Way to go?
A foreword
Finding India that is Bharat
For a government that professes to stoutly defend national interests the agenda that is being followed for Indian agriculture is indeed mystifying to say the least. On the one hand, there is a deafening roar about the appeals to Indian-ness, to tradition that almost borders on the ridiculous or fantasy yet when it actually matters, the powers-that-be skip around the indigenous to embrace global unbridled capitalism. Indian-nss, national interests now segue with the global corporate’s profiteering drive, in the name of development, using the discourse of progress. The ruling party’s narrow sectarian nationalism seems perfectly at ease with global capital; the perversions of the former that exclude the historic diversity and together-ness so unique to this culture are matched increasingly with the distortions of the latter that would allow for the gradual but definitive ruin of the sector that sustains the majority of the Indian people. You would have thought that a policymaker whose rhetoric so passionately evokes Bharat would draw sustenance and inspiration for policymaking as a tool of ‘progress’ from the watan, from the land on which for generations Indian farmers, men and women have cherished the soil, the resources bestowed by nature with practices and rituals borne of a keen sense of sustainability of all life and the environment.
But the call of corporate interests and the global marketplace take precedence. ‘Bharat’ is only for grandstanding; we want to learn nothing from its deep-rooted practices, its rhythms of life. The present dispensation, for all its talk of rootedness is rootless; it is willing to draw its inspiration from the rejection of tradition, of the indigenous, of local knowledge systems where it matters most; in cherishing and nurturing sustainable livelihoods and life In this sense the petty nationalism happily adopts the positivist contempt for what is considered “backward” for the glamaour of corporatized ‘progress’-in agriculture, the sector that least needs it.
The push for corporatized farming exposes the hollowness of the claim to speak for indigenous farming. The hoopla raised to the level of a spectacle about millets even at the G20 not only rang hollow on its own terms given the low priority it has in Indian agriculture in any case and the fact that nothing has been done by way of policy to encourage its cultivation and more importantly, its consumption other than as exotica for the urban middle class; it’s importance or strategic place in the scheme of policymaking has been undercut by the earnestness and alacrity with which policy is moving towards corporatize farming with GM crops and multinational seed companies.
Bharat Dogra’s essay below and the other ones he has written earlier point to the crises waiting to happen in the rural sector, to livelihoods and to the environment as the government rushes in where angels all over the world fear to tread. In a sample bibliography The Beacon provides below, the reader gets an idea of the magnitude of the damage that corporates such as Monsanto have inflicted even in the USA, evidence that, coupled with India-based research by eminent scientists, unconnected with any corporate interests have provided; evidence that should encourage us to look for sustainable farming, as Dogra does, in traditional systems of agriculture in villages: In Bharat that is India. –The Beacon
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It is not too long ago that a prolonged farmers’ movement in India to resist three new laws aimed at increasing corporate control over Indian farming had captured the imagination of the country. The widespread support and sympathy for this movement eventually led to the three controversial farm laws being scrapped by the government.
It soon started becoming clear, however, that while the three specific laws had been given up, the overall government policy of increasing corporate control over the farm sector was going ahead. In fact soon this was evident increasingly in the food-processing sector too. The government also opted for a path led by highly controversial palm oil plantations ignoring the rich heritage of several traditional oilseeds. Even more alarming has been the government policy of favoring and promoting GM food crops, a radical departure from the days when the evidence-based moratorium imposed by the previous UPA government on Bt brinjal after going through a process of democratic decision-making had received worldwide appreciation. In sharp contrast, in the context of the even more important GM mustard, the government has now appeared in the role of an unabashed promoter of GM food crops, thereby increasing in unprecedented ways very serious problems for the ecologically protective and healthy growth of the farm and food sector since the spread of GM crops and food has severe adverse impacts on environment and health, as confirmed repeatedly by many senior scientists of the highest integrity (not compromised by big corporate agribusiness interests).
