Spurred by negative impacts of chemical pesticides and other toxic inputs in our food and farming and advocating a shift towards ecological farming, a safe food mela was organized at a city park in Chennai on June 24.

It is part a nation wide mobilization campaign to create awareness among the citizens about the ill effects of the pesticides in our food. Many celebrities,’ cine artists, writers, intellectuals, youth turned out in large numbers to endorse the theme India for safe food.

Traditional foods and snacks from organic sources, millet based foods, urban gardening, materials, organic seeds diversity of organic leafy vegetables were at display in the safe food mela.

There were posters all around creating awareness about the ill effects of pesticides. Several organic outlets of the city, organic farmer groups and other safe food enthusiasts took part in the event. A stall on urban gardening, informed on the ills effects of pesticides in our food, and the implications of the genetically modified food.

The Mela showcased various safe food options, tasty organic foods and snacks to buy and eat traditional rice and millet foods, fresh greens and mangoes. People were seen making bee line in all the stalls especially those that were selling food items.

An important aspect of the campaign was a petition asking the Union Agriculture Minister to take steps towards government support for organic farming and distribution, ensuring wide access to safe foods; banning dangerous pesticides etc.

A number of personalities, actors, musicians, artists, writers and intellectuals who gathered at the safe food Mela endorsed the petition. The petition can be signed on-line by going to http://indiaforsafefood.in/sendpetition.

India for safe food is a movement for change among Indian farmers, consumers and the government to ensure that all Indians have access to safe food, devoid of toxic substances.

Today Indian agriculture uses hundred of toxic chemicals in large volumes, which end up contaminating water, soil and food. Studies indicate that in India, vegetables, fruits, staple cereals, pulses, meat, milk, eggs, poultry, in addition to drinking water, processed foods, beverages are contaminated with poisonous residues to various degrees. Our export consignments are being rejected for their toxic residues.

Studies also show that pesticide exposure is correlated with serious health risks including cancer, endocrine disruption, causing gynecological disorders, organ damage, immune system, impairment and so on.

There is also much that is wrong with regulatory system and approach related to chemical pesticide in the country. There are fundamental ways in which the issue has to be addressed, changes in our technological approach to agriculture as well as our regulatory approach.

We hope to bring about a change collectively, through citizens involvement with India for safe food campaign, explained Dr Sivaraman of Safe Food Alliance.

Ananthoo, a safe food activist said,”we believe that central government addressing at least four components urgently will ensure safe food for all of us. Appropriate investment in promoting ecological farming- ensuring access to organic food by establishing safe food outlets and using PDS- providing poison free food under various food scheme to pregnant and lactating women and children- banning those pesticides that have been banned in other countries, and known to have chronic and adverse impacts.”

There is also much that is wrong with the regulatory system and approach related to chemical pesticides in the country. Governments have allowed toxins in farming and food even while there is ample evidence and experience on the ground to show that farming is indeed possible and profitable through ecological methods.

An example of this is the Community Managed Sustainable Agriculture project in Andhra Pradesh, supported by the State government’s rural development department that has managed to wean away lakhs of farmers from chemical pesticides successfully. This shows that even governments can invest and run knowledge intensive eco agriculture programme and bring about large scale change.

These are together possible only if the agriculture ministry creates at least a level playing field between chemical intensive agriculture and ecological farming.

“The India for safe food campaign emphasizes that transgenic technology is no solution either and seeks to preempt arguments that project it” so says social activist Ramasubramanian of Samanvaya that vouches for shaping action for better planet. He points that both Bt and Ht (Herbicide Tolerant) have only resulted in more pesticide usage even as they created super pets and super weeds bringing deadly pesticides into use.

There are several organizations including India for Safe Food that are working to create awareness amongst citizens about the ill-effects of chemical pesticides and other toxins in food. They are reaching out to citizens through educational institutions, welfare associations, consumer organizations, eminent citizens, celebrities and so on.

This campaign is going to be extended to other cities over the next few weeks and Melas, film-screenings and other events are going to be held in Delhi, Patna Bangalore, Bhubaneswar, Mumbai, Kolkata.

