30 May 2012 A Report On

Ist Karnataka Convention on Seed Sovereignty, at NGO Bhawan Bangalore on May 20 -21 st (SUN & MON) 2012 -Raghunathan K Chakravarthy Organized by Southern Action against Genetic Engineering (SAGE), Indian council for Research in Agriculture (ICRA) with collaboration with several Ecological Organizations such as Green Foundation, Dhritri Organic Association Gadag, Pristine Organics, Green Path, Karnataka BIRD-K, Sahyadhri Environmental Group, Organic Farmers Association , Karnataka and several other farmers groups across Karnataka The four month (Jan 2012- Apr 2012) long campaign Salt Then, Seed Now campaign across several districts in North, Central, South, Malnad regions of Karnataka, covering 500+ villages across Karnataka, against Genetically Modified (GM) cultivation, promotion, and Seed conservation, seed banking, and encouraging indigenous bio-diversity culminated in the Ist Karnataka State Seed Conservation & Sovereignty convention in Bangalore in May 2012
This was a different affair with more than 400 farmers from 12 districts congregating on the Ist th Karnataka Seed Sovereignty. The event started on 20 May, with a inauguration song by Organic farmer highlighting the plight of farmers, the hazardous health effects of chemical farming, and serious poverty resulting from the Indian agrarian crisis. The Ist session was presented by Dr. L Narayan Reddy, DD Brah Gowdru, Secreatry Organic Farmers Association, Karnataka and Dr A N Yellappa Reddy noted environmentalist and member of Karntaka High Court Adalat. In the inauguration speech they traced the origins of the present crisis, and highlighted the failure of Green revolution, and briefly mentioned that the farmers with irrigation have been larger victims of corporatization and chemical farming in India. The next session The current legislations- impact on agriculture was led by Professor M K Ramesh, National Law School , Bangalore. Summary of his presentation critically examined the Seed Bill , Biotech Regulatory Authority of India (BRAI), Land Acquisition Act. He exposed that these legislations violate the Farmers Rights 2011, as outlined in the International Conference and

Law, for which India is a signatory. The Farmers International Rights ascertain that all governments must: Protect traditional agricultural knowledge systems Promote Land conservation Promote farmers right to produce, distribute, share indigenous seeds

This was contrasted with the operational aspects of the current Seed Bill, which is built upon the 1966 seed bill, the key aspects of the current seed bill as follows : Farmers must register their seeds with appropriate government authority All nurseries must be registered Seed certification and patenting is must If seed quality supplied by MNCs is defective, and results in crop and human life losses, no insurance or compensation is payable by the companies / corporations, but the farmers can resort to redress through the consumer Act

He demonstrated that the current legislations are anti-farmer, and promote the interests of the MNC seed and agro chemical industry, while completely negating and nullifying the Farmers Rights as enshrined in the International Convention on Farmers Rights. He also explained that the archaic 1894 Land Acquisition Act drafted by the British is still in vogue in India. On the post lunch session Hon Chief Minister, Karnataka Mr D V Sadananda Gowda attended the meet and presented his views, and Karnataka Governments initiatives on GM Crops, Bio-diversity, after visiting the indigenous seed exhibition representing Karnatakas Seed diversity across the districts. He showed keen interest and interacted with the district organic farmers and bio-diversity groups. In his speech he highlighted some of the achievements of the Karnataka Government: Karnataka Government has registered its opposition to the Seed Bill 2010 to the Central government Objections to the BRAI has been filed with the Central Government No Objection certification issue for GM crop trial has been withheld in Karnataka Karnataka Government has presented an Agricultural budget in the legislature, the first such initiative by State Government In 2011-12, 97 crore INR has been allocated for seed discount and seeds have been distributed to 20 lakh farmers Lift irrigation for dry land farming has been implemented

SAGE, ICRA and the organizers of the convention along with the farmers submitted a petition to the CM highlighting the following demand: Declare Karnataka a GM Free state officially through notification Ban all official and unofficial GM crop field trials Oppose BRAI and SEED bill legislations Grant 50 crores to the organic farmers to indigenous seed production, distribution and seed banking

Direct Karnataka State Seed Organization to procure indigenous seeds from organic and other farmers Regulate MNC influence and dominance in seed and agricultural sector