However in keeping with the agribusiness led path, the government has been periodically making scattered announcements in favor of natural farming and ecologically protective farming, ignoring the fact that this cannot co-exist with GM crops and corporate-led farming model that invariably promotes hazardous agro-chemicals as well. Hence what we have seen in recent times is that the government has been trying to somehow dress up ecologically harmful corporate-led model of farming as a model that is ecologically sustainable and good for farmers. In this attempt it is able to draw from the wider efforts being made at the global level by big corporate interests to present a false picture of the kind of farming and food system needed in the context of climate change mitigation and adaptation to serve their narrow interests.
The position of the Indian government has been increasingly falling in line with this false propaganda of the big agribusiness multinational companies of the richest countries which often receive very significant powerful backing from their own governments as well.
Some of the most senior learned and distinguished scientists of India including Dr. Pushpa Bhargawa and Dr. R.H. Richharia had clearly warned against these tendencies as being very harmful for the country.
The recent MoU signed between the giant agribusiness multinational company Bayer (which became bigger after the merger of Monsanto) and the ICAR (the Indian Council of Agricultural Research) should be viewed to be in keeping with this wider trend and taking it forward, a trend that will endanger our most important crops such as rice. Earlier there have been important movements in Chattisgarh to protect rice biodiversity from being captured by big agribusiness and seed multinational companies but the new developments do not augur well for such biodiversity.
Must Read: Bayer + Monsanto: A Poisonous Combination
Related: https://www.reuters.com/business/investors-want-25-bln-class-action-over-bayers-monsanto-deal-report-2022-01-03/
Surely the government must be aware of the billions of dollars involved in legal cases and the huge payments being made to settle them by the Bayer-Monsanto combine for ignoring health- hazard warnings? Last year in the US for example, a federal appeals court rejected rejected a bid by Monsanto owner Bayer AG to head off claims brought by cancer victims alleging that Monsanto failed to warn them of the risks of Roundup. (Court Rejects Bayer’s Latest Attempt to Duck Liability in Monsanto Cancer Case)
Related Reading: https://beyondpesticides.org/dailynewsblog/2021/12/review-shows-that-monsanto-bayer-claims-of-glyphosate-safety-not-supported-by-credible-science/
The proper role of the government in India should be to ensure that its policies donot xpose its people to such hazards and where they have been unfortunately exposed already they should be duly compensated for this.
Instead, the government goes ahead to sign agreements with those agribusiness interests which are most responsible for creating serious hazards in farming and food sector! If the government wants to collaborate for eco-friendly farming with western countries, then there are several agencies that are doing some genuinely good work for ecologically protective farming and with whom the government can inter-act and collaborate. But in point of fact, foreign collaboration is not a big need at all in this context as the know-how for ecologically protective, safe, low-cost and self-reliant farming in keeping with local conditions (which must anyway be a highly decentralized effort) is certainly available within the country and several farmers including small farmers and women farmers have been giving wonderful results. All that the government needs to do it to sincerely give a helping hand in the right spirit for such efforts and spend its farm budget in such a way that the budget goes mainly to promote priorities of ecologically protective farming. It can be stated very loud and clear that to promote the cause of ecologically protective farming, we do not have anything to learn or gain from Bayer or the likes of Bayer. We are fully self-reliant as far as spread of ecologically protective farming and safe food are concerned, although in the true spirit of learning, we should always be willing to learn from any farmer or scientist anywhere in the world who is sincere and honest in contributing to ecologically protective farming.
The writer is Honorary Convener, Campaign to Save Earth Now. His recent books include India’s Quest for Sustainable Farming and Healthy Food, Man over Machine (Mahatma Gandhi’s ideas for our times), Protecting Earth for Children) and When the Two Streams Met ( India’s freedom movement).
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The writer is Honorary Convener, Campaign to Save Earth Now. His recent books include Planet in Peril, Man over Machine and India’s Quest for Sustainable Farming and Healthy Food.
Bharat Dogra in the Beacon
Your book listing/reviews are extremely useful. Please devote a full section on it as most newspapers these days have dropped book reviews entirely and we don’t know about new releases. Browsing at bookshops too has declined. Many thanks.