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Wed Mar 9 06:22:29 CET 2016

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Dear Frances Moore Lapp=C3=A9 and GTI colleagues,<br>
<br>
To begin with, congratulations on producing such a clear and erudite additi=
on to the repertoire of global transition to sustainability. I have been an=
 ardent follower of GTI and am always enthusiastic to know what happens nex=
t: how we through small baby steps create and contribute to this rather exc=
iting evolution of human civilization.<br>
<br>
I would like to share a few anecdotes from the Far Eastern world where indi=
genous communities managed to preserve some of the unique traditions of sus=
tainable agriculture. This may, however, be short-lived, as they struggle t=
o grapple with the onslaught of conventional agriculture. In Assam, we need=
 to note that conventional industrial agriculture only penetrated through t=
he colonial capitalism of the tea industry. Food crops were fortunately not=
 tampered with, and communities were allowed to carry on with their traditi=
onal practices. However, it is not to say that the scourges of industrial a=
griculture and production of tea did not impact the local ecosystem, biodiv=
ersity, and livelihood patterns due to the indiscriminate use of chemical f=
ertilizers for mass production. Thus, in spite of large-scale degradation o=
f soil quality, water, and human health, what can be still salvaged is prob=
ably the invaluable indigenous knowledge of sustainable agricultural practi=
ces among the<br>
indigenous communities in areas of flood control and management, bio fertil=
izers, pest control, multi-cropping, seed preservation, food storage, livel=
ihood support, and local food security. It is remarkable that most of the t=
ribal communities inhabiting this region have been self-sustaining in terms=
 of their social structure and economy. Starvation deaths are unheard of, a=
nd common property resources are regulated through customary laws that ensu=
re equity, inter-generational stability, and to some extent gender equality=
.<br>
<br>
Popular in India, the traditional paradigm of sustainable agriculture is th=
e organic agricultural practices underlined in the greater traditions of Hi=
nduism and its grand narrative in texts such as Vrikshayurveda and in pract=
ices of agnihotra yajna, etc. The little traditions of the tribal folk cult=
ures, such as those inhabiting the peripheries of Northeast India, many a t=
imes go unnoticed due to the lack of proper documentation and research in t=
hese areas. There is a great impetus in this region to go organic, given th=
e potentials for organic farming and a growing market of citizens seeking =
=E2=80=98clean and pure food=E2=80=99 production. Undoubtedly, there is eno=
rmous potential for this region, given that it is not even halfway as pollu=
ted as the other parts of India that went for intensive agriculture during =
the Green Revolution, such as Punjab and Bengal. Learning from the price th=
at was paid by the Green Revolution in terms of adverse health impacts and =
natural resource pollution, the<br>
current agenda is to go towards an evergreen revolution with full support o=
f the government. Regions like Northeast India, being the last frontier to =
the Indian post-development planning, await this attention eagerly. But, ar=
e they ready for this? A government commissioned study as was reiterated by=
 Guy Dauncey in Canada should be the first step. A haphazard adoption of or=
ganic farming will not only jeopardize the ethical component of going organ=
ic, but will also uproot and destabilize prospects of agroecology in one of=
 the most deserving regions of the world. Right now, there are a number of =
unorganized endeavours towards organic farming by private entrepreneurs and=
 local farmers. However, in the absence of awareness and commitment to orga=
nic food; coordination and networking between farmers and consumers; and co=
mmunity and institutional support for farms to be self-sustaining in terms =
of seeds, storage, marketing and brand building, organic farming in Assam a=
nd North East India as<br>
a whole may never see the dawn of success.<br>
<br>
In fact, even when industrial manufacturing backed by large corporations ha=
s tried to transition to sustainable practices, it has found itself bitterl=
y overthrown. For example, in Assam in the year 2006-07, in an experiment u=
ndertaken by Dhekiajuli Tea Estate owned by Parry Agro Industries Ltd, a co=
