Raag Hansadvani on bansuri

Hansadvani is when one is really playful.

or

if everyone is tense around oneself, this raaga is the one which calms down every one & eases every one.

Once mastered it can be really, really  playful. Simply because its just "sa Re Ga Pa Ni Sa & Sa Ni Pa Ga Re sa".

No "Ma" & No "Dha"...... guess thats why it can be really playful & one can experiment as much as one wants, there is  simply no limitations. Go up, come down, go sideways, go upside down, nothing matters, it all fits in the "chalan" of the  Raaga. 

I just love it.

I love to listen to it & ofcourse when in the mood i love to play it also.

Its so easy & its so soothing.

Here is the Raag Hansadvani notations for Bansuri for teen taal (16 beats)

Thaat: Bilawal. Time: Early evening

Aroha : Sa  Re  Ga  Pa  Ni  Sa

Abroha: Sa  Ni  Pa Ga  Re  Sa


Sthai:

SaNi PaNi SaRe GaRe SaNi PaNi PaGa ReSa
+/ Re  -   Ga  Pa   Re  -   Sa  -

-   Sa  -   Ni  Pa    Re    -   Re   -
Sa   Re    Ga     Pa     Ga  -  Re  Sa

Sa   Re   Ga   Pa   Ni   Sa    Ga   Re
Sa   -   Ni   -   Pa  GaPa    NiSa   ReSa


Antara :
Pa     Pa     Sa    -    Sa  -   Sa  Sa
+/Ni    Pa    Ni  -    Sa   Ga   Re  -

Sa  Ga   -   Re   Ga   Re  -   Sa   Ni
PaNi  SaRe  GaRe  SaNi  PaGa  ReSa  ReGa   PaNi




Enjoi !!

Woodpecker action outside my house...... knock, knock, knock !!

This pair of Woodpeckers (Black Rumped Flame back) are a regular visitors on to my balcony in the morning.

Yesterday i saw them having a bath together in the bird bath, they looked so cute, i did not want to disturb them, so did not try to take snaps.

Their red head, the yellow body with shades of black & white really looks stunning in the morning light, They are very different from other birds, especially the way the neck moves up down, or sideways almost like a comedian !!

Enough of this nonsense, now just get lost with your Bt Brinjal.....

Enough is enough

now its time to say goodbye & dig the grave for Bt Brinjal &defecate &  move on

Reproducing here again one of the calls from some of the finest farmers in India

REJECT ANTI – NATURE GENETIC ENGINEERING TO SAFEGURARD OUR FUTURE

                                                             Juli and Vivek Cariappa

Fellow Farmers and Consumers,

The Organic farming association of India has come together to give hope to those who have survived the pain, hardship, frustration and finally, hunger created by the Green Revolution. We represent a nation-wide movement of farming families who have chosen to ally themselves with those who believe that we can survive the present crisis in the rural economy, indeed we can build a nation that thrives on its ecological sustainability and agricultural wealth.  But first let us take a backward glance, so that our path forward will be that much clearer.

1. Many years ago when we used to practice traditional methods of farming, our communities were strong and healthy and free from debt.  But the high input chemical intensive systems of production which were promoted by our government called the “Green Revolution”, destroyed the old methods of farming.  The Departments of Agriculture across the nation encouraged the use of new pesticides, chemical fertilizers and hybrid seeds, in the name of high productivity, and ignored the real needs of the farming community.

2. Over the past 20 years or so a few of us have been searching for alternatives as we have seen our fields and our families suffer due to the Green Revolution.  Each of us have found unique ways to produce food safely and effectively, building our soil fertility, protecting and selecting our seed varieties in order to produce healthy food and a healthy environment for all of us in the animal kingdom.  We call ourselves organic farmers.

3. But the wide publicity given to the Green Revolution made many of our fellow farmers change over to input intensive cash crops with the hope of getting rich quickly.  As a result, they are growing flowers, sugarcane, prawns and other cash crops.  Those who have planted volatile crops such as vegetables, pulses and cotton have incurred such heavy losses as to be driven to suicide.  This is the extent of the sorry state of affairs of the farming community.

4. In the name of bringing in and fostering the Green Revolution, Big business companies have entered the agricultural sector even to the extent of lobbying to change the land reforms act for owning agricultural land. At the same time, the Govt. is ever ready to blindly sign any agreement without the consensus of the farming community, in order to avail foreign institutional loans and international political gain.  As a result the economy itself has fallen into the debt trap.  Our livelihood is being bartered to repay the national debt.  Unless we make important choices the future will be dark.

5. By signing the World Trade Agreement in 1993 (WTO agreement) our government has agreed to remove subsidies in agriculture and permit the import of subsidized food and fiber from other countries.  This is the process of globalization which allows free trade between nations but threatens the livelihood of our farming communities. Rich countries like the USA and some European nations no longer support their farming communities but instead treat agriculture as an industry. Farming communities in these countries cannot produce enough food to feed their people.  Most food is grown by machines and chemicals, not by the skill and knowledge of human beings. Even if they produce an excess of food crops, their land and environment is damaged.  Their seed varieties are few and do not grow well because they are weak from over-breeding and too much chemical application.  This is the kind of food our government wants to allow into India.  It is cheap because it is heavily subsidized.  We will not be able to compete with imported food prices.

6. Strangely enough, while cheap food is being dumped on our markets, there is a big demand for Organic Food and Fiber in the rich nations.  Their soils are not able to support production of high quality organic produce so countries like India are being encouraged to set up Organic Farming Policies to produce Organic high quality food for export to theses countries.  Previous to this demand for organic produce in the export sector, Organic farming was looked down upon by the Government of India, as an unsustainable model for food production, primarily because Organic Farming does not required industrial products. Organic farming does not fuel industrial demand, rather it generates sustainability in rural areas. Now that there is a demand for organic food the perception has changed, but not for the India population, now the economic policy is to import cheap food and send the best food out of our country! It is strange that Organic Agriculture is actually not a part of the Ministry of Agriculture but comes under the Ministry of Commerce!

7. The fact is that Western countries have realized that industrial agriculture is not a good way to produce food.  People in these countries want the choice of eating food produced organically and not with chemicals because they are suffering from many diseases related to the quality of food and the deterioration of the environment they live in.

8. However, in contradiction to its policy on Organic Farming, the Indian Government is supporting scientists and life sciences industries including our own public funded universities to graft genes in the DNA of seeds and create new types of seeds. This has been done without the consent of the farming community.  Such seeds are called Genetically Manipulated Organisms (GMO), and this process is threatening society because of interference with the processes of nature. We may not know the technical procedure of this tampering ut we know what the integrity of life is, we know that to disturb it is very, very dangerous. A great danger has thus befallen our traditions of culture and foods, as well as our farming methods. For example, the gene of the pig has been spliced to tomato seeds, and the gene of the rat has been spliced to paddy seed. Similarly, at least 33 common food crop seeds have had their genes manipulated by splicing on the genes of various animals. The BT seeds have had the gene of a soil bacteria spliced into seeds. Even though this may sound strange or unbelievable, it is nonetheless true. The BT cotton seeds are the ones that have been most widely commercialized in our country; Mahyco and Monsanto, the companies which are profiting from this technology (due to the Patent Regime agreed to under the WTO) claim that crop yields will increase while there will a reduction in pesticide use. Field trials have proved that this is actually untrue.

9. The fact is that besides the dangers of the GM technology itself applied to all types of unnatural configurations, the organic farming community fears that use of BT will eventually create a serious imbalance in the relationship between soil bacteria and soil life which cannot be undone.

