Not the first time, won’t be the last either

A satyagrah when standing in solidarity with a cause or a people appears to a third person as a voluntary act. But as one absorbs the spirit of resistance and solidarity, it becomes an urge, a pull, a drive to act. Given that we are typically not the ones in the eye of the storm, we apply reason, strategize, coordinate, organize, mobilize and try to maximize the impact of the act of resistance.

It was very appropriate that in the morning I attended a panel discussion on Gandhi’s views on dissent and sedition in the first half of the day. And in the second half a talk by Tanveer Ajsee on the historical roots of Kashmir art today. The languages of dissent and expression used by Kashmiris – in their attire and presentation, on canvas, paper or pavments, in their music, dance and celebrations of weddings or commemorating their martyrs.

My satyagrah yesterday was in protest of the govt of India’s communication blockade in Kashmir. If we are to believe the govt of India, 8 million+ people have been subjected to a lockdown so that a few hundred people are kept from communicating between themselves and the rest of the world. For 61 days. Where is the sense of proportion? Is there any concern to human life and livelihood in such actions by the state? In reality, the blockade is yet another step in the further alienization and brutalization of a community. A community that has seen, and survived through, at least 175 years of repression, deceit and exploitation by various states – British, Dogra, and Indian.

There is an attempt to re-weave the Indian social fabric to distract every one from the large scale exploitations of resources and energies. To establish a supremacy, to reiterate and stamp a chauvinistic identity among a majority. A majority that is being told over and over again and is starting to believe that it is under threat. History is replete with cases of the rich and powerful consolidating their hold over the state using this fear. And of communities singled out and oppressed to assuage the collective conscience of society.

The Govt of India, with its actions over the past 39 years or so has ensured that whatever bridges were built are chopped down and brunt to the ground. Again and again. Keeping an active military in a region has never brought peace to that land. The UK, US, Russia, and every hegemonic power center has experienced this. War and occupation brings wealth and excess to the oppressors. And the blood soaked money and power is what we are getting out of Kashmir.

As frequent as these oppressions are the acts of resistance. The living up to ideals, the giving up of livelihoods, freedoms and even lives for certain truths that one holds dear. The defiance of those who don’t just believe that love and peace should prevail, but are ready to stand up and say not in my name; not again.

We can amend laws, we can change the rules. But we cannot legislate affection for a state or fraternity and brotherhood with the rest of the country. It has to be earned.

Simple quality tests for small millet rice

A couple of weeks ago, I started sharing some of my understandings of millets, their nutrition, economics, ecology and technology in 2 to 3 hr sessions. The first of these was on Simple quality tests for staple forms of millets. For convenience and brevity, I have split it into three different sets – one on millet rice, another on millets grits and rava and a third one on millet flours and mixes. Here’s the first one on millet rices …

 

The amazing brown top millet !

Sahaja Samrudha (Bengaluru) & Dhanya (Tumkur) have published a book on brown top millet recently (Adbhuta siridhanya korale, Kannada, second edition, 2016, Rs. 60/-). Written by the prolific and ever green Mallikarjun Hosapalya, the first thing that stood out about this book were the many and colorful photographs.

Brown top millet (btm) is even lesser known among the already less known small millets. The photographs included in the book helps build a connection between the reader, the millet and the millet farmers at a level that written words cannot. Though, I did flip through the book multiple times looking for two photographs but could not find – an image of the hulled btm rice and a clear photograph of the grains separated from each other so that their full profile can be seen against a contrasting background along with a size bar / ruler to give the reader a visual idea of how small the grains are.

Reading the book I was happy to note that it brought to light some lesser known details of btm – for eg. that it grows even in a tamarind tree’s shade. The nutritional profile of btm is another important information that one cannot find easily even on the internet. Given the importance of the nutritional content of these grains and the lack of reliable information online, I looked for more information on the sample collection, preparation and testing of the samples, including the standard scientific protocol followed. Thanks to the publishers and author, unlike many other books, contact information of different people who know about these grains and can provide information about them have been painstakingly put together. I was able to use this information to contact the researchers cited for the nutritional data. I was informed that the full scientific publication is yet to be published and that once done, it would be shared widely – a very justified reason for not publishing it in this book. Quite a few other readers of this book would, I am sure, join me in looking forward to the full scientific publication, in wishing the researchers luck and in offering our support in whatever way possible to further the cause of promoting btm consumption, production and processing.

