge the free market shock doctrine economic policies that are being designed to further subjugate and impoverish Haiti,” she added. “The policies of aid and development in Haiti have continuously served to undermine democracy [and] local economies, and have driven tens of thousands of people from their land, enslaved them in sweatshops, makeshift homes, and absolute grinding, miserable poverty.”

Clinton’s apology attracted scant media attention in the US and none in Canada. It was included as part of an Associated Press news agency report that was published March 20 by the Washington Post. The AP report from Haiti’s earthquake-ravaged capital, Port au Prince, suggests world leaders are reconsidering trade and aid policies that make poor countries dependent on rich ones. It quotes UN aid official John Holmes as saying that poor countries, like Haiti, need to become more self-sufficient by rebuilding their own food production.

“A combination of food aid, but also cheap imports have...resulted in a lack of investment in Haitian farming, and that has to be reversed,” Holmes told AP. “That's a global phenomenon, but Haiti’s a prime example. I think this is where we should start."

The Clinton administration forced Jean Bertrand Aristide to agree to cut rice tariffs drastically when the US restored the Haitian president to power in October 1994. Aristide, Haiti’s first democratically elected president, had been overthrown by a US-backed military coup in 1991. In return for $770 million in international loans and aid, Aristide was required to agree to a business-friendly “structural adjustment” program that, aside from cutting food tariffs, also included freezing the minimum wage, cutting the size of the civil service, and privatizing public utilities. (Aristide annoyed the US by being slow to implement such policies, making Clinton’s apology last month all the more surprising.)

Janet Eaton, trade and environment campaigner for Sierra Club Canada, said members of the global democracy movement have long known about the failures of the globalized food system, and Clinton’s apology to Haitians only reinforced what many activists have talked and written about for years.

“When high-profile leaders admit that economic globalization isn’t working, then it’s time for governments to get on board and look at alternatives.” Eaton added. “It is time to admit that these failures exist and put an end to the aggressive free trade frenzy that is now occurring in Canada, the US and Europe as they vie for foreign markets, raw materials and unfettered free trade.”

Eaton pointed to one alternative in Nova Scotia—a Food Policy Council, which was formally established at a meeting in Truro on April 19. Farmers, consumers, academics, policy analysts and organizations were promoting food security for all Nova Scotians by focusing on ways to grow more of our own food. Eaton contended that growing more local food would help curtail climate change, reduce dependence on increasingly expensive fossil fuels and alleviate global poverty.

She added, “Haiti should be seen as a metaphor for what can happen on a planetary level if we fail to recognize the crisis we face.”

I hope US President Obama, the US Trade Representative Ron Kirk and the WTO chief Pascal Lamy are listening. 

How inhuman can humans be: 4,000 cows being slaughtered every hour in the US alone

This is a shocking video. It does make you visualise the extent of damage being done by slaughtering of cows in the United States alone.

It is so inhuman.

The next time you are in a restaurant and place an order for beef, just picture this in your mind. If you are sensitive enough I am sure you would like to cancel your order.

What beef consumption means for Third World hunger, food security, water mining and global warming is also a related dimension, which probably you have read about already.

You can rectify this global folly by taking the first step: stop eating beef.

Rape and Run: Mining industry must share 50 per cent profits with locals

Sometime back I accompanied Mr M P Prakash, the former deputy chief minister of Karnataka, on a visit to Hospet in Bellary district, the epicentre of environmental devastation accruing from heavy mining activity. It is a ghastly sight, and I hope one day the Chief Justice of India travels to see the permanent scar that has literally been drilled by the Reddy brothers and the tribe.

The Supreme Court had recently allowed Reddy brothers to restart operations.

Mining in Bellary

Travel to Orissa and Chhatisgarh, legal and illegal mining goes on unchecked for the control of India's massive natural wealth. So much so that the Central as well as the State governments are even reluctant to tell the nation as to how many MoUs have been signed, and are operating. Add to it, the massive land acquisitions in the name of industrial development, the destruction of the fertile landscape rightly earns the epithet Rape and Run.