10. Many organic farmers warned that the use of BT seeds and other GM seeds would have a devastating effect particularly on the small and marginal Indian farming community: after 15 years of use of BT cotton (Boll guard), the truth is finally  being revealed. In Andhra Pradesh 60-70 % of the crop failed last year. The companies promoting this technology have made big profits by charging Rs. 1,850 per seed packer, of which Rs. 1,200 alone is a royalty going to the company.  The Government of Andhra Pradesh has blacklisted the company and demanded compensation to the farmers, which the company has refused to comply with.  It is difficult to understand why the Government has wanted to commercialise BT cotton when this variety is being imported into India at 60 % of the cost of production.  In such an unfair and lopsided trade agreement, it is impossible for us to compete.  We would be much better off growing organic long staple cottons.

11. It is important to understand two critical aspects of GM crops.

a) As the CEO of Monsanto research wing has stated, users of BT seeds need to use their neighbors’ crops of Chickpea, Tuar, Tomato and Sorghum (all crops grown by small and marginal farmers) as refuge areas for their crops. A GM crops must be protected by Non- GM crops around it to be effective. In this refuge area it is likely that the use of pesticides will go up and create a further spiral of debt for the most economically vulnerable farmers, besides exposing them to some of the highest levels of toxicity in agriculture anywhere in the world! The social implications of this will have a terrible effect on our communities where big farmers will use the small farmers fields with intent to harm.

b) The GM technology is designed for industrial farming and will take away our age-old rights to keep seeds from a previous crop. Legal action has been taken against farmers in other countries who have been found to accidentally have a GM variety in their fields (as you know natural pollination will take place among similar crops).

c) With the rising demand in organic food and fiber the Government has put Indian organic produce, which has a high premium, at enormous risk of being rejected due to GM contamination.  Organic produce cannot contain GM strains by law and yet BT cotton has been allowed to grow in areas where certified organic crops also exist.  This is a direct infringement of our constitutionally guaranteed fundamental rights as organic farmers.

In Madhya Pradesh the 2005-2006 organic cotton crop was contaminated with BT and rejected, proving clearly that due to our farming model, which cannot allow for refuge areas of up to 5 km, GM crops are unsuitable and will ruin our potential as the worlds’ largest organic farming community. Surely that makes more economic sense that the devastation of our biodiversity and the obliteration of our farming communities?

12. Following are the ill-effects of GM crops on the lives of farmers, consumers and the environment.

a) Disturbing the balance of nature and the environment.

b) Since pesticides not only kill insects which are harmful to crops but also those which are essential to the growth of the crop, they will become prey to disease, and yields will fall.

c) Instead of being health-giving, food from such crops will cause new diseases. Also, by the unnatural production of such harmful bacteria, there is a strong  possibility of new systemic disease occurring which will alter the structure and relationship of soil and plants permanently. No science and no mantra exists which will undo careless meddling with nature.

d) From such crops, the gene can get transmitted and modify the gene of neighboring crops (both indigenous and hybrid) of the same species producing new “Monster” weeds, even worse than parthenium which will add to the problems of farmers.

e) These seeds and crops and their complementary pesticides will seriously effect the food chain and toxify the air and water.  In Europe and America the results of such seeds are already showing their effects: This will further destabilize the village economy.

f) Even if there is some benefit from GM technology, it will benefit only big farmers and industrialists.

g) According to the World Trade Agreement, food from any country is permitted to be sold in the free market.  India has very ineffective labeling laws so that GM foods, many of which are in now coming into India as processed foods, are not clearly labeled as containing GM crops which is unfair to the consumer, who has a right to this information. For example : Genetically modified soybean, corn, palm oil, wheat etc., which have been banned in Europe and Japan, are being sold in countries like India. The present parliamentary circular concerning food safety norm is ridiculous. Instead of banning dangerous foods, which have been brought under EU food safety norms (GM food), under pressure form the food processing industry, the Indian parliament is discussing banning the local teashop, roadside dhaba and home-produced traditional foods!

Our government will carelessly throw away this window of opportunity to move towards a truly sustainable and ecologically healthy nation through organic farming, by allowing the commercialization of GM crops and the irreversible release of the highly unstable, polluting fluid gene.

Will our entire society be sacrificed on the altar of the greed of a few and the foolishness and false pride of some well-paid (rogue)scientists who consider themselves superior to nature? 

Or will we stand up and demand that Indian farmers, be allowed to grow quality organic food and fiber for our growing millions without the fear of GM contamination? To build a strong nation, we need strong people.  To be determined and clear thinking, we need to stand together and make hard decisions. We cannot play with nature. We cannot afford to let others play with our sustainability.

Now that we have taken stock of our present situation and how we got here let us take a decision for the future to build a rurally sustainable India whose vitality lies in her ecological biodiversity and centuries old agricultural wisdom.

Bt Brinjal & Mr. M.S. Swaminathan have you heard this call from one of the greatest farmers in India Shri Bhaskar Save !!

Well, if you haven't heard it

then you are dumb !!

Open Letter
From: Bhaskar Save, ‘Kalpavruksha’ Farm,
Village Dehri, via Umergam,
Dist. Valsad, Gujarat – 396 170
(Phone: 0260 – 2562126 & 2563866)

To: Shri M.S. Swaminathan,
The Chairperson, National Commission on Farmers,
Ministry of Agriculture, Govt. of India

July 29, 2006

Subject: Mounting Suicides and National Policy for Farmers
Dear Shri Swaminathan,

I am an 84-year old natural/organic farmer with more than six decades of personal experience in growing a wide range of food crops. I have, over the years, practised several systems of farming, including the chemical method in the fifties – until I soon saw its pitfalls.

I say with conviction that it is only by organic farming in harmony with Nature, that India can sustainably provide her people abundant, wholesome food. And meet every basic need of all – to live in health, dignity and peace.

You, M.S. Swaminathan, are considered the ‘father’ of India’s so-called ‘Green Revolution’ that flung open the floodgates of toxic ‘agro’ chemicals – ravaging the lands and lives of many millions of Indian farmers over the past 50 years. More than any other individual in our long history, it is you I hold responsible for the tragic condition of our soils and our debt-burdened farmers, driven to suicide in increasing numbers every year.

As destiny would have it, you are presently the chairperson of the ‘National Commission on Farmers’, mandated to draft a new agricultural policy. I urge you to take this opportunity to make amends – for the sake of the children, and those yet to come.

I understand your Commission is inviting the views of farmers for drafting the new policy. As this is an open consultation, I am marking a copy of my letter to: the Prime Minister, the Union Minister for Agriculture, the Chairperson of the National Advisory Council, and to the media - for wider communication. I hope this provokes some soul-searching and open debate at all levels on the extremely vital issues involved. – So that we do not repeat the same kind of blunders that led us to our present, deep festering mess.

The great poet, Rabindranath Tagore, referred not so long ago to our “sujhalam, sufalam” land. Ours indeed was a remarkably fertile and prosperous country – with rich soils, abundant water and sunshine, thick forests, a wealth of bio-diversity, … And cultured, peace-loving people with a vast store of farming knowledge and wisdom.

Farming runs in our blood. But I am sad that our (now greyed) generation of Indian farmers, allowed itself to be duped into adopting the short-sighted and ecologically devastating way of farming, imported into this country. – By those like you, with virtually zero farming experience!
For generations beyond count, this land sustained one of the highest densities of population on earth. Without any chemical ‘fertilizers’, pesticides, exotic dwarf strains of grain, or the new, fancy ‘bio-tech’ inputs that you now seem to champion. The many waves of invaders into this country, over the centuries, took away much. But the fertility of our land remained unaffected.

The Upanishads say:
Om Purnamadaha
Purnamidam Purnat Purnamudachyate
Purnasya Purnamadaya Purnamewa Vashishyate
“This creation is whole and complete.
From the whole emerge creations, each whole and complete.
Take the whole from the whole, but the whole yet remains,
Undiminished, complete!”

In our forests, the trees like ber (jujube), jambul (jambolan), mango, umbar (wild fig), mahua (Madhuca indica), imli (tamarind), … yield so abundantly in their season that the branches sag under the weight of the fruit. The annual yield per tree is commonly over a tonne – year after year. But the earth around remains whole and undiminished. There is no gaping hole in the ground!