There are two important things that I feel were missed in compiling the book. The first is a matter of geography while the second is a critical aspect in promoting the grain.

(1) btm is grown and consumed in reasonable quantity in north central India – the region commonly referred to as Bundelkhand. It is called fikara (ಫಿಕಾರ, फिकार) in the local language and the roti made from these are locally called ‘ghaas ki roti’ or ‘roti made from grass’. When I read about this in the news late last year, this is what caught my attention and I immediately thought, this has to be a millet. Thanks to social media I was able to connect with Ravi Badri working near there. When we received some samples of the grains, we realized that it was indeed a millet and none other than btm. The hardiness of this amazing grain requires no further elaboration when one realizes that these grains had grown in the third successive year of drought in the region ! A quick search online (for urochloa ramosa its current scientific name) reveals that there are published reports of their existence and / or cultivation in Bangladesh; Bhutan; Cambodia; India (Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra); Malawi; Myanmar; Nepal; Senegal; South Africa; Yemen; Zimbabwe.

(2) The other important aspect is a package of practice for the cultivating btm. As highlighted in this book, btm is a prolific plant and it has rightly been pointed out that after one or two seasons of sowing btm seeds, the farmer does not need to sow the field again. Future crops of btm grow with the only effort needed from the farmer being that for harvesting the grains. This is a double edged sword. The hardiness and survival instincts of btm are honed over millennia and are clearly demonstrated in two related characteristics. (i) Each of its nodes, just like its wilder brethren in the grass (poaceae) family, is a source of new roots. As new tillers emerge, the older ones curve out and form a parabolic profile. And as they do so, roots from more and more nodes strike the soil, expanding its resource access, reinvigorating the plant.

A flourishing Brachiaria Ramosa photographed in a Proso millet field near Kadiri, A.P. on 20th Oct 2015.

secondary roots being pushed at even the 4th node in bracharia ramosa (ಕೊರ್ಲು, అండు కొర్ర) at a farm near Kadiri, A.P. as captured in this photograph on 20th Oct 2015.

This recurring recharging renders its second amazing characteristic – continued flowering and a continued and extended reproductive phase. (ii) At any point in time, a mature btm plant will have panicles in various stages of maturity. So while the farmer would plan harvesting considering the degree of grain ripening across the field, each of the plants would have shed multiple grains onto the soil seeding their next generation. So if necessary on farm practices are not employed from the first season itself, a farmer will start seeing btm as a weed in their land almost from the very next cultivation season. Therefore it is very important to promote btm with a package of practices and necessary trainings and guidance to the farmers where btm cultivation is being introduced.

It is very heartening to read about the efforts of some of the new initiatives including that of the youth from Gopalanahalli in Chikkanayakahalli Taluk, Tumkur Dt. of Karnataka. We need more such initiatives and many more such farmers to start making a shift in the way we treat land, farming, ecology and our own nutrition. The publication of this book is among the first steps in the right direction. Given the ongoing farm crisis and the relief that crops such as btm offer, I request the publishers to go for English, Hindi and other regional language translations of this work at the earliest. Those of us who are working on promoting small millets and can read Kannada now have a very useful aid at hand when talking about and promoting btm.

Neelgai and a green rose

Neelgai (Boselaphus tragocamelus), are the largest asian antelope, endemic to the gangetic plains in India. Their name literally translates to blue-cow, but neither are they blue nor are they cows or even related to cows.

Large scale deforestation in the gangetic plains and the nearby foothills of the himalayas have forced these majestic beauties to adapt. And adapt they have; a little too well for modern humans.

Having evolved in the grasslands and dry scrub forests in these parts, they now roam freely across agricultural farms merrily grazing. The increase in sugarcane cultivation has provided them with sufficient safe zones to rest during the harsh sunny days. And oh the menu that the farmers fields offer make for sumptuous early lunches and dinners. The depleted forest covers came well after the big carnivores were decimated by hunting and other forms of killing predators that humans have indulged in for many centuries in these parts. Given their misconceived name as an undomesticated relative of the cow, and the Hindu veneration of anything even remotely related to cows, they are not hunted or killed by most people.