Since the mining areas fall in the tribal belts, the anger built over hundreds of years of exploitation (mining is the latest aggression), is being expressed through the rise of naxalism. As a report in The Hindustan Times (May 16, 2010) tells us, Rs 1,28,000-crore was the total output of the country's mining industry in 2009-10. This is of course the official figure, we all know the extent of illegal mining goes much beyond. The royalty that the States earned was a mere Rs 2,000 crore, which doubled last year because of the ad valorem duty introduced two years ago.

The people who live in the areas containing the mineral wealth have been further pauperized. The royalty that the State's earn, which in any case is pittance, has never benefitted them. I am told the new Mines and Minerals Bill provides for 26 per cent of profits from mining to be given to locals and also there is a provision to make them stakeholders. This is certainly better than before, but I would have thought that the Anwarul Hooda committee, which made these suggestions, should have provided for 50 per cent profits to be shared with locals.

I am aware that the mining industry will not take it lying down. They will oppose it tooth and nail, and with 300 crorepatis in parliament, their fight becomes a little easier.

When it comes to charging royalty, as the seed industry does, the sky is the limit. But when the mining companies are asked to pay royalty, they avoid and dither. While the royalty from mining was barely Rs 19 a tonne of high-grade iron that sold for thousands of rupees, the seed industry initially charged a whopping 300 per cent royalty (called as 'technology fee') for Bt cotton seeds. Either way, the industry knows how to extract its pound of flesh.

Anyway, mining is a subject on which many a bloody battles have been (and continue to be) fought. I draw your attention to The Hindustan Times article below:

Mine or Yours?

The Hindustan Times, May 16, 2010

Loot and Run: The battle rages for the control of India's massive mineral wealth. We take stock of the strategies of its key players: the politicians, mining cos, and the Maoists

The earth seems to have opened up under the government’s feet. One of the oldest industries known to mankind — mining — has suddenly emerged as the deepest pit of scams in India. There are allegations cropping up from almost every mining state, and the figures allegedly plundered add up to the biggest scam in the country.

The current crop of scams started hitting the headlines last year. Former chief minister of Jharkhand, Madhu Koda, was accused of stashing away Rs 4,000 crore garnered through mining scams.

From Orissa, Rabi Das, convenor of civil society group Jan Sammelani, petitioned the Supreme Court that minerals such as iron ore, coal and manganese worth more than Rs 7,000 crore were being smuggled out of the state every year. On March 17, Karnataka’s leader of opposition, Siddaramaiah, alleged illegal mining losses to the state totalling Rs 5,000 crore.

The Union ministry of mines put a value of a mere Rs 64 crore as the amount lost to illegal mining in the first half of the previous financial year (April-September 2009).

But the total allegations made in court or on the floors of state assemblies tot up to more than Rs 20,000 crore — higher than the allocation proposed in the current Union budget for the country’s road transport system.

How does an industry that contributes less than 2 per cent of the national economic output account for its largest scam?

The blame game

The answer lies in outdated policies and the fact that mining remains one of the principal ‘real estates’ that government can hand out. The dissimilarities with other similar industries — telecom and oil and gas, where the government gives out spectrum and prospecting land — are probably because of the first reason.

Telecom minister A Raja has been accused of ‘forgoing’ Rs 10,000-100,000 crore while handing out spectrum. The mud-slingers said he could have priced it differently. But if a similar calculation is done for mining, by the government’s own admission, the ‘loss’ would have come to Rs 2,000 crore a year.

Here’s how the figure can be calculated. The amount the mining states made last year from the ad valorem duty of 10 per cent on some minerals introduced in August 2009 was Rs 4,000 crore. Before that, the outdated royalty system — under which a miner paid a fixed royalty, such as Rs 19 a tonne of high-grade iron ore that has been selling for thousands of rupees — fetched half the amount for the states annually.

Still, it’s a fraction of the money allegedly lost to illegal mining.

Stateside view

The problem is intense in Goa, a microcosm of the problems besetting an industry that’s governed by states.

