NEWS Bulletin from Indian Society For Sustainable Agriculture And Rural Development ------------ 1. Indian farmers should go organic: Prince Charles 2. Independent scientists against patents on life forms On NUCLEAR DEAL--- 3. India Inc eager for French investment in N-power On CHINA---- 4. BRIC PLUS Page - Trading against food safety in China 5. India should learn from Beijing Olympics - Government should patronise sports the way China does 6. India should follow Chinese model for flood, drought prevention 7. BRIC PLUS PAGE - Beijing Olympics have been most expensive so far On SOUTH ASIA--- 8. Saarc stresses on food, energy security ------------ Indian farmers should go organic: Prince Charles http://www.financia ASHOK B SHARMA Posted: Oct 06, 2008 at 2313 hrs IST Updated: Oct 06, 2008 at 2313 hrs IST With a view to mitigate the ongoing climate change Prince Charles of UK appealed the Indian farmers to join the global organic club. Delivering the Albert Howard lecture to the Indian audience through video-conferencing, he said that worldwide organic farming has proved to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to the extent of 35%, both directly and indirectly. Not only the emission from farmers' field would be reduced, the energy used in production of chemical fertilisers and pesticides would also be saved to a considerable extent, he said. Energy would also be conserved if excessive farm mechanisation is replaced by improved local sustainable technologies. Albert Howard lecture was orgainsed by Navdanya on October 2, which is celebrated as Gandhi Jayanti here in Delhi. The lecture series are organised annually in remembrance of Albert Howard who was sent to India as the imperial economic botanist to improve Indian agriculture. However, in the course of his stay in India, he was impressed by the traditional organic farming and tried to convince the industrial world about the benefits of organic agriculture. Prince Charles negated the myth that turning back to organic farming would result in lowering production and productivity. He said that worldwide experiences have shown that it has lead to increased production and productivity. The ecological gains were enormous with lesser use of water, increased soil fertility, environment free from chemical contamination and disease-free health for farmers, he said. He said that organic farming was in the interests of smallholders. He was disappointed with the unfortunate fact that chemical agriculture which was about 100-year old has come to be known as "conventional agriculture" He also criticised the genetically modified (GM) crops as not capable of resolving the food security issue. "There are reports of GM crops causing health and environmental hazards. We want the world to be GM-free," he said. Prince Charles said that there was a growing market for organic food as consumers were gradually becoming aware of its benefits. Earlier in the day, John Fagan of the US-based Institute of Science Technology and Public Policy cited several benefits of organic farming as opposed to chemical and transgenic agriculture. "Chemical agriculture and transgenic agriculture are two sides of the same coin. Both are intended to increase corporate stronghold over agriculture and are hazardous to health as well as the environment, He said that exports of US and Canadian GM feed to Europe have marked a sharp decline. US farmers are hesitant to cultivate GM wheat, even though it is approved by the USFDA. Retail chains like Mac Donalds have refused to use GM potato and Wal-Mart has refused to use milk containing recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH) keeping in view the consumers' preference for non-GM food. ------------ Independent scientists against patents on life forms http://www.financia ASHOK B SHARMA Posted: Oct 06, 2008 at 2315 hrs IST Updated: Oct 06, 2008 at 2315 hrs IST Global civil society organisations and independent scientists have voiced their concerns over patenting knowledge designed for combating the impact of climate change in agriculture. They have said that such patent rights would make the seeds costlier and would not enable resource poor farmers to fight the onslaught of climate change. "There are ample local seeds of different crops resistant drought, salinity and water logging. If these traits are used to develop new seeds and patent rights are extended over them, then it would amount to a situation where science has no social responsibility for combating climate change," said the Right Livelihood Award winner and founder of the ETC group Canada, Pat Roy Mooney. Addressing the international conference on food security and climate organised by Navdanya in Delhi, Mooney disclosed that about 532 applications have been filed in patent offices across the world for patent rights over the knowledge designed to combat the impact of climate change in agriculture. Such patent rights have been claimed by six leading multinational companies including BASF, Monsanto, Syngenta, DuPont, Bayer. Swaminathan Research Foundation has also claimed process patent rights over three varieties of rice and one on mango, he said. Utsa Pattnaik of Jawaharlal Nehru University blamed the imposed global model of agriculture responsible for endangering food security. She said that a large part of the land was being diverted from staples to production of feed for livestock. More emphasis was being given to production of non-food crops for exports and a considerable portion of the land being diverted to cultivation of bio-fuel crops. The director of the UK-based Institute of Science in Society, Mae Won Ho said that patenting of genes should not be allowed. It is