From where do the trees – including those on rocky mountains – get their water, their NPK, etc? Though stationary, Nature provides their needs right where they stand. But ‘scientists’ and technocrats like you – with a blinkered, meddling itch – seem blind to this. On what basis do you prescribe what a tree or plant requires, and how much, and when…?

It is said: where there is lack of knowledge, ignorance masquerades as ‘science’! Such is the ‘science’ you have espoused, leading our farmers astray – down the pits of misery. While it is no shame to be ignorant, the awareness of such ignorance is the necessary first step to knowledge. But the refusal to see it is self-deluding arrogance.

Agricultural Mis-education. 

This country has more than 150 agricultural universities, many with huge land-holdings of thousands of acres. They have no dearth of infrastructure, equipment, staff, money, … And yet, not one of these heavily subsidized universities makes any profit, or grows any significant amount of food, if only to feed its own staff and students. But every year, each churns out several hundred ‘educated’ unemployables, trained only in misguiding farmers and spreading ecological degradation.

In all the six years a student spends for an M. Sc. in agriculture, the only goal is short-term – and narrowly perceived – ‘productivity’. For this, the farmer is urged to do and buy a hundred things. But not a thought is spared to what a farmer must never do so that the land remains unharmed for future generations and other creatures. It is time our people and government wake up to the realisation that this industry-driven way of farming – promoted by our institutions – is inherently criminal and suicidal!

Gandhi declared: Where there is soshan, or exploitation, there can be no poshan, or nurture! Vinoba Bhave added, “Science wedded to compassion can bring about a paradise on earth. But divorced from non-violence, it can only cause a massive conflagration that swallows us in its flames.”

Trying to increase Nature’s ‘productivity,’ is the fundamental blunder that highlights the ignorance of ‘agricultural scientists’ like you. Nature, unspoiled by man, is already most generous in her yield. When a grain of rice can reproduce a thousand-fold within months, where arises the need to increase its productivity?

Numerous kinds of fruit trees too yield several hundred thousand kg of nourishment each in their lifetime! That is, provided the farmer does not pour poison and mess around the tree in his greed for quick profit. A child has a right to its mother’s milk. But if we draw on Mother Earth’s blood and flesh as well, how can we expect her continuing sustenance!

The mindset of servitude to ‘commerce and industry,’ ignoring all else, is the root of the problem. But industry merely transforms ‘raw materials’ sourced from Nature into commodities. It cannot create anew. Only Nature is truly creative and self-regenerating – through synergy with the fresh daily inflow of the sun’s energy.

The Six Self-renewing Paribals of Nature .

There is on earth a constant inter-play of the six paribals (key factors) of Nature, interacting with sunlight. Three are: air, water and soil. Working in tandem with these, are the three orders of life: ‘vanaspati srushti’ (the world of plants), ‘jeev srushti’ (the realm of insects and micro-organisms), and ‘prani srushti’ (the animal kingdom). These six paribals maintain a dynamic balance. Together, they harmonise the grand symphony of Nature, weaving the new!

Man has no right to disrupt any of the paribals of Nature. But modern technology, wedded to commerce – rather than wisdom or compassion – has proved disastrous at all levels... We have despoiled and polluted the soil, water and air. We have wiped out most of our forests and killed its creatures; … And relentlessly, modern farmers spray deadly poisons on their fields. These massacre Nature’s jeev srushti – the unpretentious but tireless little workers that maintain the ventilated quality of the soil, and recycle all life-ebbed biomass into nourishment for plants. The noxious chemicals also inevitably poison the water, and Nature’s prani srushti, which includes humans.

The Root of Unsustainablity.

Sustainability is a modern concern, scarcely talked of at the time you championed the ‘green revolution’. Can you deny that for more than forty centuries, our ancestors farmed the organic way – without any marked decline in soil fertility, as in the past four or five decades? Is it not a stark fact that the chemical-intensive and irrigation-intensive way of growing monoculture cash-crops, has been primarily responsible for spreading ecological devastation far and wide in this country? – Within the lifetime of a single generation!

Engineered Erosion of Crop Diversity, Scarcity of Organic Matter, and Soil Degradation.

This country boasted an immense diversity of crops, adapted over millennia to local conditions and needs. Our numerous tall, indigenous varieties of grain provided more biomass, shaded the soil from the sun, and protected against its erosion under heavy monsoon rains. But in the guise of increasing crop production, exotic dwarf varieties were introduced and promoted through your efforts. This led to more vigorous growth of weeds, which were now able to compete successfully with the new stunted crops for sunlight. The farmer had to spend more labour and money in weeding, or spraying herbicides.

The straw growth with the dwarf grain crops fell drastically to one-third of that with most native species! In Punjab and Haryana, even this was burned, as it was said to harbour ‘pathogens’. (It was too toxic to feed farm cattle that were progressively displaced by tractors.) Consequently, much less organic matter was locally available to recycle the fertility of the soil, leading to an artificial need for externally procured inputs. Inevitably, the farmers resorted to use more chemicals, and relentlessly, soil degradation and erosion set in.

Engineered Pestilence.

The exotic varieties, grown with chemical ‘fertiliser’, were more susceptible to ‘pests and diseases’, leading to yet more poison (insecticides, etc.) being poured. But the attacked insect species developed resistance and reproduced prolifically. Their predators – spiders, frogs, etc. – that fed on these insects and ‘biologically controlled’ their population, were exterminated. So were many beneficial species like the earthworms and bees.

Agribusiness and technocrats recommended stronger doses, and newer, more toxic (and more expensive) chemicals. But the problems of ‘pests’ and ‘diseases’ only worsened. The spiral of ecological, financial and human costs mounted!

The ‘Development’ of Water Scarcity and Dead, Salty Soils.

With the use of synthetic fertilizer and increased cash-cropping, irrigation needs rose enormously. In 1952, the Bhakra dam was built in Punjab, a water-rich state fed by 5 Himalayan rivers. Several thousand more big and medium dams followed all over the country, culminating in the massive Sardar Sarovar. And now, our government is toying with a grandiose, Rs 560,000 crore proposal to divert and ‘inter-link’ the flow of our rivers. This is sheer ‘Tughlaqian’ megalomania, without a thought for future generations!

India, next to South America, receives the highest rainfall in the world. The annual average is almost 4 feet. Where thick vegetation covers the ground, and the soil is alive and porous, at least half of this rain is soaked and stored in the soil and sub-soil strata. A good amount then percolates deeper to recharge aquifers, or ‘groundwater tables’.

The living soil and its underlying aquifers thus serve as gigantic, ready-made reservoirs gifted free by Nature. Particularly efficient in soaking rain are the lands under forests and trees. And so, half a century ago, most parts of India had enough fresh water all round the year, long after the rains had stopped and gone. But clear the forests, and the capacity of the earth to soak the rain, drops drastically. Streams and wells run dry. It has happened in too many places already.

While the recharge of groundwater has greatly reduced, its extraction has been mounting. India is presently mining over 20 times more groundwater each day than it did in 1950. Much of this is mindless wastage by a minority. But most of India’s people – living on hand-drawn or hand-pumped water in villages, and practising only rain-fed farming – continue to use the same amount of ground water per person, as they did generations ago.

More than 80% of India’s water consumption is for irrigation, with the largest share hogged by chemically cultivated cash crops. Maharashtra, for example, has the maximum number of big and medium dams in this country. But sugarcane alone, grown on barely 3-4% of its cultivable land, guzzles about 70% of its irrigation waters!

One acre of chemically grown sugarcane requires as much water as would suffice 25 acres of jowar, bajra or maize. The sugar factories too consume huge quantities. From cultivation to processing, each kilo of refined sugar needs 2 to 3 tonnes of water. This could be used to grow, by the traditional, organic way, about 150 to 200 kg of nutritious jowar or bajra (native millets).