rporate conglomerate tried to implement sustainable agricultural practices =
pertaining to production techniques in tea cultivation. The initiative was =
taken by the local management primarily to address the hazardous impact of =
toxicity in the local environment, particularly soil and water quality. The=
 impact on the health of the resident labour population made the management=
 sit up when they found a significant rise in the number of lung diseases, =
skin infection, and birth deformity among workers. I first visited the tea =
garden in 2007 to conduct fieldwork with my students from the Indian Instit=
ute of Technology, Guwahati, who had registered for my course =E2=80=9CConc=
epts and Ideologies in<br>
Social Life,=E2=80=9D where sustainability and sustainable development as a=
 conceptual paradigm from sociological perspective was explored. The experi=
ence for us was positive, and the optimism of the management and workers wa=
s contagious and motivating for the young technocrats of future India. The =
management was committed to a market-driven, competitive industrial manufac=
turing process but steered their motivation with a parallel experiment of v=
ermicompost, agnihotri yajna, Panchgavya or cowpathy, Amrit pani or ferment=
ed cowdung which generates about 250 kinds of beneficial bacteria and other=
 localized and organic pest control and fertiliser techniques to promote su=
stainable industrial growth with low chemical impact. Sources of Indigenous=
 knowledge such as Vrikshayurveda were systematically explored to unearth t=
raditional organic practices in farming and agriculture. The cultural world=
view of environmental sustainability embedded in our traditional knowledge =
about agricultural practices<br>
and farming is elabourate in its glorification of trees and tree planting. =
Every topic connected with the science of plant life such as procuring, pre=
serving, and treating of seeds before planting; preparing pits for planting=
 saplings; selection of soil; method of watering; nourishments and fertiliz=
ers; plant diseases and plant protection from internal and external disease=
s; layout of a garden; agricultural and horticultural wonders; groundwater =
resources; etc.; finds a place in these texts.<br>
<br>
The management was forced to abandon the grand project as an unfulfilled le=
gacy, succumbing to the formidable forces driving our unsustainable existen=
ce. In spite of significant progress made towards environmental and labour =
health and the quality of natural capital like land, water, and soil (which=
 started reflecting low toxin and chemical content that is disastrous and h=
ighly polluted), the Dhekiajuli Tea Estate abandoned this experiment in 201=
4. Apparently, the embedded externalized costs of poor health, environmenta=
l degradation, and toxic waste generation are seldom reflected into the com=
pany balance sheet. As a result, the transition towards the new paradigm of=
 sustainable industrialization of tea manufacture was seen as a failure in =
terms of production cost and output. The situation will be worse in case of=
 unorganized farmers who live in rural areas and for whom in the first plac=
e itself agriculture is economically non-viable due to small landholdings a=
nd lack of<br>
infrastructural support. Moreover, the rather inferior value attached to ma=
nual labour makes farming a very low-prestige profession which the emerging=
 educated middle classes loathe to associate themselves with. The push fact=
ors of emerging urbanization have made rural India and all its associated r=
iders of village life and farming as a livelihood option unattractive to th=
e youth. This is a dangerous trend for emerging economies: the centrifugal =
forces of urbanization are creating havoc with the balancing of local devel=
opment of rural India and preservation of its &#39;little and folk traditio=
ns.&#39; In fact, what is happening is even dangerous: a booming ICT, satel=
lite TV, mobile, and internet facility is bringing the global society into =
the threshold of village society, but at the cost of a great loss to the se=
lf-esteem of rural India as it finds itself dispossessed of its sustainable=
 heritage, which includes organic farming and sustainable food cultivation.=
<br>
<br>
Dr Sujata Dutta Hazarika<br>
Co-founder GISDP<br>
<a href=3D"mailto:www.gisdp.orgsujata at ignou.ac.in">www.gisdp.orgsujata at igno=
u.ac.in</a><br>
<br>
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On Thu, Mar 3, 2016 at 4:00 AM, Great Transition Network wrote:<br>