possible that one DNA has many functions and several DNAs have the same function. "This is a nature's gift and should not be patented," she said and added that transgenic technology has caused enormous health and environmental hazards. The leading scientist at the Russian Academy of Sciences, Irina Ermakova held the global distribution of GMOs responsible for climate change as it has caused disappearance of bacteria, virus and several micro-organisms. She said she had conducted experiments on feeding GM food to rats and found increased mortality rate, infertility and stunted growth. The surviving rats did not bear any offspring. She appealed to other scientists to take up such a study in the public interest. A Canadian farmer, Percy Schmeiser narrated how his canola field was genetically contaminated by GM canola and Monsanto thereafter demanded that he should pay royalty for use of its GM seeds. ------------ India Inc eager for French investment in N-power ASHOK B SHARMA Posted: Sep 28, 2008 at 2005 hrs IST Updated: Sep 28, 2008 at 2005 hrs IST New Delhi, Sept 27 : After the nuclear suppliers' group (NSG) approval to the India-US civilian nuclear deal, several Indian companies are upbeat in attracting Euro 29 billion foreign direct investment in the country from French firms over the next 15 years. The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) is leading a 85-member delegation to the India-EU Business Summit beginning in Paris from September 30 to explore the possibilities for such and a cooperation According to the FICCI general secretary, Amit Mitra India needs to look at allowing private sector participation for realizing its plans for adding 60,000 MW nuclear power. This would need an investment of Euro 97 billion ( Rs 6,000 billion). "India-France cooperation in the development of India's nuclear power is poised for a great leap as the country needs Euro 147 billion for infrastructure development alone," he said Already L&T and BHEL are associated with NPCIL for erection, procurement and construction of nuclear plants. R-Power, NPCIL, JSW, BHEL and L&T have lined up plans worth over Rs 1,00,000 crore for foraying into this sector. L&T is planning to form a Rs 2,000 crore forging venture with NPCIL which has concluded exploratory meetings and technical discussions with three major reactor suppliers – Areva of France, General Electric and Westinghouse Electric Corporation of US for supply of reactors for these projects. "There is an expectation that another 200 medium and small firms will get into the act as ancillary producers to big companies, thereby giving a new dimension to efficient and cheaper power generation," said Mitra. Taking advantage of the ninth India-EU Submit in Marseilles and India-EU Business Summit in Paris the Indian industry has planned a series of B2B meetings with the French industry in focus areas. France-India Business meetings have been organized in three key regions – Paris on October 1, Lyon on October 2 and Strasbourg on October 3. The Indian commerce minister, Kamal Nath is slated to release the FICCI-YES Bank study on the possibilities of India-France cooperation in SME and life style sector. The Indian medium sized industries are aiming at the possibility of technology transfer and investment from viable French small scale industries, particularly in food and agri-business processing, pharma biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, medical equipment, healthcare, chemical sector, new age entertainment sector, allied infrastructure sector, auto components and plastic apart from cooperation in IT and ITeS sector. Two way investment proposals for different sectors are also on the agenda. India-French Mediation and Arbitration Centre is slated to be launched on October 2 in Lyon as a joint initiative of FICCI Arbitration and Conciliation Tribunal and The Centre Interprofessionnel De Mediation Et D'Arbitration of France. The centre would resolve commercial disputes arising on account of trade between two countries. ------------ BRIC PLUS Page Trading against food safety in China ASHOK B SHARMA Posted: Oct 01, 2008 at 2231 hrs IST Updated: Oct 01, 2008 at 2231 hrs IST The milk scandal in China has once again exposed the irresponsible behaviour of some trade towards food safety. China had experienced an explosive growth in its market for dairy products with annual sales doubling to $18 billion over the last five years. But the recent case of milk contamination causing death of at least four babies, sickening 53,000 people and hospitalising some 13,000 has brought to light government laxity in enforcing food safety regulations. According to reports, food contamination has become such a routine affair in China that no company operating directly or through a joint venture can claim its final product to be safe unless the entire chain from the farm level to the market is carefully monitored for any possible contamination. After a number of fatal incidents and ban imposed on Chinese milk food products by several importing countries, the Chinese authorities, however, of late began cracking down and insisted upon recalling of all the contaminated products. Food safety standards are in vogue in almost most every country and as a matter of fact, global food norms are formulated by Codex. The issue is of its strict implementation at all levels of the food chain. An attempt has been made in India to consolidate the multiple laws governing the food industry under the Food Safety and Standards Act 2006. The Act is significant in the sense of having a provision for the first time for recall of contaminated and adulterated food products from the market. We had cases of