While rice is suitable for rain-fed farming, its extensive multiple cropping with irrigation in winter and summer as well, is similarly hogging our water resources, and depleting aquifers. As with sugarcane, it is also irreversibly ruining the land through salinisation.

Soil salinisation is the greatest scourge of irrigation-intensive agriculture, as a progressively thicker crust of salts is formed on the land. Many million hectares of cropland have been ruined by it. The most serious problems are caused where water-guzzling crops like sugarcane or basmati rice are grown round the year, abandoning the traditional mixed-cropping and rotation systems of the past, which required minimal or no watering.

Since at least 60% of the water used for irrigation nowadays in India, is excessive, indeed harmful, the first step that needs to be taken is to control this. Thus, not only will the grave damage caused by too much irrigation stop, but a good deal of the water that is saved can also become available locally for priority areas where acute scarcity is felt.

Conservative Irrigation and Groundwater Recharge at Kalpavruksha.

Efficient, organic farming requires very little irrigation – much less than what is commonly used in modern agriculture. The yields of the crops are best when the soil is just damp. Rice is the only exception that grows even where water accumulates, and is thus preferred as a monsoon crop in low-lying areas naturally prone to inundation. Excess irrigation in the case of all other crops expels the air contained in the soil’s inter-particulate spaces – vitally needed for root respiration – and prolonged flooding causes root rot.

The irrigation on my farm is a small fraction of that provided in most modern farms today. Moreover, the porous soil under the thick vegetation of the orchard is like a sponge that soaks and percolates to the aquifer, or ground-water table, an enormous quantity of rain each monsoon. The amount of water thus stored in the ground at Kalpavruksha, is far more than the total amount withdrawn from the well for irrigation in the months when there is no rain.

Thus, my farm is a net supplier of water to the eco-system of the region, rather than a net consumer! Clearly, the way to ensure the water security and food security of this nation, is by organically growing mixed, locally suitable crops, plants and trees, following the laws of Nature.

Need for 30% Tree Cover .

We should restore at least 30% ground cover of mixed, indigeneous trees and forests within the next decade or two. This is the core task of ecological water harvesting – the key to restoring the natural abundance of groundwater. Outstanding benefits can be achieved within a decade at comparatively little cost. We sadly fail to realise that the potential for natural water storage in the ground is many times greater than the combined capacity of all the major and medium irrigation projects in India – complete, incomplete, or still on paper! Such decentralized underground storage is more efficient, as it is protected from the high evaporation of surface storage. The planting of trees will also make available a variety of useful produce to enhance the well-being of a larger number of people.

Even barren wastelands can be restored to health in less than a decade. By inter-planting short life-span, medium life-span, and long life-span crops and trees, it is possible to have planned continuity of food yield to sustain a farmer through the transition period till the long-life fruit trees mature and yield. The higher availability of biomass and complete ground cover round the year will also hasten the regeneration of soil fertility.

Production, Poverty & Population.

After the British left, Indian agriculture was recovering steadily. There was no scarcity of diverse nourishment in the countryside, where 75% of India lived. The actual reason for pushing the ‘Green Revolution’ was the much narrower goal of increasing marketable surplus of a few relatively less perishable cereals to fuel the urban-industrial expansion favoured by the government.

The new, parasitical way of farming you vigorously promoted, benefited only the industrialists, traders and the powers-that-be. The farmers’ costs rose massively and margins dipped. Combined with the eroding natural fertility of their land, they were left with little in their hands, if not mounting debts and dead soils. Many gave up farming. Many more want to do so, squeezed by the ever-rising costs. This is nothing less than tragic, since Nature has generously gifted us with all that is needed for organic farming – which also produces wholesome, rather than poisoned food!

Restoring the natural health of Indian agriculture is the path to solve the inter-related problems of poverty, unemployment and rising population. The maximum number of people can become self-reliant through farming only if the necessary inputs are a bare minimum. Thus, farming should require a minimum of financial capital and purchased inputs, minimum farming equipment (plough, tools, etc.), minimum necessary labour, and minimum external technology. Then, agricultural production will increase, without costs increasing. Poverty will decline, and the rise in population will be spontaneously checked.

Self-reliant farming – with minimal or zero external inputs – was the way we actually farmed, very successfully, in the past. Barring periods of war and excessive colonial oppression, our farmers were largely self-sufficient, and even produced surpluses, though generally smaller quantities of many more items. These, particularly perishables, were tougher to supply urban markets. And so the nation’s farmers were steered to grow chemically cultivated monocultures of a few cash-crops like wheat, rice, or sugar, rather than their traditional polycultures that needed no purchased inputs. [See Annexure 5 on an old, six-crop integral system (of cotton, 2 millets and 3 edible pulse legumes) which successfully provided farmers in low-rainfall regions with more diversity and continuity of yield round the year – without any irrigation or external inputs.]

In Conclusion: 

I hope you have the integrity to support widespread change to mixed organic farming, tree-planting and forest regeneration (with local resources and rights) – that India greatly needs. I would be glad to answer any query or doubt posed to me, preferably in writing. I also welcome you to visit my farm with reasonable prior notice. Since many years, I have extended an open invitation to any one interested in natural/organic farming to visit Kalpavruksha, on any Saturday afternoon between 2.00 and 4.00 pm., which continues till date.

I may finally add that this letter has been transcribed in English by Bharat Mansata, based on discussions with me in Gujarati. (The annexures hereto are excerpted from his forthcoming book,‘The Vision of Natural Farming,’ Earthcare Books, which draws largely on my experience.)

Whether or not you agree with my views, I look forward to your reply.

Yours sincerely,
Bhaskar H. Save

Bt Brinjal lobby will hit out with their "Weapons of Mass Destruction"

Ok guys, here we go, the real battle starts now!

Keeping aside my barrage of criticisms against the Environment Minister of the Indian Government, i step aside for a moment to say Thank you, Sir  for showing that there is a flicker of democracy & democratic space for dissent in this country.

But anyway you were bound by the "Cartagena Protocol". Weren't you ??

Now that hand shakes are over, let me come straight to the point.

What was the need for all the drama of public consultations, when you know for yourself that Bt Brinjal is pregnant with poison for both the growers & the consumers, why couldn't you veto it before it reached this level ?

We all know that the Agricultural minister Mr Pawar (a complete disaster !) & the Science & Technology minister Mr Pritivraj Chauhan ( who knows nothing about farming !) & all the members of the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee ( CEO's of Monsanto) now will be taking over.

Now you will be sidelined as a sidekick.

We also know that all our representations will disappear under the table.

We also know that Monsanto staff will be working overtime all over your esteemed offices & of course with very, very expensive gifts.

Monsanto staff will be working overtime with their media friends to fool us again by spelling out the lie that Bt Brinjal is safe to grow & as well as to eat. They will be falling over the journalists in print & visual media with whisky bottles & dinner passes to expensive hotels & to the journalists who do not budge, they will be offering tickets to the Jazz concert !

Then the real battle will start :

All of us who stood up against this corporate giant will be hounded, for starters they will find a way to hack into our computers. But they don't know how much we are inspired by Lisbeth Salander 

Then there will be libel cases filed, even defamation cases !!

Go on.

This is what they did with farmers in Spain, France, Italy, Indonesia. Remember they are a rotten Multi national Company, which has provided poison gas during the war in Vietnam.

Actually they do not know what is in store for them in this part of the world with battle hardened veteran farmers & now consumers who are crying out for safe food.

But remember, no farmer in India will buy Bt Brinjal seeds.

we are happy

so

leave us alone !! 

