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ALLIANCE FOR DEMOCRATISING AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH IN SOUTH ASIA 4 September, 2008 Most of us in our development years have very strongly articulated the concept of food sovereignty. In our work most of us have argued and struggled to reclaim agriculture reclaim land, reclaim food production, reclaim seeds and reclaim knowledge. But there has not been much articulation about reclaiming agricultural research. Though I am sure that almost everyone of us would be unanimous in our view that into this string of reclaiming our autonomy as farmers we do seriously consider reclaiming agricultural research. Probably it gets a bit unarticulated because some of us might be a shade unsure whether farmers can and will do agresearch at all. PIL: Prohibit Release of Harmful GM Seeds The Deccan Development is a co petitioner in a Public Interest Litigation filed in the Supreme Court of India, the apex Indian legal court. Please see recent Supreme Court notice to Centre. Gendering Agriculture: Putting Women First Having worked for over two decades with small and marginal women farmers from low income dalit families in the Medak District of Andhra Pradesh, the Deccan Development Society has been privileged to acquire a range of exciting perspectives offered by the women on their agriculture. This paper presents some of those perspectives which turns the arguments by the formal agricultural economists and scientists on their head and present an unique vision of food and farming born in and nurtured from the ground. Civil Societies Demand Scrapping of NBRA Proposal National Biotechnology Regulatory Authority (NBRA), a regulatory body being set up for overseeing policy guidelines & ensuring periodical evaluation of regulatory mechanism. This bill scrapes the basic right of the farmer to sow the crop of his interest & to prepare his own seed, uphelding the MNC's Sovereignty on the seed Industry. More than 130 Organisations who represent different sections of people of the society have voiced together & penned a letter to P.M against this single window, fast track clearance system which is unscientific, undemocratic & may leave the department corrupt. Millets are the answer the Indian Farming Crisis PRESS RELEASE Declaring millets as the future of food and farming for India, representatives of farmers, scientists, development academics and civil society activists have called for immediate inclusion of millets in the Public Distribution System of India. They also said that millets can be the only answer to the agrarian, ecological and energy crisis as well as the impending climate change challenges that is haunting Indian farming. ANOTHER YEAR OF DOOM PRESS RELEASE The huge hype of Bt Cotton has once again trapped cotton farmers in Andhra Pradesh The results of a season long [covering Kharif cotton season of 2007-2008] study by the Deccan Development Society and the AP Coalition in Defence of Diversity clearly shows that Bt cotton farmers suffered 10% less profits than the farmers who cultivated non Bt but practiced non pesticidal [NPM] methods on their farms. OPEN LETTER TO We have read the press reports of a proposed bio-diesel policy due to be finalised shortly by the Government of India under the leadership of your Ministry. As is evident from the media coverage, the discussions on this subject have been dominated by the corporate sector, business associations, energy entrepreneurs, industrial houses, private firms, government agencies and large PSUs. The voice of the small and rural and their needs does not appear to have been factored in into these discussions. This is a matter of deep concern to all of us who work with in rural and tribal belts with very small farmers, poor, women, pastoralists, indigenous communities, dalits and adivasis. Protest Meet in Tamilnadu on NBA Chief Irresponsible Speech on GM Crops This protest meeting to condemn Prof. Kannaiyan, NBA (National Biodiversity Authority) was organized in response to his irresponsible speech defending GM crops when inaugurating a seminar on bio diversity, bio resources, bio technology and sustainable livelihood of the rural communities organized by Loyola College, Chennai on 18th January 2008. His speech was not only defending GM crops for future food production for the increasing population but also criticized those who oppose GM in a provoking words. To oppose his misleading and arrogant speech SAGE TN Chapter in collaboration with other NGOs, farmers movement and consumer movements organized this protest meeting demanding his immediate resignation from the chair of NBA "Biodiversity & Biotechnology" How Can you do that? Every citizen of this country who has concerns and commitment for the conservation of biodiversity, has received with shock and disbelief the statement you have made welcoming genetically engineered crops to save this country. To put it most mildly, it is extremely unfortunate that the chief of a national body meant to safeguard the biodiversity in the country should issue a statement such as the following: Whose harvest? The politics of organic seed certification The vision behind organic agriculture is one in which care for the environment and health are central, and farmers get a fair deal for their efforts. But organic agriculture is also becoming serious business – with marketing tools, like certification, occupying more and more space and influence. More than 30 million hectares of certified organic farmland worldwide already produce goods for a global market worth €30 billion.2 This market, moreover, is growing fast, much faster than the global market for conventional food products. The main markets for certified organic foods are still very much in the North, but organic production for export is steadily increasing in the South, as are new strategies at the grassroots to develop local organic food and farming systems – most of which reject the business approach to certification. Rejoinder to the article by Dr. Gurucharan Das Dr Gurcharan Das in his recent article in the Times of India [TOI, 4th November, 2007] makes a forceful argument for cultivation of GE crops in India, particularly Bt Cotton. It is not probably coincidental that the ISAAA, the biotech industry’s lobby organization, which relentlessly and aggressively mongers genetically engineered crops all over the world, held its Board Meeting in Delhi last month and decided to take some selected Indian farmers to Europe to propagate Bt Cotton to European farmers. STORY ON WOMEN OF ZAHEERABAD TAKE ON MONSANTO WINS LAUREL In a rare feat, Mr Aruna Shrivasta’s story titled- Women of Zaheerabad take on Monsanto won worldwide acclamation in a contest conducted by Project Censored Media Democracy in Action. The story was ranked 8th among the top 25 censored stories in 2008. It is one of the powerful read on issues of survival Organic Products for Sale The following organic products are available for sale
at the DDS Sangam Shop at Zaheerabad. The produce is from the
fields and farms of the members of the DDS women sanghams all of who
are invariably ecological farmers. Many other organic non sangham farmers
have joined us in this movement to enlarge the organic family in this
region. Their produce is also included in the SANGHAM SHOP Non literate Farming women make film history - Win a major national award The prestigious UGC-CEC National Award for the Best
Educational Video Film has been won by the DDS Community Media Trust,
a group of women farmer-filmmakers from Pastapur Village in Medak District
of AP.
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PRESS RELEASEAbject FAILURE IN the regulation of GM crops exposed
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