permaculture

[Suraj Kumar <suraj@sunson.in>]

Unlike the US's democracy where you can "Talk to the congress", in
India, you have nobody to talk to. If at all there is a
representative, he is highly unreachable and he would be busy wielding
his powers to make corporate ties and his own businesses.

The System in India 'uses' nature, exploits it, exports it and in the
process allows a few ruling/wealthy elite to gain a lot out of it.
They tell us stories and many people believe them. In India, the
System exploits and discriminates based on caste so much so that
fundamental resources such as water and land get taken away from the
lower caste people. This somehow ends up continuing year after year
since the lower caste people keep voting for those politicians who
keep breaking their promises election after election.

So in essence, I've given up hope in The System.

Look away to the brighter side: The poor indian farmer has interacted
with nature quite a lot more than the disconnected "upper classes" of
the society. I'm certain he will turn to mother nature for his needs
if you just show him the way. He has already by now realized that this
oppression has to end - and it is possible to get there with Freedom
of Food. Lead by example and others will automatically follow. What
doesn't exist here but great sunshine, plenty of rainfall that can be
captured and reasonably fertile soils?

The only problem is, the TN govt has just passed a bill that in
essense says "Teach permaculture and you'll be behind bars". I'm quite
saddened by it - nevertheless, I believe, we can bring happiness by
bearing the brunt for a bit longer while we build permaculture forests
and gardens that will be free of borders.

If you remember, I'd started a thread earlier to ask why permaculture
seems more 'closed' than a movement that has a huge potential to move
ahead. I think I now know the answer - its simple - the wealthy west
is merely fighting peak oil and the other approaching challenges
because of it's own stupidities, but in India we'd have to fight
inside people's heads - freedom of thought comes with freedom of food.
The 'way' permaculture is being adopted in the west will look
radically different from how India would have to adopt given it's own
challenges and I guess I didn't 'relate' to the west's ways of doing
things earlier.

Rants aside, I have no doubts permaculture will be the sweet pill to
cure the ills of the people of this part of the world.

  -Suraj

On Wed, Jul 29, 2009 at 12:06 AM, Ossi Kakko<ossi@kulma.net> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> This seems to be about implementation of the Indo-US Knowledge Initiative
> on Agricultural Education, Research, Services and Commercial Linkages (KIA
> or sometimes AKI), which was signed by dr. Manmohan Singh (as a prime
> minister of indian government) with the president of USA in 2007 all
> together with the Indo-US nuclear deal.
>
> Why not demand immediate stop for implementation of such flaw and share
> another kind of experience?
>
> Ossi Kakko, Finland
>
> PS. some linkage
>
> actual bill:
>
> http://www.tn.gov.in/stationeryprinting/extraordinary/2009/150-Ex-IV-1.pdf
>
> and about KIA
> http://www.csrees.usda.gov/nea/international/pdfs/india_proposal.pdf
> http://www.icar.org.in/Joint-Deliverables-of-Sixth-Board-Meeting.pdf
>
> with critique from Indian centre for sustainable agriculture:
>
> http://iaald.blogspot.com/2007/12/indo-us-knowledge-initiative-on.html
> http://www.csa-india.org/kiaworkshop/KIAMAINPAGE1.htm
>
> http://www.kicsforum.net/index.php/tod/kics/index.php?option=com_content&view=section&layout=blog&id=41&Itemid=167
>
> http://www.savesanghavi.com/
>
>
>> I'm from India and I thought this would be
>> interesting/shocking/sick/useful news to people here.
>>
>> News#1:
>> The south indian state of Tamil Nadu has recently passed a bill in the
>> TN Assembly that prevents anybody without a specific type of
>> "Agricultural degree" from providing agricultural consultancy. Breach
>> of law can result in Rs.10,000/- fine and/or upto 6 months of
>> imprisonment... and guess who shapes the course material? The World
>> Bank (which sure has well intending, purely humanitarian, non-profit
>> goals the only problem is, the means to achieve those goals are
>> dictated by people who've been doing some ping-pong from
>> Mega-Corporations to such bodies).
>>
>> News#2:
>> TN's neighbouring state: Andhra Pradesh, now has government backed
>> "Co-operatives" which will function to solve the "ultimate problem" of
>> inefficiencies due to duplication of effort and wasted resources. IOW,
>> if a hundred different farmers produce compost, there will tend to be
>> a bell-curve shaped inefficiency pattern where only some 20% will be
>> good while the majority will be producing 'average quality' stuff.
>> So... they say "this should be done centrally". Of course, you get a
>> more accurate picture when I mention that they will use "emerging
>> technologies" like "Biotech". The icing on the cake is this: The
>> farmers are encouraged to sell their land to the "members of the
>> co-operative" whose job is to make these farms more centralised,
>> planned and efficient. The farmers in turn get paper "shares" and can
>> be worry free for the rest of their lives for afterall, the shares
>> will perpetually keep growing by a specific percent, wouldn't it?. If
>> unwilling (who is unwilling? The co-operative isn't willing to buy?
>> the farmer isn't willing to sell? I don't know), the government will
>> buy the land at "standard market rates".
>>
>> Like someone says in a famous movie: "This country is going straight to
>> hell!".
>>
>>   -Suraj
>>
>> References:
>> 1.
>> http://devinder-sharma.blogspot.com/2009/07/tamil-nadu-introduces-draconian-bill-to.html
>> 2. http://www.thehindu.com/2009/07/27/stories/2009072752250300.htm
>>
>>
>> --
>> "The Greatest Shortcoming of the Human Race is
>> our Inability to Understand the Exponential Function"
>> Dr. Albert Bartlett
>>
>
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-- 
"The Greatest Shortcoming of the Human Race is
our Inability to Understand the Exponential Function"
Dr. Albert Bartlett