Bt Brinjal : Pregnant with poison. A fitting riposte to the Brief 38

One of the best things which happened in the last couple of months, since the farmers came to know of the impending release of Bt Brinjal was the research which has been done on it. even ordinary consumers have become aware of the dangers of Bt Brinjal, even vegetable vendors are saying no to Bt Brinjal, its really inspiring to see ordinary people like you & me voicing our opinion against something which we feel is unjust. Just the way we are all aghast at the functioning of Shiv Sena & MNS in Maharashtra, the most fitting replies comes to them from sadharan manoos (ordinary people)

Coming back to Bt Brinjal  The Brief 38, The Developement  & Regulation of Bt Brinjal in India has completely turned inside out by the ordinary farmers, consumers, we have shown where it belongs, it belongs in the dust bin.

On the other side it shows the havoc rogue scientists create in the life of farmers & how they try to feed us with poison.

I am reproducing here one of the best written responses on the Bt Brinjal, by Bharat Mansata.

If  these arguments are not enough, i wonder what will suffice for the "rape the earth, kill the farmers" coterie.

Open Letter

Mr Jairam Ramesh,

Minister of Environment and Forests

Government of India

Subject: Bt Brinjal

January 30, 2010

Dear Mr. Jairam Ramesh,

Any decision permitting the environmentaI release and sale of Bt Brinjal in India is fraught with the most serious, far-reaching and irreversible consequences affecting our land and her inhabitants – human and non-human – for generations to come. With over 50 more genetically modified (GM) crops reportedly in the Indian pipeline, we must exercise utmost caution. Once released, these cannot ever be recalled, nor can the chain reactions they unleash be stopped.

You are well aware that a broad cross-section of Indian citizens – including outstanding scientists of undisputable integrity, as also large numbers of farmers and consumers – have opposed the sanctioning of Bt Brinjal, expressing grave concern for the potential hazards posed to human, animal and environmental health, and to the very food security and sovereignty of India. These are certainly not trivial matters permitting any foolhardy haste in pushing Bt Brinjal down the throat of this nation.

Prudence demands that all the above burning concerns should first be rigorously addressed and satisfactorily resolved, before a highly controversial crop like Bt Brinjal is even considered an option. The people of India refuse to be anyone’s ‘lab-rats’ or sacrificial goats, as you have plainly heard from many.

From your Public Consultations at Kolkata and Bhubaneswar, it is clear beyond doubt that the people of the states of Orissa, Bihar and West Bengal – that produce 60% of all the brinjal grown in India – overwhelmingly oppose the release of Bt Brinjal. The Chief Ministers of these 3 States have reportedly written to you recording their opposition, and have pointed out that since agriculture is a state subject, the Centre should not impose the unwanted Bt Brinjal on them, even ‘unofficially’ via a neighbouring state, as would inevitably happen if Bt Brinjal is at all permitted anywhere in India.

At least 5 more States, including Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Kerala, and Madhya Pradesh, have also opposed the release of Bt Brinjal – to protect their citizens and the natural wealth of their land. Indeed, several of these States are in favour of a total ban or moratorium on GM crops. Till date, has any State pleaded for expediting the environmental release and sale of Bt Brinjal – without any further evaluation or debate in the matter? If so, please inform which State/s, and what urgent reason/s they have cited in justification.

I was able to speak briefly at your Kolkata Public Consultation on the 13^th January, when I also presented you copies of my relevant books, ‘The Great Agricultural Challenge’ and ‘Organic Revolution’. I now submit (herebelow) my detailed presentation, as requested by you.

1)  What is this unseemly rush for Indians to be the world’s first guinea-pigs for Bt Brinjal, bearing a bacterial gene of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) that secretes its own pesticide? A baingan (aka brinjal/eggplant/aubergine) engineered to be pregnant with poison! The first such Bt ‘food’, anywhere on earth, specifically targeted for human consumption rather than fibre or fodder – if India finally permits it.

2)    India’s foray into GM began with Bt Cotton. The toxin generated by the plant was aimed at the bollworm, but did not know where to stop killing. Thousands of cattle died grazing on the Bt crop residues. Thousands of farmers cultivating it were driven to suicide. And yet, introducing Bt in our brinjal? A popular vegetable – consumed widely by rich and poor alike – inexpensive, and in no short supply. Why? What is the need? A convincing reply remains elusive.

3)    Organic poly-cropping (mixed planting) with native local varieties of brinjals and other vegetables/plants, cultivated appropriately, have no significant pest problem. This is the experience of traditional/organic farmers all over the country. Various strategies of ‘Non-Pesticidal Management’ (NPM) successfully thwart or check pest damage. Hence, no Bt crops or synthetic pesticides are required if such classically sound agronomic methods are widely promoted. This is the saner, safer, simpler model -- offering multiple benefits in a sustainable, holistic manner – that India needs to follow, and which the Ministry of Environment and Forests must pro-actively canvas and support.

4)    While unsustainable monocultivation of brinjal does entail the use of chemical pesticides, the farmers are yet able to control the dosage, depending on pest incidence. With Bt, there is no scope for moderation according to need. The genetically tampered crop uncontrollably generates its noxious pesticide, 24x7, deep in every part and cell of the plant – including leaf, root and vegetable  And there is no possibility whatsoever of washing off the toxin. The poison is potently inescapable!

5)    There is no mandatory labelling of Bt Brinjal required to warn consumers, mocking their right of free choice, and thus trampling a fundamental human right enshrined in our constitution.

6)    To respect, beyond mere tokenism, the consumer’s inalienable right to choose his/her food on the basis of its time-tested safety, you must consider how any mandatory labelling of Bt/GM foods would be actually enforced in practice. In the absence of strictest enforcement, you should leave alone both the monster (Bt) and its tail, declining sanction for its release.

7)    Consumers, consumer organisations, doctors and mothers have warned that if Bt Brinjal infiltrates the market, significant sections of people, conscious of its hazards, may be forced to stop eating brinjals altogether. They would thus be deprived of a cheap and “excellent source  of vitamins, minerals, … and amide proteins” that our many indigenous brinjal varieties are acknowledged to provide. Such nutrients are especially needed by the poor, who your government is expected to protect.

8)    It is significant that brinjal is one of the most affordable vegetables abundantly available all over India, second only to the potato in the total quantity grown and consumed. Why should we wilfully destroy it? And who benefits economically from such destruction?

9)      India is the global centre of origin and diversity of brinjal, grown in this sub-continet since well over 4,000 years. Over 2,500 varieties of this vegetable have been recorded here! The release of Bt Brinjal will inevitably and progressively contaminate the hundreds of indigenous varieties that still remain. The well known instability of transgenic lines not only affects agronomic performance, but also safety, tending to enhance horizontal gene transfer and recombination. It is thus imperative to stop Bt Brinjal now before it is too late. Failure to do so would violate the farmers’ fundamental right to grow and save their traditional seeds of choice, free of externally imposed ruinous contamination.

10)  By sanctioning the release of Bt Brinjal, we would also be violating the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety adopted at the UN Convention on Biodiversity, to which India is a signatory. Most significantly, no GM crop is allowed to be grown in any region of the world that is a centre of origin or diversity of that crop, as with Brinjal in India. Approving the release of Bt Brinjal would thus be most reckless and inexcusable, causing a loss to both India and the whole earth – a crowning irony in the current ‘International Year of Biodiversity’ (2010)

11)  Besides being the centre of origin and diversity of many important agricultural crops, including rice, evolved here over millennia, India hosts at least two important global centres of exceptionally rich, uncultivated, indigenous biodiversity – the Western Ghats and North-eastern India – which are also at high risk from the new genetically tampered species.

12)  On 20-1-2010, the Supreme Court of India asked the Indian Government to detail the steps – including the rules and implementation mechanisms/measures – it has put in place to protect India's traditional crops and plants from possible contamination by field trials of genetically modified seeds. With Bt Brinjal too, we must know what mandatory steps your Ministry will take to protect our indigenous crops and plants from contamination. How will you ensure that the minimum prescribed isolation distance of 300 (three hundred) metres between Bt Brinjal and other old native varieties is not violated by commercial Bt growers, researchers or corporate interests.