production of synthetic milk in India. A lesson that India should learn from Chinese incident is to effectively implement food safety norms and initiate the process of recall of contaminated and adulterated products whenever such a situation arises. The milk contamination in China is the case of adulteration with melamine with a view to raise the protein content. Melamine is a toxic chemical used in production of plastics, fertilisers, fire retardants, ink and other products. According to medical data, high content of melamine can cause acute kidney failure when consumed. Milk is a biological fluid selected by evolution to provide the best nutritional and immunological food source for the mammalian new born. According to deputy director general for animal sciences in the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), KM Bujarbaruah, protein content in milk may vary according to the genetic make-up but cannot be as high as detected in the contaminated milk in China. It is estimated that one glass of milk contains 8 gm of proteins with caseins contributing to 78% to 80%. Together with fat, caseins are responsible for the characteristic white property of the milk. Altogether there are six major milk proteins that contribute to the milk constituents, flow rate and milk yield. There are six casein proteins in cow's milk—alpha s1 casein, beta casein, alpha s2 casein and kappa casein that form part of the milk solids. The percentage of caseins in milk determines many of the properties of milk including the cheese yield. The other major milk proteins are beta lacto globulin, alpha lactalbumin and lactoferrin that are part the whey proteins and are known to influence milk constitution and yield in many ways. Variations in these proteins are known to influence the milk composition and yield and hence are projected as best molecular markers for economic traits in dairy cattle. Hence, information about gene coding for milk protein genes, especially their variability is of paramount significance in dairy improvement programme. ------------ India should learn from Beijing Olympics Government should patronise sports the way China does ASHOK B SHARMA http://mynews. Publication Date 30/8/2008 7:05:36 PM(IST) The 16-day mega event, XXIX Olympics Games, concluded in Beijing with China giving clear message about its organizational prowess. China has not only emerged as world''s sporting power surpassing the US in its gold medal tally, but also the strength of its economy and infrastructure as well. It demonstrated its latest scientific feasts in dispersing rain clouds from the venue by a volley of rockets fired in the air and also in drastically brining down its air pollution level. The president of International Olympics Committee, Jacques Rogge rightly summed up China's achievement on August 24 at the closing ceremony by saying :"the world learned more about China and China learned more about the rest of the world. And together, we shared the excitement and drama of the Games." Sports and athletics are not only related to national pride but have a bearing on the economy as well. Successful sportsmen are picked up by corporate houses and multinational companies as brand ambassadors for their products. This is more common in emerging economies like India. But it is unfortunate that corporate houses support only cricketers and successful sport persons instead of investing in budding talents in sports. While China topped the list in gold medal tally with 51. India is ranked 50th with a single gold and two bronze. China got 51 gold, 21 silver and 28 bronze (total 100), while the US, ranked second, got 36 gold, 38 silver and 36 bronze (total 110). There is much talk in the country that India should take the initiative for hosting Olympics Games. But what would India achieve by hosting Olympics Games unless it improves its talent in sports ? India is slated to host the Commonwealth Games in 2010. Can India, as a host country top, the list in medal tally when faced by competitors like UK, Australia, Canada and Jamaica ? Olympics results have already shown we are much behind in the medal tally. Are we prepared with necessary infrastructure for hosting the Commonwealth Games? However some efforts are on to built necessary infrastructure, but the pace is very slow and tardy. It would be better some events outside Delhi where there is necessary infrastructure. The emergence of China as a world's sporting power is not a miracle. It is a result of years of effort. In the last Athens Olympics China scored some spectacular success, but it tally exceeded in Beijing Olympics by venturing into newer areas in gymnastics, diving and boxing .China does not look for corporate houses to patronize its sports and athletics. It is the state policy which encourages youngsters to develop their sporting talents. Comparatively in India the state patronage is low. The 2008-09 Union Budget has allocated only Rs 1,111.81 crore ($ 280 million) in total for sports, with a special provision of Rs 624 crore ($156 million) for preparation of 2010 Commonwealth Games. Though low in medal tally, India's achievement at Beijing Olympics has been significant in the sense of winning the first individual gold medal for the country by shooter Abhinav Bindra. Sushil Kumar won the bronze medal in wrestling and Vijender Kumar won the bronze in boxing. While shooting is a costly sport, wrestling, boxing, football, volley ball are very common sports in rural areas which need patronage if India is develop its potential areas of core competence. Country's past glory in its national game, hockey needs to be brought back. ------------ India should follow Chinese model for