Green rose – the remains of a young sorghum plant after it was grazed on by neelgai

So for a few decades now, there has been plenty of food, shelter and barely any predators – a fertile ground for population explosion. And that is exactly what has happened. So far, farmers have silently accepted that this is their fate and swallowed the bitter pill of loosing their primary source of food. The better off sections of society, in both villages and cities, and especially those running the govt., do not see the farmers’ plight and often make fun of their appeals for relief.

Part of the rally held on 8th Aug 2016 in Sitapur town to flag the issue of neelgai menace.

In Sitapur, the small and marginal farmers have decided they have had enough and that things have to change. After meetings within the sanghatan in its different blocks, a rally was taken out in Sitapur Town on 8th Aug 2016. A memorandum signed by members of the sanghatan and affected farmers was submitted to the District Magistrate. In typical bureaucratic style, a consultation meeting with all stakeholders has been promised. In the mean time, the sanghatan is planning a series of discussions in villages to build the momentum for a stronger mobilization on the issue.

Good monsoon, bad monsoon

I was in Sitapur, U.P. for a few days to see how the recently sown mixed crop were faring this year in our friends’ farms.

After two successive failed kharif, everyone was relieved and welcomed the rains. The farms are lush green after the many rains this season.

Almost all the farmers we work with are dalits and their small and marginal land holdings are invariably in low lying areas. It’s also not a surprise that many of them have uneven lands with patches of sandy or sometime loamy soil. Whenever the rains are enough for the water to flow, their farms flood and it takes a couple of days for this to drain.

After the initial rains, the farmers prepared their farms and finished sowing in time for the following rains. Now, these turned out to be heavier than expected and a few have lost all their crop as their entire farm went under water for extended periods so soon after sowing.

Even in those farms where crops have survived, frequent rains are making it near impossible to take up weeding – the soil is too wet. Any weeding activity would take too much effort and/or hurt the crop plants’ roots. So the farmers wait for a dry spell, seeing the weeds taking over their farms.

A wet and slushy field after a night of heavy rains in Pipri, Sitapur Dt. UP

A pest making hay when the sun doesn’t shine !

This monsoon season, we are also seeing that despite normal rainfall, both day and night time temperatures have been higher than normal. So this makes for warm (bordering on hot), humid days with overcast skies – ideal conditions for pests to flourish in. Another potential disaster that most small farmers are in too weak a position (now) to avert.

There are sustainable organic farming steps that one can take to mitigate losses from these conditions too. It will be a couple more years of sustained work before our farmer friends from Sitapur can get there. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that we will get there before its too late.

But coming back to today, the meteorological department does say that the rains have been normal so far. And policy makers, commodity traders and economic forecasters have started calculating how good the harvest is going to be. But for the small farmers, the uncertainty of agriculture does not end with monsoon forecasts.

PS: The higher than normal winter temperatures this year (the el-nino/nina effect) effectively cut the wheat harvest to a third in many families’ farms in these parts. And I do remember reading about the higher than normal temperature in July in Delhi even after the monsoon had moved in. I searched to see if someone has written about the change in temperature patterns in other parts in the later part of monsoon, but couldn’t find one. If you have come across one, please do share. If you are interested to look this up from raw data and do it as project, please do ping me.

Solutions looking for problems

People, many a time well meaning ones, identify that they have a solution that can be used to solve so many problems. They go about hunting for these problems. When you have a hammer in your hand, everything looks like a nail. Unless you stop yourself and learn to look further beyond the hammer in your hand.

So it is now with millet cultivation. It is exciting to see so many farmers trying to cultivate millets again. But the Agriculture officers have a hammer and millets are the new nails. Just read this in a news report from Madurai …

Farmers can also claim 50% subsidy on micro nutrient inputs for millet fields, the department announced. All the extension centres are adequately stocked with certified seeds, agricultural inputs like solid and liquid nutrients and fertilisers.