13)  In West Bengal – which cultivates over a hundred indigenous varieties to produce 30% of India’s entire output of brinjal – more than 90% of the farmers have small or marginal holdings, each touching the next. Thus, even a 30 (thirty) metre isolation distance may be extremely difficult or impossible to ensure. This is true too of Orissa, Bihar and several other states. How then do you propose to protect such small farmers and their many traditional varieties from contamination? As cross-pollination in brinjal is possible even with an isolation distance of three kilometres (3000 metres) or more, how can you ensure that the pollinating agents of nature, the bees, etc., do not transgress the prescribed limit of 300 metres that seems rather arbitrary?

14)  Prof TK Bose, former Vice Chancellor of Bidhan Chandra Agricultural University, and a veteran agricultural scientist, warns that the release of Bt Brinjal would also likely result in the contamination of the entire Solanacae family of crops to which brinjal belongs. This includes the potato, tomato, and chilli, portending disastrous consequences to the nutritional security and livelihood security of consumers and farmers. As already pointed out, potato is the most widely consumed vegetable in India, followed by the brinjal – both from the same Solanacae family.

15)  It was also pointed out to you at the Kolkata Public Consultation that the fruit/shoot borers, for which Bt claims to offer protection, are only two of the fifteen or so insect pests that attack the brinjal in monocultural cash-cropping of this vegetable. The concerned farmers clearly do not expect any significant reduction in the use of pesticides by planting Bt Brinjal; rather, they are apprehensive that more chemicals (both fertilisers and pesticides) may soon be needed.

16)  GM crops are totally prohibited in most nations. In much of Europe, including UK, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, the ban continues in defiance of WTO directives. Over 85% of global GM cultivation is confined to just 4 countries: US, Canada, Argentine and Brazil; and to a mere 4 crops – corn, soya bean, cotton and canola.

17)  India’s Planning Commission Task Force to review GM policies and laws, chaired by the eminent geneticist, Suman Sahai, recommended that our regulatory system must first be vastly improved, and all alternatives thoroughly explored. Meanwhile, there should be no commercial release of GM crops. But throwing caution to the wind, rice, pigeon pea, mustard are already under open field trials; to be followed by wheat, jowar, ragi, bajra, corn, cassava, potato, onion, sugarcane, tea; also various pulses, oilseeds, vegetables, fruits and spices. Bt Brinjal seems just the first test case, opening the floodgates for the rest to follow, unless checked right now.

18)  The Supreme Court of India appointed Dr Pushpa Bhargava – globally renowned scientist, honoured with Padmabhushan, a former Director of the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, and Vice Chairman of India’s National Knowledge Commission – to oversee the Genetic Engineering Approvals Committee (GEAC).  Dr Pushpa Bhargava has categorically declared: GEAC failed to take note of “the numerous research publications by well-known and highly credible scientists working in prestigious institutions, … that have appeared in some of the world’s best known scientific journals,” warning against indiscriminate release of GM crops, which cannot be recalled, no matter how much damage they cause. Dr Bhargava adds, “ … some 30 tests are needed … Monsanto has done less than 10; and we have no facility in the country to determine whether the tests were actually done, leave aside their validity… There were many scientific errors even in these tests, (which were all) on samples provided by Monsanto, a company that has proved itself most untrustworthy… No studies were done on the effects of Bt on soil microbial species, or on soil nutrients, or on cattle microflora. …It is perfectly possible that the increased health problems in the US in the last decade are due to increased consumption of GM corn and soy.”

19)  Following a Public Interest Litigation in the Supreme Court of India, leading to the public disclosure of Monsanto-Mahyco’s Bt Brinjal biosafety data, an independent analysis of such data by a team led by Prof Seralini of the Committee for Independent Research and Information on Genetic Engineering (CRIIGEN), France, concluded: “Bt Brinjal release into the environment may present a serious risk to human and animal health and should be forbidden.” It pointed out that the longest toxicity tests done were for only 90 days, and hence did not assess long-term effects like the development of cancerous tumours, or effects on succeeding generations fed on the Bt crop. Will Monsanto, Mahyco, or the Indian Government advise citizens not to consume Bt Brinjal for more than 3 months?!

20)  In case Monsanto and Mahyco are confident of even the long-term safety of Bt Brinjal, what legally binding responsibility and liability are they willing to commit themselves to if adverse health and environmental consequences do manifest within the next 5, 10 or 20 years?

21) The effects of Bt Brinjal consumption on young children, pregnant mothers, the aged and diseased, as well as the synergistic ‘cocktail effects’ of multi-toxins with Bt have also not been studied at all.

22)  For any truly independent system of objective evaluation, India must set up a lab of her own, having high public credibility, which must be governed and staffed by an impartial body of people with unquestionable integrity, who have no economic link/s whatsoever (direct or indirect) with any GM producing or marketing company. It is such a body that must undertake – in a totally transparent, peer-reviewed manner – all the required bio-safety and related tests, monitoring, assessment and evaluation, including multi-generational studies. This has been stressed by the Supreme Court appointee, Dr Bhargava, by the Planning Commission Task Force on GM policies and laws, and by many others, including a host of acclaimed scientists and other citizens. Without such independent, credible testing and evaluation, any approval of a GM crop would only be based on make-belief science – and engineered/tampered second-hand information – remaining at the mercy of extra-territorial economic and political interests.

23)  Multinational corporations like Monsanto make no secret of their resolve to wrench total strategic control of world agriculture through control of seeds and other inputs. Already, nearly half the global trade in seeds is controlled by a handful of MNCs, of whom Monsanto is the undisputed leader in the controversial GM crops. Within India too, the USA and American MNCs presently account for more than half of the $1 billion organised seed market. Fortunately, almost 80% of India's farmers still follow the traditional system of saving, sharing and exchanging/bartering seeds, and hence do not buy them. It is this section that the MNCs greatly want to target.

24)  Shri Vasant Futane, an organic farmer of Amravati District, Maharashtra, relates that no cotton seeds apart from Bt are now sold in his area; the local farmers there (as also in Andhra Pradesh) have no choice but to buy Bt. This is a consequence of aggressive ‘market capture’, beyond misinformation. Shri Futane adds, “Our healthy indigenous seeds, handed down over generations, are inevitably contaminated. What right do the GM companies have to pollute our seeds, the very lifeblood of Indian agriculture and many millions of self-reliant livelihoods?”

25)  The WB Agriculture Commission, chaired by Prof RN Basu, recommended in its 2009 Report “a complete ban on all open field trials and commercial cultivation of GM crops” at least until all relevant safety and sovereignty concerns were “rigorously addressed and resolved.” Other States that oppose the release of Bt/GM crops include: Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala. Several other states too, like Tamil Nadu, have expressed reservations about allowing Bt Brinjal, and hence oppose any hasty decision in the matter.

26)  Overall, there has been significantly increased consumption of chemical fertilizers, pesticides and irrigation with Bt Cotton and other GM crops, rising progressively over time. This is the experience worldwide. Leading GM seed companies like Monsanto, Du Pont, Syngenta, Bayer are also the top pesticide companies in the world. They have no economic interest in reducing their sale of chemicals, from which they have made massive fortunes.

27)  The Chairperson of India’s Agricultural Scientists Recruitment Board projected that even a 6% expansion in GM crop area would lead to a doubling of chemical fertilizer consumption! And already, India’s annual fertilizer subsidy bill stands at a whopping Rs 1.2 lakh crore, a recurrent and mounting expenditure – each year – that starkly exposes the inherent economic bankruptcy of the industrial model of agriculture, even without considering the huge uncalculated costs of ecological devastation, water scarcity, health problems and lost livelihoods – suffered by present and future generations.

