Echoes of Eco

June, 2017 Vivekananda Kendra- nardep Newsletter Vol:9 No:4

Extracts from our book “Green Foot Prints” – In this issue:

Development with a Human Face  Extracts from our book “Green

Foot Prints” –

 The Happenings
GREEN SYSTEMS
 Visions of Wisdom:
Shri.N.Krishnamoorthy
 Victims of Western Imagery
Prelude  Inequality continues to be a
problem
Smt. Annapurna Duval: Shriman, in spite of your valiant efforts to
 Undermining of Sustenance
defend the intellectuals, their efforts at preservation of Nature
and at persuading humank ind to return to Nature's ways appear to
be fee ble, uncoordinated and unsystematic.

Prof. Jnani Noval: But these a ttemp ts by the le arned people have
the advantage of being totally unforced, spontaneous and genuine,
springing up from the depths of their beings. They are totally non -
governmental, unstructured. They mak e honest attempts to protect
Nature, and facili tate our farmers and preserve our traditional
procedures.

Society so much
dependent upon law,
without traditions &
Conventions, customs O my life giving Resolution, may I
& Usages can never
be a loving, Caring, be firm in body and mind. As
Serving Society tanned leather as of cloth does
not remain porous but is pore-
less, similarly my life also be free
from pores, firm and strong. May
all see me with friendly eyes. May
I also see them with a friendly
Shri. Krish Phidal: W hat is it that our A gricultural extension
eye. May all of us be bestowed
work er is saying? That some new seeds are coming up which cannot
be resown! That we have to buy the seeds from shops every year? with friendly eyes.
- Yajurveda (36/18)

Echoes of Eco - Newsletter, Vivekananda Kendra – nardep, June 2017, Vol.9 No: 4

.
 “Don't wait for anyone to deputize you or authorize you or empower you.
You have to just start out with yourself……….and put one foot in front of the
other.”
– Hazel Henderson

Prof. Noval: A merican and European A gri -scientists Prof. Noval: Secondly, the understanding of Nature
have created in their labs some new seeds which are by the W estern Scientific Esta blishment. Led by
disease resistant, high yielding, but unresowable. the philosophy of Newton, Darwin and Galilee , the
west thought of Nature as a Machine composed of
Shri Phidal: But our own seeds are good enough! They many independent parts. A ny sick part, inefficient
are drought-resistant, disease resistant. They grow part, can be wi thdrawn and a more eff icient,
on our soil. healthier part can be refitted. The other parts of
the machine will accept the new introduction, and
W e are used to them and k now them lik e our own function as before, allowing the new part to
children! A nd these high sounding-named-se eds are discharge the expect ed duty. That is their
costly and do not suit our soil at all. They require too supposition.
much water, too many inputs. They lack the rustic
strength my native seeds have! A dding and
subtracting, I found at the end of the year, my local
types are more profitable. My local cows are easy to
maintain and my local hens live on sturdily. I do not
have to k ill the sick ones in hundreds as some of my
neighbours have to do. W hy do people meddle with
things which they do not understand?

Prof. Naval: There are three factors. First, the

explosive growth of world population requires more
food, more food grain production, even if it means,
sacrificing our long term eco -security for our short
term gains

Smt. Duval: W hat Next?

Smt. Duval: Stupid. W ho will think of my cow

Lak shmi as a machine and my goat Sumesh as a
contraption? My hen is a tool for these blessed
scientists! Nobody told them that t hey are wrong?

Prof Noval: Many did. W hen the scientists

………. But not synthesised new seeds, new animals, new viruses,
some eminent scientists protested the move. This
resowable
latter group, many of them Nobel Laureates raised
two objections. First our understanding of the
factors that go to give our living systems their
characteristics is very poor. W e understand only a
small portion of these factors. Some of our models
are based on mech anical p atterns which may not

Echoes of Eco - Newsletter, Vivekananda Kendra – nardep, June 2017, Vol.9 No: 4
 “The problem is, of course, that not only is economics bankrupt but it
has always been nothing more than politics in disguise ... economics is a
form of brain damage”.
- Hazel Henderson
-
work in the case of living organisms. A nd we do not Their western technologists funded by their
k now when some of the suppressed traits will show up business men tak e up our sweet -smell ing Basmati
their heads, perhaps one or two generations later. rice, our Karela with its anti -di abe tic properties.
Secondly, the society, the polity, the de cision Turmeric with its healing components, mak e some
mak ers, the businessmen and the technologists are minor cosmetic changes in their mak eup and claim
not mature enough, responsible enough, conscientious legal ownership on them. This legal ownersh ip right
enough, public-spirited enough to handle these risky, is called patent. A ny other person using these rights
Genetically Engineered living organisms, seeds and should pay the legal owner.
animals. They may manipulate science to satisfy their
greed.