Read the full article at: http://www.hindustantimes.com/News-Feed/india/Mine-or-yours/Article1-544184.aspx

Pest explosion in China from Bt cotton. Will anyone hold agricultural scientists responsible for this?

It was always on cards. Only agricultural scientists, blinded by the money and perks that biotech companies keep on dangling in front of them, refused to see. Pest explosion is something that happens naturally whenever you promote monocultures. It happened when chemical pesticides were pumped in, and it is happening now with Bt cotton. Farmers paid the price earlier, and once again farmers will suffer.

Agricultural scientists will retire gracefully, hoping for re-employment with private companies. Scientists work for promoting the companies commercial interests, and not for farmers.

In US, in Latin America, in China and in India, the story is the same. These are the countries where you have enough evidence of pest explosion (from even GM crops). As The Hindu op-ed page article says: Farmland struck by infestations of bugs following widespread adoption of Bt cotton made by biotech giant Monsanto. This report is certainly not going to trigger an overhaul of the way scientific research is carried out, and to change the criminal way the inconclusive findings are imposed by the scientific regulators on the farming community.

Regulatory bodies deliberately avoid looking into the pest emergence issue. The reason is simple. These regulatory bodies are corrupt, and are under the influence of the lobbyists. In the US alone, for instance, Monsanto spent US $ 8.7 million in 2009 on lobbying, in part to oppose labeling of GM foods.

Let me provide you a little more insight into how lobbying works. Since 1998, the agribusiness sector has poured more than $1 billion into lobbying for the purpose of protecting and advancing its legislative interests. The sector includes the crop production and basic processing industry, which alone spent $20.3 million in 2009; the food processing and sales industry, which spent $30.2 million in 2009 and the mighty agriculture services and products industry, which spent $34.4 million last year.

McDonald's, for its part, recorded its strongest lobbying output ever in 2009, spending $480,000 at the federal level to influence government. You can read it all here: http://www.d-sector.org/article-external.asp?id=93

Meanwhile, have a look at this news report from the pages of The Guardian. It is time to demand suitable action against the erring regulatory bodies and the scientific institutions. In India, we cannot allow GEAC to walk free. Neither can we allow another 'independent' scientific panel to be set up simply to endorse the wrongs that have been perpetuated by GEAC. The GEAC, which accorded environmental clearance to the controversial Bt brinjal, and which is now on hold pending the outcome of the national consultations held by the Environment & Forest Minister Jairam Ramesh, needs to be held accountable for its scandalous role.

Pest resurgence is a major cause for farmer suicides in the cotton belt in India. The Indian Council for Agricultural research (ICAR), as well as the GEAC is responsible for the cotton suicides.

Scientists call for GM review after surge in pests around cotton farms in China

Farmland struck by infestations of bugs following widespread adoption of Bt cotton made by biotech giant Monsanto

Scientists are calling for the long-term risks of GM crops to be reassessed after field studies revealed an explosion in pest numbers around farms growing modified strains of cotton.

The unexpected surge of infestations "highlights a critical need" for better ways of predicting the impact of GM crops and spotting potentially damaging knock-on effects arising from their cultivation, researchers said.

Millions of hectares of farmland in northern China have been struck by infestations of bugs following the widespread adoption of Bt cotton, an engineered variety made by the US biotech giant, Monsanto.

Outbreaks of mirid bugs, which can devastate around 200 varieties of fruit, vegetable and corn crops, have risen dramatically in the past decade, as cotton farmers have shifted from traditional cotton crops to GM varieties, scientists said.

Traditional cotton famers have to spray their crops with insecticides to combat destructive bollworm pests, but Bt cotton produces its own insecticide, meaning farmers can save money by spraying it less.

But a 10-year study across six major cotton-growing regions of China found that by spraying their crops less, farmers allowed mirid bugs to thrive and infest their own and neighbouring farms.

The infestations are potentially catastrophic for more than 10m small-scale farmers who cultivate 26 million  hectares of vulnerable crops in the region studied.

The findings mark the first confirmed report of mass infestations arising as an unintended consequence of farmers using less pesticide – a feature of Bt cotton that was supposed to save money and lessen the crops' environmental impact. The research, led by Kongming Wu at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences in Beijing, is published in the US journal, Science.

