Am quietened by an email that I received this morning that grieves of a young farmer, Jambana Goudaru, from Sindanur Taluk in Raichur District, who died of a “freak electric mishap”. But what struck me most was that here was a man who was a committed seed saver and cultivated over 51 varieties of rice. His commitment to preserving seed diversity is one that he will leave behind – in an age where genetically modified grains and powerful corporations are taking away this diversity that is a life giver. Beeja in Sanskrit means life. It is a metaphor for the origin or cause of things.
We have one life to preserve. Sri Lanka in 1959, for example, some 2,000 varieties of rice were cultivated, whereas today, there are fewer than 100, and some 75 per cent of agro-biodiversity has been lost as a result of the pressure towards to the adoption of uniform improved seed varieties.
Diversity is the core of life and diversity is the core to nature – through “beeja” or the life giver the principle of traditional agriculture has survived. The word culture meant, “Tending to nature” - that speaks for the word “agriculture” too. This is best seen in India where farmers have worshiped the land as life force – the giver and bearer of life. It is here that every tradition of farming has been common knowledge to every “tillers” of the earth for time-immemorial. This common knowledge is today taken for ransom by large corporations, thanks to the free-trade agreements and patenting laws that snatches this common knowledge from the very custodians of this traditional knowledge.
“India is a centre of genetic diversity of rice. Out of this diversity, Indian peasants and tribal’s have selected and improved many indigenous high yielding varieties. Comparative studies of 22 rice growing systems have shown that indigenous systems are more efficient when inputs of labour and energy are taken into account” (Shiva, Vandana, The Green Revolution in the Punjab, The Ecologist, Vol. 21, No. 2, March-April 1991)
The fundamental “right to life” is being snatched by the design of globalization and there is much to be done to resist the colonization of multi-nationals taking claim of the traditional –hand- me- down-knowledge.
The green revolution and the aftermath of this has seen the effects that are of far reaching consequence – agrarian crisis, farmer suicides due to indebtedness as farming practises have changed to now depend on fertilisers, pesticides and excessive use of natural recourses, thus harming the fertility of the very earth that is the life-giver; usurping of tribal lands in the pretext of “special economic zone development projects”; building of large dams that submerge fertile habitant land, and displace millions of people; global warming; poverty and hunger.
It is not co-incidental that India has over 2.5 million children who die of malnutrition and the latest UN Human Development Report 2010 states that eight Indian states have “poverty as acute as the 26 poorest African countries” and this is “home to 421 million multi dimensionally poor people, more than the 410 million people living in those African countries combined”.
If one were to look at life as being too short – what about that seed of life that has in its power to germinate to pass on life as a healer to the world. Many lives strung together means living a million lives in one breath. This needs to be preserved in our conscious minds.
One is often bogged down by the powerful harangue that we often tell ourselves that a perfect world cannot be realized, but we should be able to soften that statement and tell ourselves that, that should not distract us (ME-YOU-US) from doing what is possible to bring about change.
If only death can lead to inspiration, and life a purpose!
~~~~*~~~~
We have one life to preserve. Sri Lanka in 1959, for example, some 2,000 varieties of rice were cultivated, whereas today, there are fewer than 100, and some 75 per cent of agro-biodiversity has been lost as a result of the pressure towards to the adoption of uniform improved seed varieties.
Diversity is the core of life and diversity is the core to nature – through “beeja” or the life giver the principle of traditional agriculture has survived. The word culture meant, “Tending to nature” - that speaks for the word “agriculture” too. This is best seen in India where farmers have worshiped the land as life force – the giver and bearer of life. It is here that every tradition of farming has been common knowledge to every “tillers” of the earth for time-immemorial. This common knowledge is today taken for ransom by large corporations, thanks to the free-trade agreements and patenting laws that snatches this common knowledge from the very custodians of this traditional knowledge.
“India is a centre of genetic diversity of rice. Out of this diversity, Indian peasants and tribal’s have selected and improved many indigenous high yielding varieties. Comparative studies of 22 rice growing systems have shown that indigenous systems are more efficient when inputs of labour and energy are taken into account” (Shiva, Vandana, The Green Revolution in the Punjab, The Ecologist, Vol. 21, No. 2, March-April 1991)
The fundamental “right to life” is being snatched by the design of globalization and there is much to be done to resist the colonization of multi-nationals taking claim of the traditional –hand- me- down-knowledge.
The green revolution and the aftermath of this has seen the effects that are of far reaching consequence – agrarian crisis, farmer suicides due to indebtedness as farming practises have changed to now depend on fertilisers, pesticides and excessive use of natural recourses, thus harming the fertility of the very earth that is the life-giver; usurping of tribal lands in the pretext of “special economic zone development projects”; building of large dams that submerge fertile habitant land, and displace millions of people; global warming; poverty and hunger.
It is not co-incidental that India has over 2.5 million children who die of malnutrition and the latest UN Human Development Report 2010 states that eight Indian states have “poverty as acute as the 26 poorest African countries” and this is “home to 421 million multi dimensionally poor people, more than the 410 million people living in those African countries combined”.
If one were to look at life as being too short – what about that seed of life that has in its power to germinate to pass on life as a healer to the world. Many lives strung together means living a million lives in one breath. This needs to be preserved in our conscious minds.
One is often bogged down by the powerful harangue that we often tell ourselves that a perfect world cannot be realized, but we should be able to soften that statement and tell ourselves that, that should not distract us (ME-YOU-US) from doing what is possible to bring about change.
If only death can lead to inspiration, and life a purpose!
~~~~*~~~~
1 comment:
A very strong article Lavanya. I just wish our social science subject was taken more seriously in our school days. The awareness would have been better and lives too :).
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