28)  A Canadian Govt study showed that after just 4-5 years of commercial growing, herbicide resistant GM oilseed rape (canola) had cross-pollinated to create invasive super weeds resistant to upto 3 different broad-spectrum herbicides. Similarly, a recent analysis of data from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) reveals that the cultivation of GM corn, soybeans and cotton has increased the overall use of toxic herbicides by 318 million pounds in the U.S. over 13 years from 1996 to 2008, because of the emergence of herbicide resistant super weeds infesting millions of acres. About 46% of this increase occurred over the last 2 years, 2007 & 2008, for which data was available. In our Indian agro-climatic conditions, such problems are expected to manifest much faster.

29)  Bt insecticide producing GM crops have inexorably, over time, led to increased resistance in pests, resulting in rising chemical applications and the emergence of ‘super-pests’. In China, Bt Cotton seemed initially successful in suppressing the boll weevil, but in subsequent years, there appeared increasing populations of pests like mealy bugs and mirids, highly resistant to Bt, necessitating more spraying and/or stronger pesticides – a growing treadmill of toxins. Vandana Shiva (Navdanya) similarly reports that in the Vidharbha region of Maharashtra, the proliferation of aphids, jassids, army bug and mealy bug has resulted in a whopping 13 (thirteen) fold increase in the use of pesticides!

30 ) Ironically, Bt producing crops irreparably damage beneficial insect populations, including bees and butterflies, not originally meant to be targeted. This significantly affects the output of all crops that such insects pollinate. Bt crops also endanger many soil dwelling microorganisms and insects vital for the soil’s fertility, as well as beneficial pest predators that are friends of the farmer. (The predator species greatly help to check the build-up of pest populations.) But of course, the agri-business MNCs are not complaining about such ‘collateral damage’. 

31)  There is growing evidence of Bt toxins entering, lingering, and accumulating in the food chain, thereby posing a grave hazard to humans, animals, aqauatic life and soil organisms.

32) The seeds of Bt/GM crops necessarily have to be repurchased every season from the Company producing them. These patented varieties cannot be re-sown from the farmer’s own harvest, as with traditional seeds. Once the local native seeds are lost, or too hard to source, the helpless farmers inevitably have to pay sharply increasing amounts for buying the MNC seeds.

33) The world is already producing more than enough to feed the entire  population on earth. But almost a billion people suffer from hunger or undernourishment, because the requisite food is not available to them at an affordable price. With GM pushing up production costs, maldistribution and hunger are sure to rise among the poorest sections, apart from malnourishment and cumulative toxemia.

34)  GM crops are strictly prohibited in organic farming anywhere in the world, as pointed out by the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM). Presence of GM in any crop immediately debars it from organic certification, with serious consequences for organic exports, a “sunrise sector of the global economy”.

35) The medicinal use of various native brinjal varieties (uncooked) in Ayurveda is seriously threatened through contamination by Bt Brinjal, rendering toxic the intended medicines.

36) The development of antibiotic resistance, directly linked to the consumption of GM crops containing antibiotic resistant markers, is another glaring consequence. Many doctors believe that this would render ineffective various national health programmes like the drive against drug-resistant tuberculosis.

37)  GM technology, artificially transferring genes from one species to another, permanently and progressively alters Nature’s blueprint. For example, the world’s first GM vegetable, the ‘Flavr Savr Tomato’ (containing a fish gene meant to delay ripening) was withdrawn from the market under public pressure, but the genetic contamination it unleashed cannot be recalled.

38)  What stops highly secretive GM corporate giants – not known for scrupulousness – from genetically modifying rice to contain a scorpion’s gene, or wheat to bear a pig’s gene, or sugar to include a cow’s gene? Wilful sabotage and bio-terrorism, beyond plain mischief, are also possible. An introduced bacterial toxin can be modified to make it especially hazardous to humans. The concerned companies would obviously suppress any such information, witholding it from governments. While direct toxicity may be detected through tests, induced carcinogenic activity or toxicity caused through interaction with other foods could take decades to detect, if ever. The danger is particularly significant in the absence of independent testing (and testing facilities), monitoring and transparent evaluation by an impartial body of competent people with high integrity.

39)  Genetically tampered ‘Terminator Seeds’ or ‘Suicide Seeds’, originally developed by the US Department of Agriculture and some seed MNCs, contain a ‘Terminator Gene’ that prevents plants from producing fertile seeds. The ostensible intent of such engineered sterility was to force farmers to buy new seeds every year, rather than save and replant from their own harvest. But once the terminator seeds are released into a region, the trait of seed sterility can pass to other non-genetically-engineered crops and plants, making most or all of the seeds in the region sterile! The possibility that the terminator gene could be transferred is not denied by anyone. In fact, the tendency of the inherently unstable GM crops/plants to ‘leak’ traits is exceptionally high. Following worldwide condemnation of the terminator seeds, the UN’s Convention on Biological Diversity (2000) recommended a de facto moratorium on their field-testing and commercial sale. This was re-affirmed in 2006. But now, there is a new push by companies like Monsanto to overturn the moratorium, and try to re-introduce terminator seeds, ironically under the guise of ‘bio-safety’. If they succeed, this would be an unparallelled disaster to all humanity, agriculture, and the world of Nature.

40)  Even forgetting conspiracy theories, and assuming for a moment that companies like Monsanto are compassionate angels, more interested in harnessing the power of ‘advanced technology’ for the progress and well-being of humanity, rather than money and power for themselves, here is an interesting quote from an outstanding organic farmer, now 87, hailed as the ‘Gandhi of Natural Farming’. He says in his Open Letter to MS Swaminathan (The Great Agricultural Challenge, Earthcare Books): “By its very mandate, genetic manipulation strives to maximise the ‘performance’ of certain essentially limited features, not knowing what the wider consequences may be. But Nature works through the interplay of an incomprehensibly vast array of factors, far beyond the professional concerns or cognitive reach of genetic engineers. While (they) may have certain economic or political interests in mind, they cannot even begin to imagine trying to forge an overall balance that fosters health – the mysterious harmony of diverse elements and forces.” 

41)  The British Medical Association (BMA), with over 120,000 members – representing more than 80% of British doctors – has asked people to reject all GM foods. It has also called for a halt to all GM food trials.

42)  More recently, in May 2009, a leading US association of physicians,  the American Academy of Environmental Medicine (AAEM) released its position paper on GM foods, stating that they "pose a serious health risk, … (particularly) in the areas of toxicology, allergy and immune function, reproductive health, and metabolic, physiologic and genetic health." The AAEM called for a moratorium on GM foods, and immediate implementation of long term safety testing and labelling of GM foods. It further called upon all physicians to educate their patients, the medical community and the public to avoid GM foods.

43)  The only published human feeding study revealed what may be the most dangerous problem from GM foods. The gene inserted into such food transfers into the DNA of bacteria living inside our intestines and continues to function. Thus, long after we stop eating GMOs, we may still have potentially harmful GM proteins produced continuously inside of us. Put more plainly, eating a corn chip produced from Bt corn might transform our intestinal bacteria into living pesticide factories, possibly for the rest of our lives. It is thus no surprise that the scientists working for companies like Monsanto, reportedly refuse to eat any GM food themselves if they can avoid it!

44)  After four years of study and deliberation by an international panel of over 400 agricultural scientists from 60 countries, the final report of the ‘International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology for Development’ (IAASTD) was released in April 2008. It recommended that small-scale farmers and agro-ecological methods are the way forward, with indigenous knowledge playing an important role. It pointedly noted that GM crops are not the answer to hunger, poverty or climate change.”

45)  To conclude, here is another quote from Shri Bhaskar Save, the wise old farmer: “ If only we see that there is nothing lacking in the genetic code of the myriad time-tested species gifted by Nature, we would realise that there is no need to tamper with their DNA ribbon of life. And that much saner and happier paths exist to provide for the well-being of all -- Sarvamangalam!”

I do hope the above wisdom prevails on you, and you steadfastly refuse to grant sanction for the release of Bt Brinjal or any other GM crop in India.