On receiving the petition the CM expressed his solidarity with the cause, while refraining from making specific approvals or commitments, citing code of conduct period in light of the legislative lower house elections. However, he categorically stated that all the demands shall be taken seriously and shall be discussed with noted environmentalists, scientists, and agricultural department to develop policy responses to the demands. The next session was the Key Note address by Dr Devindra Sharma, noted Agricultural analyst, writer, New Delhi, and his address detailed the Future Challenges to Indian Agriculture. The summary of his session: Green Revolution has been a complete failure leading to infertile lands, poisoned ground water, increasing health hazards from pesticides and chemicals, large scale pollution Organic farming yields have proved to be much better than largely advertised chemical farming 16 International Agricultural institutes have been organized by the US to build gene banks, and these banks are already in possession of over 700,000 plant species seeds, samples from all these agricultural gene banks have been centrally stored in the US. These gene banks are being utilized by large trans national corporations to invent GM seeds and internationally sell them for profit Syngenta one of the leading agro-chemical and seed monopolies tried to take control of the US gene bank and after large scale global protests, the custody was entrusted to UN Food & Agricultural Organization The bio-diversity in tropical, developing and under-developed countries are very rich compared to the US bio-diversity that can only boast of 5 indigenous plant species and 3 indigenous animal species The impossibility of meeting food needs with this meager bio-diversity, is what propels US hegemony in hoarding and taking control global gene banks and bio-diversity and feed the GM industry for profit The nexus between global insurance companies and food companies is demonstrated by the investments of 2 billion made by insurance industry in food companies The key challenges before Indian agriculture are : large-scale forcible eviction of farmers from farm, forced urban migration. The large corporations in collusion with government has already prepared a disastrous road map for Indian agriculture with forecasting the project target of rendering 70% of Indian population to be herded in urban centers by 2030. The entire legislations and policies of the Indian government is geared towards meeting these needs, and this the fundamental reason for promoting genetically modified crops, promoting chemical farming, launching series of regulations such as Seed Bill, BRAI, and host of other Corporate friendly agricultural policies. Of late the agricultural universities are utilized as front line

marketing campaigners for largest ten global MN Cs that produce, distribute, control Seeds, Agro-chemicals. Farmers should move away from demanding Minimum support Price and force the government to provide direct income support as done in western economies. US has approved US $ 307 billion towards augmenting farmers income in US, by providing monthly cheques to farmers. European Union is known for its large farmer subsidy outlay Farmers in India must rally together to demand social security such as Provident Fund, Insurance, Pension for all farmer in India, Punjab state has already implemented such a policy to all farmers in the state The way forward is for the farming community to firmly oppose GM, chemical farming, adopt eco friendly agricultural practices, while demanding the government o provide livelihood, and social security He also urged farmers not to register / patent seeds with any government institution or authority, as this can be usurped and misused by MNCs to enlarge their profit and control over Indian population and agriculture

The final session on Day 1, May 20, was by Dr Khader, Mysore, highlighting the hazardous chemical contents and cocktail of toxins that comprise our every day food including leavy vegetables, fruits, packaged foods and chemical crops. He has illustrated that most pesticides, insecticides used in India are completely banned for over 30 years in advanced countries, and several of them are serious neuro toxins with no known anti dote and treatment. He also highlighted the industrial poultry farming, and ill effects of consuming such dangerous food products, full of Endocrine disrupting chemicals, anti-biotic, overload of unnecessary vitamins and growth promoters. This was an eye opener to the participants, on the heath impacts on Indian society arising from chemical farming, food industry and GM Crops. Day 2: May 21, 2012, Monday The first session on day two comprised of presentations from more than 14 farmers representing several districts of Karnataka. They shared their experience with chemical farming, Bt Cotton, Bt Brinjal and other GM crops. They demonstrated through their personal experience that Organic, non-chemical farming methods, provide high yields, while at the same time providing nutritious output. They also proved the positive impact of organic non-chemical farming on ground water resources, cattle health, improved fodder availability, better milk yields from cattle, overall improvement in livelihood, health in the villages Session 2: Centrality of Seeds in Nutrition & Health Chair Dr SS Desai, ex-director NAL, and organic farmer, KC Raghu, Food Nutritionist, Bangalore. The session had other experts Dr Gowri Murali Krishna, Paedetrician, Ms Aruna Kalahasthi, Food Activist, K C Raghunathan, Food Analyst, SAGE Hyderabad Secretary