Krish Phidal: Our school teacher once told me that a

scientist whose discovery led to the m anufacture of
atom-bombs regretted his own work later!

Prof. Noval: Yes! 'Both A lbert Einstein and John

Oppenheimer regretted the way the k nowledge of
A tomic energy was used in the second world war.

Smt. Duval: You said three factors .

Prof. Noval: The third is the colonial mindset of the

west where trade and te chnology look upon the
Developing countries as their Mark et, which is
another sophisticated nam e for colony.

Krish Phidal: My agri-ext ension work er told me that

some western people have pat ented Kar ela, brinjal,
haldi and basm ati rice! W hat is patenting?
Smt. Duval: (Flabbergasted) My God! In my village
this will be considered a blatant sin to put into your
Prof. Noval: Such things can happen only is those
private pock et what has been for a thousand years
societies, where moral laws are enforced not through
the common asset of the whole community!
social traditions and customs, by families and
communities but by the mere force of a p arliament's
Krish Phidal: Can we not stop it?
law .

Prof. Naval: W e have to fight the case in A merican

Smt. Duval: A law is as good or as bad as the man and
the ma chinery and the enti cem ent used to imple ment
it.
Prof. Noval: Yes. The west, especially A merica does
not recogniz e the sanctity of the social traditions of
the east and the role of traditions in k eeping
Traditional Knowledge (TK) open and accessible to all.
courts, European courts.
Shri Phidal: How can anyone commit such offences
against the poor farmers, large populations, a
number of countries, hoar y traditions, the sacred
Nature, all in one strok e! It requires an evil genius
to perpetrate such crimes.

Echoes of Eco - Newsletter, Vivekananda Kendra – nardep, June 2017, Vol.9 No: 4
 “I make no pretensions to 'objectivity,' a fraudulent concept in an era
of industrialized and politicized science in which intellectual
mercenaries too often serve power and greed”
– Hazel Henderson

Prof. Noval: Our National leaders, Nature -lovers, seek to involve them. My children sometimes play
Economists and Governments have realised that our games imita ting their father but they put the cart
interests and concerns are being high -jack ed. They before the bullock instead of the other way about.
understand though belatedly, that our lack of
k nowledge, lack of documentation, lack of inventories
of our own bio -wealth h ave allowed others to steal
our wealth. This process is called Bio -piracy. But
mak ing registers of our own plant and animal species,
our medical procedures and other local technologies
is not an easy job.

Smt. Duval: But k eeping on counting my own children

to prevent someone from stealing them is nauseating.
It robs one of the ethical sense of security born out
of a trustworthy neighbourhood!

Prof. Noval: A nd that census -tak ing cannot be done

in a hurry. Five hundred years of western science
could identity, categories and name only 10 -15% of
the Four Crores of living organisms plants/animals/
insects supposed to be populating the earth .
Shri Phidal: A society so much dependent upon law,
without traditions and conventions, customs and
usages can never be a loving, serving, caring society.
Prof. Noval: But what to do! Everyday our own
society is abusing its National W ealth. The
governments at National and state levels are framing
laws to protect our Biodiversity, our endangered
species, our reserve forests, our rare and useful
germ plasms, rice varieties, seeds. A fter sometime
the governments themselves realiz ed that
environmental protection is not pos sible by mere law
without public participat ion, cooperation,
involvement and tak ing responsibility.
Prof. Noval: A nyway, a huge task of listing,
documenting, counting, recogniz ing, categoriz ing
our Natural W ealth of materials, and procedures,
many of them held only orally and in trust, stares
at the Nation. Our National security involving so
many layers of material wealth and procedural
k nowledge as wealth lies in our listing them and
owning them in our bid to preserve, revive and use
them.
Organisations such as the Vivek ananda Kendra,
A uroville try to revive our traditions by constantly
putting them to use. Other voluntary organisations,
scientists, patriots do their best but the huge job
is really daunting all of us. W e have to complete the
job before it is too late.