"Our work highlights a critical need to do ecological assessments and monitoring at the landscape-level to better understand the impacts of GM crop adoption," Dr Wu told the Guardian.

Environmental campaigners seized on the study as further evidence that GM crops are not the environmental saviour that manufacturers have led farmers to believe.

Read the full report at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/may/13/gm-crops-pests-cotton-china/print

Creating his own seed bank for traditional millets

It is amazing to see how farmers begin conserving traditional seeds once they become aware of its importance. Ishwarappa Bankar of Hire Yadachi village of Haveri district in Karnataka has created a seed bank of traditional millet strains at his home. Drawing inspiration from Vijay Jardhari of Beej Bachao Andolan in Uttarakhand, Banakar has collected 25 varieties of jowar, 30 of finger millet, and 10 of foxtail millet besides some others.

This is certainly a remarkable initiative. If some farmers can replicate what Banakar has been able to achieve, probably we would be able to recover quite a lot of the lost plant germplasm. In 2010, when the world dedicates the year to conservation of biodiversity, such small but dedicated efforts need to be appreciated and applauded.

Pasted below is the report from Deccan Herald (May 11, 2010). In addition, you may also like to follow Vijay Jardhari's work in Uttarakhand. This report from The Pioneer ably brings out the understanding behind the traditional practice of 'barahnaja', which literally means 12 seeds at a time. http://www.dailypioneer.com/255192/Uttarakhand-sowing-seeds-for-a-better-tomorrow.html

This farmer has a seed bank at home

Ananda Teertha Pyati

Decades ago, millets formed an important traditional crop. They not only give food security, but also offer multiple securities like fodder and fuel. With the introduction of commercial crops like paddy and wheat, farmers forgot about millets. “I remember my childhood where we depended only on millets for our meals,” recalls Ishwarappa Banakar of Hire Yadachi village of Haveri district. Later on, Ishwarappa, much like other farmers, took to growing commercial crops. Every time there was a drought or a flood, he incurred losses.

But last year,he went to Pune and participated in an organic fair. There, he was exposed to varieties of traditional crops and organic farming methods.

Vijay Jardhari, a farmer from the Dehradun region was the centre of attraction at the fair, where he exhibited more than 100 varieties of beans and many types of vegetables of his region. Inspired by Jardhari’s efforts on conservation of local seeds, Ishwarappa decided to grow traditional crops. Ishwarappa Banakar has setup a millet seedbank in his home. This is the first millet seed bank set up by an individual farmer in the state.

View of millet seed bank

This bank has 25 varieties of jowar, 30 varieties of finger millet,10 varieties of foxtail millet, five varieties of little millet and two varieties each of kodo millet, proso millet and pearl millet.

[Thanks to Krishna Prasad of Sahaja Samrudha and Kuldeep Ratnoo of D-Sector.org for providing these links]

US farmers are bailed out, Indian farmers are left to die

Amidst the raging debate on the farm suicide toll in India comes this interesting report about the huge agricultural subsidies being doled out to the US farmers. In India, nearly 200,000 farmers have taken the fatal route to escape the humiliation that comes along with growing indebtedness (in the absence of direct income support) between 1997 and 2008.

The US has paid a quarter of a trillion as farm subsidies in almost the same period, between 1995 and 2009. Farmers not only get "direct support", they also receive the benefit of "counter-cyclic payments", "market loss payments" and now subsidies under the crop insurance programme and the bio-fuel programme. No wonder, while Indian farmers take to gallows, US farmers (I am talking of the big farmers/Corporate firms) quietly proceed on a cruise holiday every year.  