Mr K C Raghu, nutritionist elaborated on the myopic western based nutrition science and questioned its credentials in providing full and adequate picture on bio-diversity, crops and their relation to human health and nutrition. He emphasized the need for preserving traditional knowledge pertaining to nutrition, health, and asked farmers to promote diversity and plant well known traditional crops, vegetables with known and demonstrated capabilities in curing illness and promoting immunity. He noted that chemical farming, industrial poulty, promotes disease generation and manufacture rather than promoting nutrition and health Dr Gowri Murali Krishna , highlighted the current and emerging disease trends among urban children, and illustrated this these new illnesses such as childhood obesity, diabetes, stunted growth, underweight are direct results of the food consumption patterns and large scale changes to food and eating habits. The corporate food industry has been a consistent promoter of unhealthy foods, and hence the need for the hour is for the family to adhere to known traditional eating habits and promote awareness among children. She also recommended that schools should incorporate nutrition, food habits as part of the curriculum, and promote physical exercise and activity among children prevent these modern illnesses. Ms Aruna focused on packaged foods, adverse impact on health from GM foods, chemically loaded food products and the emerging dangers and health consequences for the larger population. She ended with the request to farmers to firmly oppose GM cultivation, discontinue chemical based agriculture, and promote organic farming in the interest of the current and future generations KC Raghunathan, Food Analyst, presented the current status of nutrition and health in India, and highlighted that India has been ranked at 121 among 169 countries in the Human Development Index. Child mortality rate 63 per thousand is well below the standards in sub-saharan countries. Vitamin defiencies, malnutrition is wide-spread and affects more than 50% of the Indian population. The main cause for this state of affairs in the Indian Government spending on health 1.9%, this is much below the level of expenditure in Thailand (21%), Myanmar (10%), Srilanka (10.5%). At the same time India spends around 18% of annual budget on defence higher proportion compared to several other countries in Asia. The DWEL (Drinking Water, Electricity, Latrine/Sanitation), indeed as per 2011 census shows that only about 30% of the Indian population have access to DWEL. This is the main cause of mal nutrition, child mortality in India, with common diseases such as malaria, tuber closes, fever and diarrhea claiming lives of children under the age of 5 years. India has the dubious distinction of being world capital of Diabetes, Heart Disease, and tuberculosis. The pundits of corporate food and science have also come up with elaborate scenario for 2020, 2030 to pep up their production and sales forecast in India! The GM food usage in the west, particularly US, Canada has already demonstrated large scale health impact in terms of Mad cow disease, increase in lymphatic and colon cancers, and obesity. More than 20% of the population in US, Europe suffers from food related disorders widely categorized as gluten allergy, dairy farm produce lactose allergy, Soy allergy, wheat allergy so on and so forth. The unholy nexus between agro-chemical companies, GM seed companies and Pharmaceutical and drug industry was also examined. He emphasized the need for building seed movement, organizing seed

banks at the mandal level, increase diversity, stick to non-GM, non-chemical farming practices, to avert the impending Health disaster for India and the developing world.

Agricultural University, Government Agro-scientist & Farmers discussion The Agricultural University Director and other scientists presented their view on GM crops, Hybrid seeds stating that they have large unfulfilled demands from farmers for such seeds and crops and that is the reason for the government department for procuring, distributing and allowing MNCs to fulfill the demands of the farmers. They shared several instances, where indigenous seeds and specifies were developed and marketed but due to lack of demand from farmers they had to discontinue such practices. They stated that unholy alliance of agricultural universities and scientists with MNC is a false propaganda and perception. The agricultural department has been loaded with requests for millions of packets of GM Bt Cotton seeds and Hybrid Paddy seeds. The Director stated that farmers should focus their attention on building agricultural cooperative and marketing societies rather than blindly opposing scientific developments in agriculture such as GM cultivation. Another official stated that Agriculture department is engaged in organic farming research, contributing to bio-diversity, developing hundreds of varieties of indigenous paddy and other crop seeds through 20+ sites and institutes across Karnataka. Their position is to use all options including GM crops to build India self sufficiency in food and agriculture. This presentation was received with skepticism by the farmers and several farmers registered their verbal protests, and also questioned the need by agricultural and government seed companies practices of asking farmers to file indents to obtain indigenous seeds. The conference ended with a solidarity note from all organizations and farmers, and they resolved to fight for the demands presented to Government, and also initiate a series of actions, projects, awareness campaigns to continue to build seed sovereignty, bio-diversity, and resolved to oppose the Seed Bill, BRAI and GM seed promotion and crops.