Skip to main content

Kisan sammelan ends, decides to "adopt" sustainable agriculture

By A Representative
The 4th biennial Kisan Swaraj Sammelan ended on Sunday in Ahmedabad, resolving to re-build Indian agriculture in a sustainable and equitable fashion.
Participated by more than 1,000 delegates from across India, including women farmers, those who participated included farmers, scientists, academics, researchers, innovators, media representatives, NGO personnel, farm union leaders, activists and senior bureaucrats.
Adopting a “comprehensive alternative plan” for environmental sustainability in order to address issues such as climate change, nutrition security and food safety, a statement adopted at the meet decided to adopt initiatives like universalization of natural farming in Andhra Pradesh and large scale millets mission in the state of Odisha.
Eminent political analyst Yogendra Yadav, speaking at the three day meet, emphasised on the need for a “holistic and comprehensive” policy for the emancipation of farmers, saying, farmers’ movements will be successful only if they can make farmers’ issues as the main agenda for the upcoming elections.
Agriculture scientist Dr GV Ramanjaneyulu of the Centre for Sustainable Agriculture (Hyderabad) pointed out that many experiences around agro-ecology around the country show that the potential for scaling up solutions certainly exists and governments have to move towards this path in a more ambitious way while civil society should equip itself to support governments in such a scaling up effort.
Well known farmers’ leaders of Gujarat like Ambubhai Patel and Prafulbhai Senjalia of the Bhartiya Kisan Sangh and Badribhai Joshi of the Gujarat Khedut Samaj emphasised that sustainable farming should be a priority for governments.
Noted rural journalist and founder of People’s Archive of Rural India (PARI), P Sainath, highlighted the need for non-farming sections in our society stepping forward to support our anna daatas. Eminent environmentalist Ashish Kothari emphasised about the need for comprehensive alternatives including radical ecological democracy for true Swaraj for rural communities.

Comments

Post a Comment

NOTE: Hateful, abusive comments won't be published. -- Editor

TRENDING

Incarceration of Prof Saibaba 'revives' the question: What is crime, who is criminal?

By Kunal Pant* In 2016, a Supreme Court Judge asked the state of Maharashtra, “Do you want to extract a pound of flesh?” The statement was directed against the state for contesting the bail plea of Delhi University Professor GN Saibaba. Saibaba was arrested in 2014, a justification for which was to prevent him from committing what the police called “anti-national activities.”
Post a Comment
»

If Maoist violence is illegitimate, how is Hindutva, state violence justified? Can right-wing wash off its sins?

By Swami Agnivesh* and Sandeep Pandey** There was major police action against Sudha Bhardwaj, Gautam Navlakha, Varvara Rao, Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira on 28 August, 2018. Before this police arrested Professor Shoma Sen, Adocate Sudhir Gadling, Sudhir Dhawle, Mahesh Raut and Rona Wilson on 6 June. Even before this Dr. Binayak Sen, Soni Sori, Ajay TG, Professor GN Saibaba and Prashant Rahi have been arrested and all these activists have been accused of having links with Maoists.
Post a Comment
»

Caste 'continues to influence' hiring, wages, migration patterns in India

By Rajiv Shah  A recent academic study has highlighted how caste and social identity continue to shape employment opportunities, wages and access to secure livelihoods in India, even as the country projects itself as one of the world’s fastest-growing economies. The findings, published in the 2026 Springer volume Unequal Opportunities: An Analysis of Inequalities in Employment Opportunities Among Different Social Groups in Labor Markets of India , argue that structural discrimination remains embedded in both formal and informal labour markets. 
Post a Comment
»