Ecological Swaraj: Towards a Sustainable and Equitable India

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

• www.kalpavriksh.org

For more information….

• chikikothari@gmail.com