Ecological Swaraj
Towards aSustainable and Equitable India
‘Development’• Development = opening up of
opportunities: intellectual,cultural, material, social
vs• ‘Development’ = material
growth (through industrial andfinancial expansion)– measured in % economic
growth, per capita income,etc
Development = economicgrowth at all costs
•Industrialisation & infrastructure, esp. large-scale
•Green Revolution: heavy inputs (chemicals,irrigation, hybrids), commercialisation, monocultures
•Urbanisation: focus on cities, away from villages
•Consumption = consumerism (demand-led economy)
1991-onwards…• Trade (export-import) liberalisation• Foreign direct investment• Delicensing / single window clearances• Privatisation
Economic ‘reforms’?
Today’s visionof
‘development’
Violence against nature, people, andcultures
Destruction of India’s environment
– >5.5 million ha. forest diverted in last 60 years– 70% waterbodies polluted or drained out– 40% mangroves destroyed– Some of the world’s most polluted cities and
coasts– Nearly 10% wildlife threatened with extinction
Smitu Kothari
India’s ‘development’ refugees• Over 60 million displaced in last 50
years• Many millions more dispossessed
of land, water, natural resources,livelihoods
• Impoverishment of small farmers:250,000 suicides (many in Punjab!)
So-called ‘natural disasters’are often human-made
Impacts: growing inequality,leaving half our population behind
• Myth of growing employment:‘jobless growth’ in organisedsector:– 26.7 million in 1991– 30 million in 2012
• Wealth inequities:– top 10% own 53% wealth– bottom 10% own 0.2%
• % below poverty line: 38 to 70%• World’s largest number of
malnourished and undernourishedwomen/children
India the new Coloniser(joining China, Japan…)
Over half a million hectares in Africa takenover by Indian companies to grow crops for
export to Europe etc
More coming up in L. America
Direct/indirect support by government
India (& China, etc) on the pathof ‘globalised development’?
Gandhi:‘if India is to take Britain’s path of
‘development’, it will strip theworld bare like locusts’
Towards alternatives
Food security:sustainable agriculture
•Reviving traditional diversity, promoting cultivated and wild foods•Creating community grain banks•Empowering women/dalit farmers, securing land rights•Creating consumer-producer links (Zaheerabad org. food restaurant)•Linking to Public Distribution System
Deccan Development Society (AP):integrating conservation, equity, &
livelihoods through sustainable agriculture
An individual revolutionary…Natwar Sarangi
Narishu vill, Cuttack dist, Odisha
GenX: Jubraj Swain
Growing 360 varieties of rice
Seed albums and banks
Can India feed itself?
•Organic farming can be highly productive•Integrated food systems (crop-livestock-fish)•Rescuing land from non-food cash crops•Encouraging diversity of food habits, farmer-consumer links
Water security: decentralisedharvesting & distribution
Arvari Sansad (Parliament),Rajasthan: water and foodsecurity throughlandscape governance
KachchhWater self-sufficiency in one ofIndia’s lowest rainfall regions
Natural resource security &nature conservation
www.kalpavriksh.org
Gaddis
Changpas
Pipens
Heronries
Traditional tanks
Yuksam
Bishnois
Sacred mangroves Sacred
groves
Tragopan , and Golden langurprotection
Turtle conservation
Turtle conservation
Community Forestry
Van Panchayats
Grassland management JFM
GLIMPSES OF COMMUNITY CONSERVED AREAS IN INDIA
(from: Draft Directory of CCAs , Kalpavriksh )
ArvariSansad
Sacred groves
Peoples Protected Areas
Note: list and related publications available with Kalpavriksh
Towards tribal self-rule, with conservation:Mendha-Lekha (Maharashtra)
Informed decisionsthrough monitoring, andregular study circles(abhyas gat)
All decisions in gramsabha (village assembly);no activity even bygovernment officialswithout sabha consent
Conservation of 1800 ha forests, now with full rightsunder Forest Rights Act
Vivek Gour-Broome
Earnings from sustainable NTPF use (over Rs. 1crore in 2011-12), and use of govt schemestowards:
•Full employment
•Biogas for 80% households
•Computer training centre
•Training as barefoot engineers
2013: all agricultural land donated tovillage, collective ownership
Community Forest Rights (FRA)
Assertion of CFRs against industrial projects (e.g.POSCO), mining (e.g. Vedanta), logging (e.g.Baigachak), plantations (Odisha), enclosures(Kachchh)
Several hundred claims accepted inMaharashtra (>7 lakh acres), Odisha(>70,000 acres) & Andhra
126,998 acres in Baiga &other areas, MP
Livelihood security
Jharcraft(Jharkhand) Employment for 2.5 lakh families…
reviving crafts, reducing outmigration
Economic democracy…Livelihood security through community-ledcooperatives, self-help groups, producer companies:Dharani, Andhra Pradesh; Kachchh Mahila Vikas Sanghatan / Kasab,Gujarat; Nowgong APCL, Madhya Pradesh; Nyoli, Uttarakhand; Swach,Pune; Aharam Traditional Crop Producer Co.,Tamil Nadu)
Dharani, AP: farmer’s company(facilitated by Timbaktu Collective)
Khamir/Kasab, Kachchh: securelivelihoods for craftspersons
Facilitated by Sahjeevan, Kachchh MahilaVikas Sangathan, and others
The Village and the City …
Gram swaraj: outmigration is not inevitable
Ralegan Siddhi and Hivare Bazaar(Maharashtra), Kuthambakkam (TN)
Towards sustainable cities Bhuj (Kachchh):•reviving watersheds, decentralized water storage and management•solid waste management and sanitation•livelihoods for poor women•dignified housing for poor•Information-based empowerment under 74th Amendment
(Hunnarshala, Sahjeevan, Kutch Mahila Vikas Sangathan, ACT, Setu)
Dignified livelihoods for urban poor
Kagaj Kach Patra KashtakariPanchayat
&Swach(Pune)
Towards sustainable cities…
Decentralised water harvesting, Chennai
Participatory budgeting, Bengaluru/Pune
But a lot more to be done…. public transport,energy, urban agriculture, zero-waste
colonies, ecofriendly architecture
(learn from UK transition towns, Cuba urban farming….)
