The state of Indian Agriculture…

60% of our working population is involved in Agriculture and it is the life line of majority of our population. Agriculture is in shambles. Number of farmer suicides are raising daily. I will try to give you a picture on the present state of Indian agriculture through the eyes of P Sainath.

One credible source which I am extensively using in this article is of P Sainath. The man has travelled a lot and his articles on the state of farmers have been a real eye opener for many of us. He writes his column in Hindu newspaper. He is a reputed journalist and also winner of many awards including winner of the 2007 Ramon Magsaysay award for Journalism, Literature, and Creative Communication Arts.

200,000 farmers have ended their lives since 1997. These figures are official and official statistics are always understated and you can imagine the real figures. Close to two-thirds of these suicides have occurred in five states (India has 28 states and seven union territories). The Big 5 – Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh– account for just about a third of the country’s population but two-thirds of farmers’ suicides.

Why do farmers commit suicide? Those who have taken their lives were deep in debt – peasant households in debt doubled in the first decade of the neoliberal “economic reforms,” from 26 per cent of farm households to 48.6 per cent. For instance, 82 per cent of all farm households in Andhra Pradesh were in debt by 2001-02. Those who killed themselves were overwhelmingly cash crop farmers – growers of cotton, coffee, sugarcane, groundnut, pepper, vanilla. Suicides are fewer among food crop farmers – that is, growers of rice, wheat, maize, pulses.

The mantra of export led growth forced farmers to move from food crops to cash crops. The cash crop sector is dominated by a handful of multinational corporations. For millions of subsistence farmers in India, this meant much higher cultivation costs, far greater loans, much higher debt, and being locked into the volatility of global commodity prices. The extent to which the switch to cash crops impacts on the farmer can be seen in this: it used to cost Rs.8,000 roughly to grow an acre of paddy in Kerala. When many switched to vanilla, the cost per acre was (in 2003-04) almost Rs.150, 000 an acre.

In 1998, the World Bank’s structural adjustment policies forced India to open up its seed sector to global corporations like Cargill, Monsanto and Syngenta. Farm saved seeds were replaced by corporate seeds, which need fertilizers and pesticides and cannot be saved. Corporations prevent seed savings through patents and by engineering seeds with non-renewable traits. As a result, poor peasants have to buy new seeds for every planting season and what was traditionally a free resource, available by putting aside a small portion of the crop, becomes a commodity. This new expense increases poverty and leads to indebtness.

When Monsanto first introduced Bt Cotton in 2002, the farmers lost 1 billion rupees due to crop failure. Instead of 1,500 kilos per acre as promised by the company, the harvest was as low as 200 kilos per acre. Instead of incomes of 10,000 rupees an acre, farmers ran into losses of 6,400 rupees an acre. In the state of Bihar, when farm-saved corn seed was displaced by Monsanto’s hybrid corn, the entire crop failed, creating 4 billion rupees in losses and increased poverty for desperately poor farmers. Poor peasants of the South cannot survive seed monopolies. The crisis of suicides shows how the survival of small farmers is incompatible with the seed monopolies of global corporations.

In 1991, you could buy a kilogram of local seed for as little as Rs.7 or Rs.9 in today’s worst affected region of Vidarbha. By 2003, you would pay Rs.350 for a bag with 450 grams of hybrid seed. By 2004, Monsanto’s partners in India were marketing a bag of 450 grams of Bt cotton seed for between Rs.1, 650 and Rs.1,800. Almost 200 times increase in prices with the quantity halved.

With the input cost of farming rising exponentially and the return on investment diminishing one can imagine the financial condition of our farmers.

In my next article i would like to bring in to your notice how the prices of these cash crops which farmer had turned into fell globally and its impact.

Climate Change: Time for Action

Global warming is disrupting lives daily and what is happening is only the tip of the iceberg. Hundreds of millions of people may be exposed to famine, water shortages, extreme weather conditions and a 20 - 30% loss of animal and plant species if we do not reduce the rate of global warming and reduce GHG emissions.

I will try to suggest few simple ideas to ensure that we can contribute something meaningful to mother Earth.

1. Educate… Become aware of the harsh realities of what is happening around the world. There are tones of resources available on Global warming. Pick up The inconvenient truth – a movie produced by Al-Gore on Global warming. It enlightens you on the dangers we are facing. Once you know the facts educate others. Raise awareness. Know about simple energy saving techniques and how it can help you in the long run.

2. Use compact fluorescent bulbs: Purchasing energy efficient light bulbs can use 60% less energy than normal light bulbs. You can save around 300 pounds of carbon dioxide in a year by replacing a single light bulb. Also, low energy bulbs have recently become very cheap. Consider them as giving gifts to family and friends. CFL bulbs do contain small amounts of Mercury and hence proper disposal (recycling) is necessary to prevent any additional landfill contamination.You can also start looking into LED lightbulbs which have started to crop up recently -- they are even more efficient.