Smt. Duval: W hen you have assets, you don't care Smt. Duval and Shri Phid al: A nd to that end please
for them. W hen they are endangered by local help us O God!
negligence or alien thieves, you wak e up to unleash a
plethor a of laws. A nd late in the day you come to
remember the ultima te custodians and stak eholders
* * * * *

Echoes of Eco - Newsletter, Vivekananda Kendra – nardep, June 2017, Vol.9 No: 4
 “It doesn't take a genius to pump up the GNP [of a developing
country] by burning down rainforests, using slave labor and social
repression to keep things in place”.
– Hazel Henderson

Happenings this month: Happenings this month: Happenings this

Renewable Energy month:
Sustainable Agriculture
Networking

Training programme on “NPK rich Bio- Green health home worked for 4 days
Training programme "Cost
manure Preparation” was effective Bio-
held at TRC, and treated 134 patients.
manure" was heldrdat Technology Resource
Kalluvilai on 3 June. 04 farmers
Center on 24th May. 21 participants
attended the training. Shri.S.Rajamony
attended the training. Shri.S.Rajamony Workshop on “Traditional Siddha Varma
was the
was the resource
resource person.
person.
Bone Setting Practices” was held at TRC,
Kalluvilai on 12th and 13th April. 39
Vaidyas and Doctors attended the
programme. Dr.V.Ganapathy and his
team acted as a resource person.

Shri.Muneeswaran interacting with the

participants

One day Training programme on “Shakti

Surbahi Bio-methanation plant” was held at
Technology Resource Center on 24th June. 02
members attended. Sri.V.Ramakrishnan was
the resource person.
Bio-manure preparation is on …….

Construction of Biogas Plant

Training programme on “Terrace
Gardening” was held at Technology 60 cum plant - 1 (Cattle dung based) Medicine preparation during Varma Bone
Resource Center on 24th June. 22 setting workshop
farmers attended the training.
Smt.S.Premalatha and Shri.S.Rajamony 100 youths from Nehru Yuva Kendra
were the resource persons. visited TRC on 19th June and learned VK-
Nardep activities in the field of
Sustainable Development.

Construction work is going on ….

Plant at Hosur, Tamilnadu

Inauguration of Bio-information center was

held at Thriruvananthapuram, Kerala on 7 th
June. Shri.Rajamony attended the
programme which was organized by Centre Shri.V.Ramakrishnan interacting with the
Camp participants at our terrace
for Innovation in Science and Social Action. youths

Echoes of Eco - Newsletter, Vivekananda Kendra – nardep, June 2017, Vol.9 No: 4
 “Individuals learn faster than institutions and it is always the
dinosaur's brain that is the last to get the new messages”.
Victims of Western
Imagery
The mental space in which people
dream and act is largely occupied
today by Western imagery. The vast
furrows of cultural monoculture left
behind are, as in all monocultures,
both barren and dangerous. They
have eliminated the innumerable
varieties of being human and have
turned the world into a place
deprived of adventure and surprise;
the ‘Other’ has vanished with
development. Moreover, the
spreading monoculture has eroded
viable alternatives to the industrial,
growth-oriented society and
dangerously crippled humankind’s
capacity to meet an increasingly
different future with creative
responses. It is only a slight
exaggeration to say that whatever
potential for cultural evolution
remains is there in spite of
development.
Wolfgang Sachs
Author, Research
Director and Editor of
the famous book –
“The Development
Dictionary”
Echoes of Eco - Newsletter, Vivekananda Kendra – nardep, June 2017, Vol.9 No: 4
Vivekananda Kendra – nardep, Kanyakumari-629702 Phone:91-4652-246296 www.vknardep.org
Visions of Wisdom
Inequality continues to
be a problem
None of this means that inequality is
not a problem in the world today. It is,
but it is problem of isos, not of
bomoios. It is a problem that calls for
justice, not for the integration and
homogenization of all the world’s
peoples into a single world economic
and cultural system. Inequality is not,
in short an economic problem. Strictly
speaking, economics has no vocabulary
for describing inequality as a problem,
but only as a fact: ‘justice’ is not a
term in economic science. If inequality
is a problem, it is a political problem.
Its solution is not a matter of
development, but of the shaking off
of burdens.
C.Douglas Lummis
An American taught in
Dr.Vandana Shiva
Japan. Author of a
book “Alternatives 30”
Environmental thinker
– a study of Gandhi’s
and Activist. Director
constitutional
proposal
– Hazel Henderson
Undermining of
Sustenance
The paradox and crisis of
development arise from the mistaken
identification of the culturally
perceived poverty of earth-centred
economies with the real material
deprivation that occurs in market-
centred economies, and the mistaken
identification of the growth of
commodity production with providing
better human sustenance for all. In
actual fact, there is less water, less
fertile soil, less genetic wealth as a
result of the development process.
Since this natural wealth is the basis
of nature’s economy and the people’s
survival economy, its scarcity is
impoverishing people in an
unprecedented manner. The new
impoverishment lies in the fact that
nature, which always did support
their survival, is being exploited by
the market economy.
World renowned
- Navadanya