The report "Government's Continued Bailout for Corporate Agriculture" http://bit.ly/accyi0  published by Environmental Working Group (EWG) endorses what is being said in this column time and again. Let us look at some of the salient findings:

1. US paid a quarter of a trillion in farm subsidies between 1995 and 2009.

2. Direct payments have averaged around $ 5 billion every year since 2005.

3. Subsidies under the crop insurance programme have tripled -- from $ 2.7 billion in 2005 to $ 7.3 billion in 2009.

4. Since 1995, crop insurance subsidies have crossed $ 35 billion.

5. Between 1995 and 2009, the richest 10 per cent of the farm families pocketed 74 per cent of the entire subsidy. 

6. On an average, the wealthiest 10 per cent received a total payment of $ 445,127 in the past 15 years.

7. Small farmers received an average of $ 8,862 per recepient in the same period. 

Now this should be some form of an eyeopener. After all, when we tell Indian farmers to increase productivity (and I see this being the usual refrain among agricultural scientists, agribusiness companies and parliamentarians) I fail to understand how enhancing crop yields would increase farm income. I have often asked this question to senior scientists and economists, who unfortunately have no idea of the political economy that determines farm wealth in the OECD countries.

They tend to believe that farmers in US/Europe are rich because they have high productivity. To my understanding, this is the primary reason why Indian farmers continue to suffer. They have been misled to believe that the higher their crop productivity, the more will be their income. In the US, farmers are surviving because of direct income support (in various forms) and not because of the 'farm-to-fork' kind of market operations.

The US knows the cost of feeding the loss-making farms is much more than what is normally spent on importing food. But it still is willing to take that risk knowing that food self-sufficiency is fundamental to national sovereignty. In fact, it goes a step ahead. It is making an all out effort (along with the EU) to be the food bowl of the globe. The more the world depends upon US/EU for food, the more will be the political dominance of these two blocks over the entire world.

Read the commentary by EWG president Ken Cook at http://bit.ly/bGv93C

The little I knew about Sholay's 'Sambha'

You will ask me what has this blog to do with Ground Reality? Well, I don't know myself. But it is just that I couldn't resist talking about veteran Bollywood side-villain MacMohan. As you all know by now, he passed away on Monday in Mumbai.

I had once interviewed him when I worked for the Indian Express, and was posted in Shimla. This was in the late 1980s, and MacMohan was shooting for a Hindi film in Kufri. In fact, he was quite surprised when I walked upto him, introduced myself, and showed my interest to talk to him. "Are you sure you want to interview me?" he asked me. When I said I want to, he replied: "It was my dream to be interviewed by Indian Express, and I knew one day it would happen."

I don't know why, but I had always felt intrigued by his popularity hanging on just one dialogue. Even my journalist colleagues were surprised when I told them about my keeness to interview MacMohan. But I stood my ground. I don't know if anyone before or after him has been immortalised for just a small sentence. As far as I remember he also couldn't explain how come that one sentence: "Poorey pachaas hazaar", took him to that height that no one else in Bollwood can ever claim to have achieved.

Not many would know that MacMohan too found it difficult to shop in Shimla or Mumbai before being mobbed. Don't forget, he wasn't even a villain. He was simply a side-villain. But there was something in his personality, especially his bearded face, that somehow stood in your mind. People would throng him wherever he went. The next day, after the interview appeared in Indian Express, we went for a small stroll on the mall in Shimla. We could only walk a few steps before we had to turn back simply because we wanted to avoid the crowds.

Well, I am not sure if I am incorrect, but MacMohan could not achieve what he dreamt about. I remember he telling me very clearly that his biggest dream was to emerge from being a side-villain to a villain. He wanted to carry a Bollywood film on his shoulders as the main villain. Please correct me if I am wrong. Since I am not a movie buff I could have easily missed his achievement.

My sincere condolences to the departed soul.

MacMohan

Sholay's 'Sambha' passes away
http://www.thehindu.com/2010/05/11/stories/2010051161950100.htm

Mumbai: Veteran Bollywood actor Mac Mohan, immortalised in the role of Gabbar Singh's sidekick Sambha in Ramesh Sippy's 1975 blockbuster Sholay, died here on Monday.

The actor breathed his last at the Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital in suburban Mumbai. He was suffering from cancer, according to hospital sources.

Mac Mohan, who started his career with Haqeeqat in 1964, acted in over 175 films in a memorable career spanning 46 years.