3. Turn off Electronic devices when not in use: Electronics are affecting global warming in a truly preventable way. Instead of putting them on "Stand By" mode simply turn them off. Don’t leave those screen savers running for hours. This requires a significant amount of energy which could easily be saved.

4. Think twice before using paper: Decide whether something is really worth printing out. Leave a signature at the bottom of your e-mails reminding the reader to think twice before printing the e-mail. Make the most of scrap paper for shopping lists, notes, scrapbooks, etc.

5. Many countries have "energy star" ratings on new appliances that allow you to assess the energy usage of the appliance. Before you purchase any appliances like washing machine or Refrigerator check for the number of stars. 5 stars implies energy efficient device

6. Most of the middle class families own a four wheeler these days and it would be foolish not to use them. Make use of your 4 wheeler sparingly and use them only when it is absolutely essential. I know it is easier said than done but we come across many situations where in taking a public transport will be a better option. It lessens the load on the roads and reduces one's individual greenhouse gas emissions by an average of 1600 pounds per year and gives you a great opportunity to read, think, and relax. You also save on petrol.

To be frank many a times when i have sacrificed some comfort for the sake of environment and many have taken it with cynicism. I don’t have any problem with that as long as I know that I am doing the right thing.

I made an enquiry on how LED’s can be used for lighting in our homes which are better than CFLs and I have plans to get one installed at my place.

It is time that we all change the way we take our environment for granted and do our best in preserving it for the future generations.

Friends this concludes my writing on Global warming. Next it will be all on our farmers. Remember 60% of our working population is involved in Agriculture and it is the life line of majority of our population. Look at the present state of farmers. Every day we hear about farmer suicides, erratic weather, crop losses. The majority of the farming community is in shmables and I would like to highlight those in my post.. Happy and safe deepavali...

Global warming.. KYOTO PROTOCOL.. US double standards exposed.

Oil and Coal are at the foundation of modern industrial revolution and one just cannot imagine how things would be without them. The US and most of the European nations over the last 2 centuries have immensely benefited from Industrial revolution and the developing nations led by China, India are now following the footsteps of these developed countries in their quest to become a developed country.

Kyoto Protocol: Scientists, journalists and policy makers began to foresee the negative impact of rapid Industrialization which in 1992 led to the United Nations Earth Summit in Rio de Janerio. In 1994, at a meeting in Kyoto (Japan) an action plan was created -- the Kyoto Accord – setting greenhouse gas limits and reduction targets for participating nations.

The Kyoto Accord -- the most far-reaching environmental treaty in history -- was adopted by nearly all the world's nations on July 25, 2001. Despite overwhelming international support, the US termed it as "fatally flawed" agreement because it did not cap emissions from developing nations, including up-and-coming powerhouses like India and China. US has neither signed the protocol nor rejected it as of now.

As of January 2009, 183 parties have ratified the protocol, which was initially adopted for use on 11 December 1997 in Kyoto, Japan and which entered into force on 16 February 2005. Under the Kyoto Protocol, industrialized countries agreed to reduce their collective green house gas (GHG) emissions by 5.2% from the level in 1990. National limitations range from the reduction of 8% for the European Union and others to 7% for the United States and 6% for Japan

Even Kyoto's strongest supporters acknowledge that its mandates are not ambitious enough. In 2012 the Kyoto Protocol to prevent climate changes and global warming runs out. To keep the process on the line there is an urgent need for a new climate protocol. In this regard Climate Conference in Copenhagen in Dec 2009 becomes essential for the world’s climate.

Let us look at the following statistics

Emissions per capita --- Annual CO2 Emissions -- % of Emissions
(Tonnes of CO2e) (thousands of metric tons)

China -------5.5 ----------6,103,493 ------------21.5 %
US-----------23.5-----------5,752,289 ------------20.2 %
European Union * -----------3,914,359 ------------13.8 %
Russia-------13.7-----------1,564,669 -------------5.5 %
India---------1.7 ----------1,510,351 -------------5.3 %

The main thing which needs to be considered is the emissions per capita (person). US per capita emissions are almost 14 times that of India’s. We began the liberalization process two decades ago and the US two centuries ago. Now US is a developed nation. We are developing. We still have 30 % of our population living below poverty line. Why should developing nations like India, China, African countries, South American countries pay the price for development for what US, Europe did and have been doing it for a very very long time? Hence the Kyoto protocol was right in giving concession to developing countries but US made a heavy weather of the same and did not sign the protocol. It exposed the double standards followed by US when it comes to development.