Alternative learning / educationTraditional and modern, oral and written, local and global•Pachashala, AP•Jeevanshala, Narmada•Prakruthi Badi, AP•Adivasi Academy, Guj•Beeja Vidyapeeth, Uttarakhand•Bhoomi College, Karnataka
Technological alternatives…Technological innovations to reduce ecological impact,reach the poor (malkha cotton weaving, AP;Hunnarshala housing, Kachchh)
Energy: decentralised, renewable(Ladakh solar; Bihar integrated)
The government responds…
• New laws:– Right to Information Act– National Employment Guarantee
Act– Scheduled Tribes and Other
Forest Dwellers (Recognition ofForest Rights) Act 2006
• New programmes:– Organic farming policies /
programmes in 16 states: Sikkim100% by 2015, Kerala by 2020?
Decentralised governance
Nagaland ‘communitisation’: devolution ofgovt powers over education, electricity,health to village councilsResult: sharp increase in quality & quantity ofservices
Radical ecological democracy(RED) or
Ecological Swaraj• achieving human well-being, through
pathways that:– empower all citizens to participate in
decision-making– ensure equitable distribution of wealth– respect the limits of the earth and the rights
of nature
Fundamental values &principles of RED
• Diversity and pluralism (of ideas, knowledge, ecologies, economies, polities, cultures…)
• Self-reliance for basics• Cooperation, collectivity, and ‘commons’• Rights with responsibilities/duties (sense of ownership)• Dignity of labour• Respect to subsistence• Qualitative pursuit of happiness• Equity / equality (gender, caste, class, ethnic)• Simplicity• Decision-making access to all• Respect for all life forms• Biophysical sustainability
Radical Ecological Democracy:A NEW POLITICS and ECONOMICS
Localisation of decision-making, meeting basic needs
Embedded within larger structures of decision-making andeconomic relations that do not undermine the local
State’s role as guarantor of rights, welfare of underpriviliged;accountability through citizens’ charters, public hearings,social audits, right to participation, right to recall …
Indicators of ‘progress’ relate to well-being: clean water,nutritious food, secure housing, public transport, peace,harmonious social relations, opportunities for intellectual andspiritual learning …
Radical Ecological Democracy:A JUST SOCIETY
Towards equity amongstclassescasteswomen and menethnic groupsabled and ‘disabled’
Towards rights-based approaches, infused withresponsibilities
Radical Ecological Democracy:A NEW CULTURE OF KNOWLEDGE, AND
KNOWLEDGE OF CULTURE
Relinking with rest of nature: humans as part of nature, inherentrights of nature
Mix of tradition and modernity … both critically examined
Learning through doing and experience, not only textbooks
Places of learning and education: mix of formal and informal,‘barefoot’ teachers as important as PhDs!
Opportunities for spiritual / ethical growth (without falling into trap ofreligious fundamentalism)
But … beware of falsesolutions!
Ecology as fashion
Technofixes and marketsolutions, ‘green economy’ …REDD/REDD+, CDM,geoengineering, carbon trade,CSR, etc
Fascist, undemocraticbedfellows…
Fundamentalist environmentalism
•green-saffron links (Tehri, Sethusamudran)•blind revival of tradition (back to mythicalharmonious past)•authoritarian conservationist (tigerwallahs,privatisation…)
Pathways….creating space, buying time,forging critical mass
• People’s resistance (Vedanta/POSCO, Orissa; anti-SEZ;hundreds of others)
• Stretching limits of system (RTI, FRA)• Citizens’ networking, joint actions, experimentation,
collective visioning• Empowering political carriers …. movements,
students, unions, etc• Alternatives confluences (vikalp sangam)
India is in a unique position toIndia is in a unique position toevolve alternative models of well-evolve alternative models of well-
being with sustainability & equity being with sustainability & equity ……learning from / teaching otherlearning from / teaching other
countries and peoplescountries and peoples