He shot to fame as the gun-toting dacoit Sambha in Sholay. After that he never looked back and essayed countless villainous roles in films like Don, The Burning Train and Satte Pe Satta.

“No one could have suited Sambha's role better than Mac Mohan. He will always be remembered by that role,” Mr. Sippy told PTI.

Amjad Khan's conversations with him are among the most favourite dialogue from the film. Mac Mohan is asked by Amjad Khan, “Arrey o Sambha, kitna inaam rakhe hain Sarkar hum par?” (Hey Sambha, what is the reward the Government has placed on my head?) And prompt comes Sambha's reply, “Poorey pachaas hazaar (altogether Rs.50,000)”.

Javed Akhtar, who penned those famous lines, says only Mac Mohan could have done justice to them. “The way he sat on the hillock, overlooking Gabbar's den, was a sight to behold,” said the seasoned writer-lyricist.

Drinking Water: An Escalating Crisis

First, industries guzzle up water and pollute water bodies, then they launch initiatives under Corporate Social Responsibility.

In this scorching heat, water is becoming a hot issue. With temperatures soaring, and with the major reservoirs drying, the battle for drinking water is becoming louder and bloodier, day by day. Unable to get their daily requirement of drinking water, angry protestors in various cities are taking to streets.

In the months to come, non-availability of water is sure to adorn the news. The warning bells have been ringing for over 15 years now, but nobody cared. Even now, when projections show that 70 per cent more groundwater has been depleted in the past decade than in the last decade of 1990s, and that water sources across the country have been contaminated in almost all the states leading to serious health problems like cancer and fluorosis that damages bones, teeth and muscles, the nation is not perturbed.

Parliament was informed that 1.80 lakh villages (out of the 6 lakh villages in the country) are afflicted by poor water quality. What these villages drink is nothing but slow poison. In addition, what parliament is not informed is that almost all the tributaries of our major rivers have become drain channels for the industry. Take, for instance, Ammi river flowing in the outskirts of Gorakhpur. For years now, over 1.5 lakh people who live on the banks of the river have been protesting against industrial effluents that have turned the river — the only lifeline for hundreds of villages on its banks — into a source of misery.

Ammi is not the only tributary that has turned into a drain. Almost all tributaries of the major Indian rivers flow dirty. Somehow the policy makers and planners treat the dirty rivers and tributaries as a misplaced sign of industrialisation, and thereby treat it as an index of development.

Returning to the issue of shrinking drinking water availability, a parliamentary standing committee has informed that while more than 84 per cent of households in rural areas are covered under rural water supply, only 16 per cent population gets drinking water from public taps. However, just 12 per cent of rural families have individual taps in their houses. This too is highly skewed in favour of the more progressive states. In Orissa, for instance, only 9 per cent households have access to tap water. If you travel to Kalahandi district, the percentage of population having access to tap water drops to a mere 2.76 per cent.

The picture isn’t very rosy for the urban areas. Only 37 per cent of the households have access to tap water. In other words, not only food entitlements, there is an urgent need to ensure right to safe drinking water.

Access denied

Isn’t it shocking that after 63 years of Independence, only 12 per cent of the rural households have drinking water taps? This is despite the National Rural Drinking Water Programme being operative, for which Rs 8,000-crore was provided just in 2009-10.

What is more shocking is that while the drinking water taps are going dry, there is never a shortage of water supply from tankers? In Mumbai, for instance, an estimate shows that nearly 48 per cent of the drinking water gets lost due to leaks from damaged pipelines. Some think it is simply because the tanker mafia is at work. Not only Mumbai, cities across the country are under siege by tanker mafia. In the rural areas too, the water mafia has been continuously at work. If the water sources are drying up across the country, I wonder from where the tankers get water. Every one knows that the tanker mafia is leaving the countryside parched and dry, but who cares?

Well, the corporate sector certainly gives an impression that it cares. It has to. After all, much of the water crisis is its creation. First the industries guzzle up water, and pollute the rivers and water bodies, and then they launch water saving initiatives under Corporate Social Responsibility. ITC for instance has launched a project in Gurgaon to teach housemaids on how to save water while cleaning the utensils. Teaching the maid servants on how to save one mug of water is surely some responsibility!