flood, drought prevention ASHOK B SHARMA Posted: Sep 08, 2008 at 2320 hrs IST New Delhi, Sep 7 : The monsoon rains have begun showing a decreasing trend over the major parts of northwest and north India in tune with the natural cycle in the second half of the Hindu calendar month Bhadrapada. The south-west monsoon, as per its usual course, is slated to become the north-east monsoon by the middle of September or around the beginning of the Hindu month Asvina. As the axis of the monsoon trough at mean sea level remained close to the foothills of the Himalayas for over a week, it aggravated the flood situation in Bihar, eastern Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Jharkhand and northeastern India. The flood situation in Bihar took a serious turn due to damage done to embankment of the transboundary river Kosi. The Government needs to deal with flood and drought prevention and management on a war footing. The country usually enjoys bountiful rains in the monsoon season, but its distribution remains erratic, leading to huge economic loss. In most of July this year, Gujarat, Maharshtra and the southern peninsula was left dry and the situation improved towards the end of the month. This situation affected sowing and the standing crops. According to the latest report of the National Disaster Management Division of the government, the damages caused to crops, livestock and property due to floods across the country in the current monsoon season have aggregated to Rs 1,88,565.37 lakh. There is a need to deploy the latest scientific technologies to deal with such emerging situations. India must take a cue from China. China undertakes cloud seeding projects to prevent the possibility of droughts in the crucial agriculture season. China has also demonstrated its capability to disperse rain clouds to prevent excess rains and floods. During the Beijing Olympics on August 9 a volley of rockets were fired in the air to ward off rain clouds, which otherwise could have been a spoilsport. In the week ended September 3, Bihar, Sikkim, West Bengal, northeastern India, Maharasthra and Karnataka (with the exception of its coastal regions), Rayalseema, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Lakshadweep received god rains, while rest of the country was dry. However, the average cumulative rainfall over the country since June 1, 2008 has been 721.4 mm, just 3% below the normal range. There was excess to normal rainfall in 29 out of 36 meteorological subdivisions, while it was deficient in only 7. The seven unfortunate meteorological subdivisions are western Madhya Pradesh, Saurashtra & Kutch,... ------------ BRIC PLUS PAGE Beijing Olympics have been most expensive so far ASHOK B SHARMA Posted online: Wednesday, August 13, 2008 at 23:28 hrs The Beijing Olympics is slated to define the future moments for China. It would be a lesson for India, which is gearing up to host the Commonwealth Games in 2010. Both the emerging economies, India and China, compete with each other, having a population of over one billion. The political systems are different in the two counties, with India having a multi-party democracy and China having a one-party rule. The internal situation is, however, gradually under change in China after Mao Tse-tung and with Deng Xiaoping introducing reforms. The direction of the change in China was clear from the XXIX Olympics Games in Beijing. China wants to wed its past glory with its modern achievements. The sayings of philosopher Confucius, which were shunned in the days of the cultural revolution under Mao Tse-tung are now a matter of pride. At the opening ceremony of the Olympics at the Bird's Nest Stadium on August 8, an army of 2,008 drummers chanted Confucius's sayings—"Friends have come from afar, how happy we are". The time chosen for inauguration was 8.08 pm Chinese time, as Chinese consider number eight to be auspicious, which brings wealth, prosperity and fortune. China has invested over $45 billion on the event. According to some estimates it would be $70 billion, making Beijing Olympics the costliest so far. In the last Olympics in Athens in 2004, Greece invested $15 billion. Nationalism and national pride seem to be gradually replacing Maoism. The inauguration witnessed 29,000 traditional fireworks and dance performances depicting ancient Chinese maritime adventure, silk-route trade and martial art by about 14,000 performers, including school children. With about seven million tickets sold, the event has a participation of 10,500 athletes from 204 countries in 308 disciplines from 38 sports. The inauguration ceremony was attended by 90 heads of state. Analysts in western countries view that China may further open up to the world after Olympics. Some who have been critical of China's human rights record have even drawn a parallel between Beijing Olympics-2008 with Berlin Olympics-1936 under Nazi rule. But China faced with recent devastating earthquake, unrest in Tibet and terrorism in Xinjiang Uyghur province went undeterred in hosting the Olympics, but with unprecedented security measures. The most spectacular scientific achievement came to the fore when the Chinese government fired a volley of rockets in the sky to disperse rain-causing clouds on Saturday—the largest such operation in China and first such operation in an Olympic event. Millions of dollars have been spent to keep the air clean, about 3.3 million cars were off the road and some polluting factories closed. China has taken an early lead in the medals tally by winning nine gold, three silver and two bronze by August 11. Expectations are high that China would give a tough fight to leading teams like US, Germany and Russia. India, which