With regards,

Bharat Mansata

Why Bt Brinjal resembles the torture chambers of the Indian state.

The way Bt Brinjal is going to be shoved into our throat by the Indian government & its allies (read) Monsanto & Mahyco & their set of rogue scientists who keep repeating a lie a thousand times, hoping that eventually the lie will become a truth, then in India we have their spokesmen & millions of CEO's including a deadly concoction of what is called as Bubus, Netas & Media combo. They form a heady combination. 

If anybody has got tortured by the police or the Armed forces should know. There is always the bad torturer & there is always a mild one. The bad one goes about his job of breaking one down ruthlessly, he would pulverize one to ignominy, basically will leave you in so much pain through the thrashing & also through the usage of electric shocks through one's genitals. To remain quite & dignified  during this ordeal can be a bit tough to say the least.

Then he leaves you for a couple of hours to recoup & lick the wounds, then the next guy comes in, actually one fears the worst. Has he come in to put salt over the wounds, to enjoy his pervert sadism ? But surprisingly he will appear decent, allows the luxury of a drink of water, though he does not allow us to cover our modesty, (after the torture, who cares about it anyway; since one had become a zombie) & then he slowly asks us questions in a pleasant way  "Guna khabul kara na, bhau", admit to your mistake no, you wouldn't have got thrashed around so much etc, etc. Eventually at the end of it if one holds one's dignity, one will be anyway framed under the pre-planned set of cases. (Here i am not getting into the extra judicial ways of torture of the Indian state)

As we observe the drama of how the conmen in this con game of introduction of Bt Brinjal, i just cannot ignore the similarities with the way of police torture & the way Bt Brinjal is been introduced. Here the Environmental minister tries to appear as the good guy, but it is only a mask that he wears, the 5 public consultations were just a drama enacted.

In the background Monsanto, its rogue scientists, the babu, neta, media combo has already made up their minds. Who are Indian farmers in their scheme of things ?? They are just grasshoppers ( infact "pests" in their language) to be crushed under their leather shoes in their drive for profits. 

More than 2 lac farmers have committed suicide under the assault of the deadly combo of seed companies, fertilizer companies, pesticide companies & the their coterie of rogue scientists who have tasted blood & are baying for more.

The divide between the so called scientific community and farmers have always been stark.

Agriciulture, plant, soil scientists sitting huddled in inside their labs doing their tests & with no live contact with farmers. Then on the other hand it is the farmers who are infact scientists par excellence, slogging it out in their farms come what may, whether it is the heat of the summer, whether it is the downpour during the rains, or in the cold during the winter, we brave it all. We see our farm & farmland not only as our source of livelihood but it is also our "padashala". Our observations about plants & soil science has always been & will always be a quantum leap more than any of the so called scientists.

At any given time a farmer pitted against a so called scientist will win any argument vis-a-vis plant science, soil, pest control, fertilizer inputs hands down. Usually it is the scientist who will have his/her tail between the legs & will be itching to fetch his note pad out to take a few notes. But he/she does not do it, because it indicates a ultimate rebuke to the scientist, especially the one's from brahminical background.

And so the story goes..........

So we have had the great historical mistakes like the so called Green Revolution, in which the scientists of the Indian nation fell over each other in shaking their bums to invite the Americans to introduce the Green revolution. And it is all there for every one to see, after 60 years of the rape of earth, what has happened to the farmlands in Punjab along the Bhakra Nangal dam ?? The so called fathers, mothers, uncles, aunts of the green revolution haven't you seen the land go saline ?? Haven't you seen the land go unfit for cultivation ?? Haven't you seen it ?? In case you have seen it why the hell are you quite ?? We have records to prove how Mr M.S. Swaminathan went about destroying the work of Shri Richaria, who infact had a more sustainable green revolution going with the farmers in India.

Ok, if the people behind the Green Revolution had made a mistake, we expect them to learn & correct their mistakes. But for 60 years it seems, they never had any dialogue with the soil, crops or even the farmers.The only dialogue they seemed to have were with the seed companies with such notorious human rights record like  Monsanto. So after the debatable green revolution, then we saw the introduction of Bt Cotton, They all got drunk and carried away in seeing farmer after falling into their trap & committing suicide. More than 2 lacs have succumbed to it..

And now they bring in Bt Brinjal.

The protests all over the India must have had an impact. But beware; to introduce Bt Brinjal, they will. We will hear on Jan 10 at 12.30 pm. If our protests had an impact we will hear an ambiguous statement which will say one more review committee has been formed, so that they can bide their time & quietly introduce it at a later date.

The environment minister says we cannot ignore science !

How dumb can he get if he is equating science to the science of the rogue companies & their coterie of  rogue scientists. He thinks that is science !!

He does not think that we farmers who have preserved 2,400 varieties of brinjal  are not scientific in our thinking & have nothing to contribute to the growth of science, especially in the science of growing brinjal year after year without any losses.

Infact Mr minister we are more scientifically progressive & scientifically true than any of your rogue scientists & rogue seed companies.

What if 2 lac IT professionals commit suicides ?? or get killed by eating Bt Brinjal ??

Over 2 lac farmers in this country have committed suicide.

It is an occurrence which has no parallels in history in any other country, it has no parallels in any different century or age either.  Is is interesting to note that over 90% of the farmers who committed suicide were deep in debt & were cash crop farmers who did not grow their own food on the farm.

The nation has lost 2 lac providers of food,  Yes, providers of food, yet the nation has not woken up. The powers to be want to fleece & drive the farmers into more debt, into more suicides & their latest con game is by the agricultural minister in the attempt to introduce Bt Brinjal.

My question is :

What if 2 lac IT professionals commit suicide ??

Do i need to pretend to know what the response will be.

The media & the powers to be will be hand in hand & would have cracked solutions after solutions on a war footing, because it is their sweetheart IT professionals who are getting disenchanted with life & are been pushed to the wall to commit suicide

Recently i was reading an interview with Mr Sharad Pawar, minister of agriculture in the Sakaal Times. He says he does not understand why farmers are protesting against the Bt Brinjal & says he is disappointed with all the protests !!

How dumb can one get !
How distant from reality can one get !

His advisor on agricultural matters Mr M.S. Swaminathan says Bt  Brinjal should not be introduced in a hurry. 

Its so typical of these men to remain ambiguous, actually one can see how keen they are to shove the Bt Brinjal down on our throats, actually they were counting the perks they would be getting from Monsanto. But now with the unprecedented protests all over the country, the are sitting like a dog with its tail between its legs.

Cooking up a storm !!

I like to cook or rather i love cooking for family & friends.
But this was a first time i cooked for about 35 people.
The occasion was two of Gustavo's friends were leaving school
so it was 11 children & their parents & other siblings
Partner was travelling & was coming in only the night before,
i had a word with soul mate or twin flame to help,
as always she gave her heart & soul into it.

We started cooking at 4am & we crossed the line at 10.30 am
What turned out was actually something out of this world
Chicken Xacuti (goanese), Dhanshak dal (parsi), Vegetable Stew (kerala), Turkish Aubergine (mediterranean), Stuffed Okra (rajasthani)  & a salad which blew everyone's mind off with grated carrots & radish mixed with fresh oranges & seasoned with honey & mustard.......  drool !!
Twin flames cakes were such a hit, they were all licked clean by all & sundry

Though i was dead tired to enjoy the meal,
but i devoured some of the left overs the next day !!

Au revoir till next time !!

So near, yet so far

I am very instinctive as a person

its like sometimes when i see a person, i just know Yes, we can be friends

or even they other way around when i feel No way we can co exist

Its the same with so many things in daily life

it is the same when i feel....... No, this is not going to click

But this feels very different

Instincts tell me ....... this is it !!

The feel of it, the timing of it, the people together in the search, the quietness of the area, so many other things are falling in place, for eg. the finances, the time for the shift etc among many others ........

Inshallah !!