So many in the sustainable farming movement are promoting millets and some amongst us are trying to engage with the system trying to work it to the benefit of the small and marginal farmers. This news report shows how the system responds and squelches any hope people might have of seeing a change in the approach of those in power.

The struggle continues.

 

For net neutrality and against Zero rating plans

Here’s the letter I sent to the TRAI in response to their call for comments to the Consultation Paper on Differential Pricing for Data Services

The deadline to send in comments is 30th Dec. 2015. Please send in yours in case you haven’t done so already.

Check out http://savetheinternet.in for more on this topic.

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To,
Sri. RS Sharma
Chairman, TRAI

CC: Vinod Kotwal, Advisor (F and EA), TRAI

Dear Sir,

At the outset, I request you to please not publish my email address on the TRAI website or other publications.

Thank you for the opportunity to share my thoughts on the matter of Differential Pricing for Data Services, and the Consultation Paper issued on the matter. This issue is key to increase access, to securing net neutrality and to maintain a level playing field in India.

I am thankful that the TRAI has both highlighted the need for preventing discriminatory practices in this paper, and looked into the issue of making the Internet available to all. Both Internet access and Net Neutrality are important, and we shouldn’t be choosing between the two. Instead we should strive for increasing connectivity which complies with Net Neutrality, ensuring meaningful Internet access for all Indians.

I would like to point out that some of the questions on price discrimination, raised in this consultation, had already been raised in the consultation on regulation of Over the top services, to which over 12 lakh Indians had sent responses. Those answers should be considered by the TRAI in this consultation paper on Differential Pricing for Data services. The TRAI should bring in rules to prevent Net Neutrality violations such as differential pricing – especially the practice of “Zero Rating”.

I hope the TRAI considers my answers.

Thanking you

sincerely,

dwiji

Note: This e-mail message and its attachments may contain confidential / privileged information intended for a specific recipient and purpose. If you are not the intended recipient, please do not disclose, forward, copy, distribute or otherwise publish this e-mail message or use it, its contents or any part thereof, in any manner. Any such disclosure, publication or use will invite legal liability and consequences.

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Question 1: Should the TSPs be allowed to have differential pricing for data usage for accessing different websites, applications or platforms?

NO. Differential pricing for accessing different websites, applications or platforms is discriminatory, anti-competition, non transparent, predatory and misleading. It should not be allowed.

Question 2: If differential pricing for data usage is permitted, what measures should be adopted to ensure that the principles of non-discrimination, transparency, affordable internet access, competition and market entry and innovation are addressed?

No measures can be adopted to ensure that non-discrimination, transparency, affordable internet access, competition and market entry and innovation are addressed in the current models on offer right now. Both Free Basics and Airtel Zero are discriminatory, opaque, anti – competition programs. They are applying predatory practices and are misleading consumers, putting an inordinate burden on the consumer without providing sufficient information to make an informed decision.

In response to Point # 21. in the consultation paper, I would like to note that it is not sufficient for such differential pricing programs to just convey it directly to consumer.

The offered service/app will be true to its word and in conformity with the principles of natural justice only if it is designed such that it ensures that all other services/apps on the device that would use data are blocked and only the free service/app is running so that the subscriber is not burdened with a hefty charge for what s/he thought would be a free session of browsing a few websites from within a ‘free’ app/service.

Question 3. Are there alternative methods/technologies/business models, other than differentiated tariff plans, available to achieve the objective of providing free internet access to the consumers? If yes, please suggest/describe these methods/technologies/business models. Also, describe the potential benefits and disadvantages associated with such methods/technologies/business models?

The only acceptable differential pricing plans would be those which offer a fixed duration / data volume (of say 1 hr or 20 Mb) free access per day. And the charge for any usage beyond the free limit should be at a rate not higher that what a full paying subscriber pays.

Question-4: Is there any other issue that should be considered in the present consultation on differential pricing for data services?

Allowing for differential pricing would hand absolute power to the TSPs to shape what the people of the country would perceive the internet to be. It is important that through its actions, TRAI must ensure that there are no official or unofficial censors set up who will obstruct or allow access to content based on their personal/financial or any other form of relationship with the content creator or aggregator.