has sent a small contingent had been lucky to make a dent when shooter Abhinav Bindra created a history for the country by winning the first individual Olympic gold medal. ------------ Saarc stresses on food, energy security http://www.financia ASHOK B SHARMA Posted: Aug 04, 2008 at 2317 hrs IST Updated: Aug 04, 2008 at 2317 hrs IST In a situation where the world is facing twin problems of food and energy security, the homogenous group of countries in South Asia is gearing up to meet the challenge in its humble way. Rise in prices of essential commodities today is a global phenomena, caused largely due to competition between food and fuel. Price inflation is coming in the way of developing countries achieving a desired rate of economic growth necessary for augmenting employment opportunities and creation of wealth. The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) consisting of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka in its two-day 15th summit, which concluded in Colombo on Sunday, deliberated on these vital issues apart from the problem of tackling terrorism in the region. The $300 million Saarc Development Fund and Saarc Food Bank are the mechanisms available for dealing with the issues. The most important point stressed by the Saarc leaders on the opening day of the summit was on exploitation of resources in the region. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said, "The countries in South Asia need to work towards a collective response that leads to a quantum leap in agricultural productivity, foodgrain output and farm incomes so that the crises of food vanishes from our region." On energy security Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said harnessing the region's indigenous energy potential, particularly solar, wind, biomass and hydro energy was needed. He said, "We should also envisage a network of intra-regional and trans-regional oil and gas pipelines." The most important approach to food security in the region cannot be ensured through competition, but through cooperation. What is more needed is to understand the food and dietary habits of people in each of the geo-climatic zones in the countries of South Asia. The Saarc region is vast with pockets of diverse geo-climatic regions. Yet similarities exist amongst the countries in the region with many matching geo-climatic conditions like wetlands, arid zones, semi-arid zones, hot and cold deserts, coastal zones, hilly areas, forests with distinct cropping patterns and food habits. It will not be wise to substitute food habits in some areas through mono staples like wheat and rice or through fast foods. People in many dryland areas consume various millets as staples which are nutritious and do not require nutrition supplements like pulses and lentils which are costly for the poor. The Green Revolution did increase the production of wheat and rice in the region, but marginalised the cultivation of many coarse cereals in the dryland areas. The cultivation of water intensive crops like paddy and sugarcane in relatively dry areas have caused ecological and water scarcity problems. To tackle the situation the Planning Commission in India has called for state-specific, region-specific cropping pattern and measures for addressing the food security problem. The 11th Plan has also proposed for diversification into horticulture, livestock, poultry, fisheries in areas where it is feasible and warranted. The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) has been asked to identify crops and livelihood options specific to each region for necessary technological intervention for improvement. This agenda has been incorporated in the recently launched India's National Food Security Mission. A separate and effective food security and livelihood options need to be proposed for the forest dwellers, in particular. The ICAR in its recent document--State- Incidentally many of the technologies and interventions proposed some specific regions in India can be applied to other countries in South Asia like situations in Andaman & Nicobar Islands can match with that in the Maldives and Sri Lanka to an extent. The conditions in Sikkim and northeastern India are similar to that in Bhutan and Nepal. Bangladesh bears a lot of similarity with West Bengal in India and also the conditions in Pakistan are similar to that in northwestern India. It is thus a situation of sharing each others experiences. Regarding, energy security the Pakistan prime minister, Yousuf Raza Gilani has rightly stressed the need for harnessing the region's potential for renewable power. The South Asia region has a vast potential for harnessing power from solar, wind, biomass and wastes, small hydro-system sources. Besides there are on-going research programme for use hydrogen, tidal wave and geo-thermal sources for generating energy for commercial use. The most effective way for ensuring energy security in a country can be done through decentralized system of generation and distribution. Power generation from new and renewable sources and its distribution can be most effective in a decentralized system. Dependence on a sole source of energy would not be wise. The South Asian region needs to go for not only a decentralized system of power generation and distribution but for a proper mix of energy sources. This approach would help the region in ensuring energy security without committing the blunder committed by the countries in Europe and North America in going for largescale bio-fuel programme which has caused competition between food and fuel and has invited the current food crisis. ------------ |
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