India's Food Security Act: Myths and Reality
By Vandana Shiva
Source: Aljazeera
Monday, September 23, 2013
Excerpts:
However, both the food crisis and the economic crisis are a result of the so-called reforms. More people are denied their right to food because, on the one hand the livelihoods of small and marginal farmers are being destroyed to carry out the reforms of corporatising the agriculture sector, with corporate seeds and chemical products, and corporate procurement instead of public procurement. The result is debt, hunger and despair.
One out of every four Indians today is a victim of hunger. And half of the hungry are farmers who cannot eat what they grow, either because they are planting cash crops such as cotton; or they're growing costly crops such as rice, wheat and corn, which they have to sell in order to repay the loans they get to buy seeds, fertilisers, etc.
That is why lowering the cost of production and increasing the livelihood sustainability of small and marginal farmers must be the first step in building food security. However, the Food Security Act is totally silent on production, procurement, and farmers' livelihood and food rights. This in my view is its biggest failing.
The silence on production makes many people feel that the Food Security Act could increase India's dependence on food imports. We are already spending millions of dollars in importing and subsidising pulses - grain legumes - and edible oils. Until the Green Revolution, India was the biggest producer and exporter of oilseeds and pulses.The Greed Revolution which is based on rice and wheat production has destroyed our self-sufficiency in pulses and oilseeds, and the globalisation and libralisation of the food trade has made it worse. We need to introdruce tariffs on imports of edible oils and pulses, both to give our farmers a level playing field, and to reduce our trade and budget deficits.
Full Article: http://www.zcommunications.org/indias-food-security-act-myths-and-reality-by-vandana-shiva.html
pscot
(21,024 posts)so stop saying that.
polly7
(20,582 posts)poorer nations to control their own farming practices, imports and exports, we could feel millions/billions more efficiently than we are now.
pscot
(21,024 posts)as irony. I believe population growth has everything to do with India's troubles and those of the planet. we live in a petri dish. It's a very large petri dish, but we are approaching it's limits.
HuckleB
(35,773 posts)Reality:
Vandan Shiva: Brahmin In Shudra Clothing
http://theprogressivecontrarian.com/2013/01/06/vandana-shiva-brahmin-in-shudra-clothing/
Eco-feminist Vandana Shiva: fanatic or fantasist?
http://www.geneticliteracyproject.org/2013/01/10/eco-feminist-vandana-shiva-fanatic-or-fantasist/#.UkCCEp3n_IU
Vandana Shiva admits: There is No Terminator
http://skepteco.wordpress.com/2012/10/16/vandana-shiva-admits-there-is-no-terminator/
Vandana Shiva Compares GMOs to Rape
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/collideascape/2013/01/05/vandana-shiva-compares-gmos-to-rape/
bananas
(27,509 posts)Thanks for laugh, HuckleB!
HuckleB
(35,773 posts)Thank you.
HuckleB
(35,773 posts)I've offered information that shows that Shiva pushes anti-science nonsense. If you claim that my information is wrong, then prove it.
Thank you.
roseBudd
(8,718 posts)roseBudd
(8,718 posts)and pictures of poo
Green killers and pseudo-science
http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2002-09-22/all-that-matters/27301896_1_gm-foods-food-aid-gm-maize
Vandana Shiva Compares GMOs to Rape
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/collideascape/2013/01/05/vandana-shiva-compares-gmos-to-rape/#.UkI2ONJzFGM
VANDANA SHIVA: FANATIC OR FANTASIST?
http://carboncounter.wordpress.com/2013/01/05/vandana-shiva-fanatic-or-fantasist/
Response to polly7 (Original post)
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