What the corporate sector refuses to point at is the recent decision of the Andhra Pradesh government to allocate 21.5 lakh litres per day from the Krishna River in Guntur district to Coca-Cola. While several hundred villages in Guntur district are grappling with acute drinking water shortage, the government perhaps thinks that rural poor can quench their thirst from drinking Coke instead. To justify its exploitation of water, Coca-Cola claims to be buying mangoes for its Maaza brand under Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative. Killing two birds with one stone, isn’t it? But who cares?

Unfortunately, providing clean drinking water is no longer a national priority. Somehow the government believes that the more pressing need is to make the water resources available to the mineral water industry. With the elite and the middle class satisfied at the easy availability of mineral water, the rest of the population continues to suffer. Over the years, the state and the Central government have shifted focus to the middle class, as if the rest of the country does not matter.

Source: Deccan Herald http://www.deccanherald.com/content/68732/an-escalating-crisis.html

Michelle Obama Can Lead a Global Movement for Organic Food

By Devinder Sharma
Huffington Post

When Michelle Obama laid out an organic garden in the White House, and that was in March 2009, I must admit I was very excited. I thought the U.S. first lady, drawing from what Mahatma Gandhi had once said, was trying to be the change that she wanted the United States to be. "I want to make sure that our family, as well as the staff and all people who come to the White House and eat our food, get access to really fresh vegetables and fruits," she was quoted in a news agency report.

My excitement was, however, short-lived. Unmindful of the initiative the First Lady had taken to provide safe food, President Barack Obama appointed Michael Taylor, a lawyer by training and a former Vice-President of Monsanto, to oversee food safety. Now don't get me wrong, I have nothing against Michael Taylor, but considering his background -- he is known to be the person behind the unwanted introduction of bovine growth hormone in dairy milk -- I wasn't expecting the U.S. President to be so taken in by the industry propaganda.

Knowing that the U.S. population is bulging at the extreme, and aware of the epidemic of obesity and diabetes that sweeps the world's lone superpower, I am sure you will agree that it desperately needs a healing touch, a semblance of which was provided by Michelle Obama. Never before was the need so great as it is today. An environmentally devastating food production system, sustained artificially by the power of massive farm subsidies, has not only played havoc with human health and pushed farmers out of agriculture, but also exacerbated global temperatures. Instead of rectifying the folly, the multi-billion dollar food industry is using all legal routes to strengthen its control over the global food supply chain.

After passing The Food Safety Enhancement Act (HR 2749) in July last year, the Senate is deliberating on The Food Safety Modernization Act (S 510), which many believe will allow the multinationals to tighten control over food supply and even outlaw organic food production. What makes it draconian is the provision that does not allow its decisions open to any form of judicial review. Already, consumer groups, farmer organizations and health activists are questioning the need for such a draconian law that takes away the democratic and fundamental rights of the people.

Far away in India, a similar Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of India (BRAI) Bill is likely to be introduced in Parliament, which when enacted will take away the right of the people to question what is being served in the name of GM foods. Anyone who critiques the veracity of claims that the biotech industry makes can be imprisoned and fined. Strange isn't it that in the world's two biggest democracies, the food industry should manage to gag freedom of speech and expression? How can the democratically-elected governments -- in the U.S. and in India -- facilitate an undemocratic control over food supply, and that too in the name of food safety?

We are what we eat. It is because what we eat is highly unsafe and unhealthy that the health industry has grown out of proportion. The growth of the pharmaceutical industry is directly linked to the contaminated food that laces the markets. The pharmaceutical industry in turn backs on an emerging health insurance industry. No wonder, the insurance industry is now investing heavily in food stocks, knowing well that its growth is directly proportionate to the junk foods that we are forced to consume.
Food is, in fact, fast-emerging as a killer. And as my doctor told me the other day: "We have learned the art of keeping a sick population alive for long." How true?

Read the full article at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/devinder-sharma/michelle-obama-can-lead-a_b_568741.html