Some TSPs and Facebook have incorrectly framed a debate around access at the cost of network neutrality to further their commercial interests. Access does not have to come at the price of network neutrality.

I count on TRAI to

1. consider the submissions made to Question Nos. 14 and 15 in the Consultation on OTT Services (April, 2015) for the Consultation on Pricing Discrimination
2. announce an actionable time table for the conclusion of both consultation processes
3. discharge its bounden duty to maintain net neutrality and increase access to the millions of people in this country.

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Each node is a collar in waiting

The portion of a plant that connects the shoot to the root is commonly referred to as the collar region. An amazing thing can be noticed in most millets.

As the plant grows, the younger tillers push the older tillers further and further away from the central axis of the plant. At each node in their older tillers, new tillers branch out growing skyward. The parent tiller becomes more and more horizontal and its secondary tillers weigh it down further and further bringing it almost parallel to the ground. From each of the older nodes within these tillers, we see secondary roots being pushed into the ground to bring in the good stuff to grow the plant. Essentially, the older nodes in the senior tillers become a secondary collars !

Secondary roots being pushed at even the 4th node in a browntop millet plant (brachiaria ramosa, ढेंगली (?), ಕೊರ್ಲು, అండు కొర్ర) at a farm near Kadiri, A.P. as captured in this photograph on 20th Oct 2015.

A flourishing Browntop millet plant (Brachiaria Ramosa) photographed in a Proso millet field near Kadiri, A.P. on 20th Oct 2015.

I have seen this in Barnyard, Proso and Browntop millets and given their taxonomy I would expect that Foxtail, Little millets would have a similar behaviour too. While, I suspect that Kodo and Finger millets would be exceptions to this characteristic, I would be more than glad if I am proven wrong !

Pollution stings … and stinks !!

Inertia is inevitable. But when pushed beyond a certain limit the overcoming of inertia is also inevitable. Bringing as many members of the community to overcome their inertia at the earliest is one of the challenges that movements and organizations face in mobilizing communities. Typically the poor and marginalized sections of a community are affected much harder and much earlier by adverse conditions. And many a time they would have given up the fight against the injustice long before the better off in the community begin to feel the pain.

Industrialization of Gujarat has been on for more than a few decades now. While the much talked about entreprenuerial talents of Gujaratis is one factor driving the industrialization, but the state administration’s ‘industry first’ policy is like in no other state in India. Incentives in tax breaks, cheap land and water, regulatory mechanisms designed to promote industry, and lax enforcement of laws have ensured unhampered industrial growth. The cost borne by the local communities because of these policies is evident across the countryside. I remember, back in 1999 when driving the family’s Maruti van from B’lore to Gujarat, south Gujarat was the region with colorful rivers and streams. It was sad to see that even in 2008 the water bodies were magenta, red, indigo, grey, yellow and many other colors. While there’s spectral diversity, they all shared one feature – there were one or more industrial estates not too far from the water body.

A pipeline carrying industrial effluents out to the sea

Effluents from one such industrial park flows out in a pipe to be discharged into the Arabian Sea. The fishing community saw a change in the quality and slowly the quantity of their catches. Fishing communities are typically somewhere near the lowest rungs of the caste as well as the economic order, and those in Southern Gujarat are no exception. They were not able to mobilize other sections of the society and at the end of the day decided to fish a little further out in the sea. The beaches soon became stinking toxic yards and the occassional leak here and there started bothering people living close to the pipeline. They were too few and could not muster enough resources to change the situation. After a few years now, the govt. has started laying another pipeline to deal with the expanding industries and their wastes. The new pipeline is being laid right behind a colony of holiday houses of very influential Mumbai based professionals from families with notable ancestries. They are up in arms now and want to do something about the greyzone in the waters at the end of the pipeline, which can apparently even be spotted when flying above the region in commercial flights.

A new phase of the struggle has started. It is to be seen whether the mobilization gains enough momentum to be able to get the govt. to accept that something needs to be done. I am not sure if it will … infact I won’t be surprised if a few months down the line, the pipeline(s) are re-routed through the backyards of someone less powerful.