Hence this December meet at Copenhagen becomes crucial to get the US on board and set targets for all the countries and retain some form of concession for developing economies where 3/4th of the below poverty line people live.

In my next blog I would like to talk about some clean technologies which will immensely benefit to fight global warming.

Global Warming... Time for action...

Global warming is something which you are going to hear a lot in the coming days. I plan to write a series of articles on Global warming, its impact, the Kyoto Protocol, the road ahead and so on. The data has been gathered from different sources and I will make an attempt to simplify things.

October 15th is being observed as Blog Action Day 2009 and the theme is climate change. The basic goal of writing this is to create awareness amongst all and do our bit to save something for the future generation.

How many of you have watched Al Gore’s movie An Inconvenient Truth. Please watch it friends. It just makes you sit and take stock of what I am talking about.

Yugratna Srivastav, a 13-year-old girl from Lucknow addressed the United Nations Climate Change Summit in New York last week. Yugratna’s speech was cheered on by world leaders including UN General Secretary Ban Ki-Moon.

"We received a very nice planet from our ancestors. It was green, now we have damaged it, polluted it, and we're going to give a bad planet to our successors and this is not right".

Friends… Our lives are moving at a breath taking pace and its having a huge impact on the climate. It is time we just take a pause and think on what this Global Warming is and how it is going to impact our lives in the near future.. A decade ago Global warming was a nice topic on which students were asked to right essay and it began and ended there.. But now it is not about essay on Global warming but practicalities of facing a climate which is undergoing a rapid transformation which could effectively put the future of our generation under stake.

Global warming – “The range of activities we end up doing daily in some way is contributing to the usage of carbon rich oil or coal. The electricity we us, the vehicles we use, and the food we cook… Burning these fossil fuels releases heat-trapping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, particularly carbon dioxide. Because of all this frenetic burning of fuel that's taken place since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution, the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has increased to the point that the planet's overall surface temperature is rising. And this is Global Warming in simple terms… “

Global warming is caused by green house gases, which trap in the sun’s infrared rays in the earth’s atmosphere, which in turn heat up the earth’s atmosphere. These green house effect warming is called as global warming. The effects of green house effect are visible more prominently in the recent years, with number of natural calamities on the rise in the whole world.

Global warming is effecting the crop production, as the crops are getting destroyed by the sudden change in temperatures or sudden onset of rains. Also the flash floods and other natural calamities affect the crop.

As a matter of fact, because of global warming, the earth’s atmosphere is getting more unpredictable with heavy rains in the areas, which have scanty rainfall or drought in the areas, which received good annual rainfall. The months of rainfall has also getting affected. We have witnessed this in our regions.

Environmental graffiti states 5 deadliest effects of Global warming…

5)Spread of disease: As northern countries warm, disease carrying insects migrate north, bringing plague and disease with them. Indeed some scientists believe that in some countries thanks to global warming, malaria has not been fully eradicated.

4)Warmer waters and more hurricanes: As the temperature of oceans rises, so will the probability of more frequent and stronger hurricanes. We are witnessing this very frequently.

3) Increased probability and intensity of droughts and heat waves: Although some areas of Earth will become wetter due to global warming, other areas will suffer serious droughts and heat waves. Africa will receive the worst of it, with more severe droughts also expected in Europe. Water is already a dangerously rare commodity in Africa, and according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, global warming will exacerbate the conditions and could lead to conflicts and war.

2)Economic consequences: Most of the effects of anthropogenic global warming won’t be good. And these effects spell one thing for the countries of the world: economic consequences. Hurricanes cause do billions of dollars in damage, diseases cost money to treat and control and conflicts exacerbate all of these.

1)Polar ice caps melting: The ice caps melting is a four-pronged danger.

First, it will raise sea levels. There are 5,773,000 cubic miles of water in ice caps, glaciers, and permanent snow. According to the National Snow and Ice Data Center, if all glaciers melted today the seas would rise about 230 feet. Luckily, that’s not going to happen all in one go! But sea levels will rise.

Second, melting ice caps will throw the global ecosystem out of balance. The ice caps are fresh water, and when they melt they will desalinate the ocean, or in plain English – make it less salty. The desalinization of the gulf current will “screw up” ocean currents, which regulate temperatures.

Third, temperature rises and changing landscapes in the artic circle will endanger several species of animals. Only the most adaptable will survive.

Fourth, global warming could snowball with the ice caps gone. Ice caps are white, and reflect sunlight, much of which is relected back into space, further cooling Earth. If the ice caps melt, the only reflector is the ocean. Darker colors absorb sunlight, further warming the Earth.

Rest in my next… I will try to convey what Kyoto protocol is all about and expose the double standards of US when it comes to Global Warming.