The awareness about safe food is a long drawn out battle and it requires citizen’s involvement to ensure that each of us should have access to safe food.

More information on this can be at http://indiaforsafefood.in

AUTHOR: Mujtaba Syed
URL: http://mujtabas-musings.blogspot.com
E-MAIL: syedalimujtaba [at] yahoo.com

Russian Consumption of Meat and Meat Products by Year, Kilograms per Person

There’s a lot of ways to measure the economic health of a country: per capita income, wealth, inequality, employment, poverty level, etc. The list is virtually endless. Another way is by measuring the average amount of meat a person consumes. Yes, meat, that juicy, protein filled delight, the consumption of which is a testament to people literally living off the fat of the land.  Sure meat consumption can’t be reduced to wealth. A lot of other factors go into it too–culinary culture, religion, geographic location, climate, to name a few. Still per capita meat consumption statistics do seem to correlate to a population’s economic status.

Slon.ru reports that yearly per capita meat consumption in Russia is 63 kilograms per person. A respectable number compared to the rest of the world, but a good 40 to 50 kilos behind other meat-centric peoples like the Americans and Western Europeans. But where Russia’s carnivorousness places in global statistics isn’t the real point.  What’s more revealing is how they compare to past Russian consumption.

As Slon.ru notes, the Putin years have witnessed a meat boom. In 1999, Russians consumed an average 41 kilos of flesh a year. That has shot up by 20 kilos in the last ten years. In this sense, whatever one says about Putin, he has brought home the bacon. Nevertheless, there are important regional differences.  Assuming that the statistics collected by the Ministry of Health approach an accurate estimate, regional difference can be quite stark.  For example, a person devours 99 kilos of meat in Kalmykia, while only 31 kilos in Dagestan. Or while the Ministry of Health says that the normal consumption of meat is 70-75 kilos a year, only 16 Russian provinces meet this norm. Only four regions average more than 80 kilos: Kalmykia, Moscow province, Yakutia, and Sakhalin.  Slon.ru has provided a province by province breakdown.

The statistic that I find most interesting, and revealing about post-Soviet Russia is that while meat consumption has increased dramatically over the last ten years, it still falls short of the USSR peak of 69 kilos in 1989. A few other interesting things to note are that meat consumption rose a dramatic 10 kilos from 1985-1989, the perestroika years. Also, there were no statistics between 1989-1995, a sure indicator of the collapse of the Russian state. But when measurement of meat was resumed in 1995, consumption had plummeted to 50 kilos per person.  It bottomed out in 1999, after the Russian economy crashed and burned, to around 41 kilos. Finally, meat consumption leveled off in 2008 when the economic crisis hit Russia, but began to rise a year later suggesting a strong recovery on an everyday level.

And this is what I find so revealing about these statistics on meat consumption: they paint a picture of how the average Russian experiences the economy on an everyday level. In a world where we are fed abstract figures about GDP, stock market percentages, or monetary rates, the stats on meat are refreshing because they return the economy to where it matters most: people’s bellies.

AUTHOR: Sean Guillory
URL: http://seansrussiablog.org and http://newbooksinrussianstudies.com
E-MAIL: sguillory1 [at] niu.edu

It is well known that this ‘monstrous’ consumption engine depletes world of natural resources, fossil fuel being one of those, at a rate that is unsustainable. The side effects are huge wastes, more energy for recycling the waste, more pollution and Climate Change ultimately.

I find the world running from pillar to post to avert the gloomy pictures the IPCC panelists offer. There are MDGs now to achieve and one important aspect of that is poverty alleviation. But that is pulling the lower end up. What about pulling the higher end down? Can there be wealth limits? Can there be a value system that determines limit of absolute personal wealth and consumption?

Economists and Psychologists do not seem to agree that there can be such an ethical limit, a quantitative one at least. Plus such constraints can destroy the whole economic system of the present. Owning and possessing is in human nature and once we stopped outright plunder in modern days, we can buy things that we want. This creates market, enters neo-classical economics, and we forget how many ‘necessary’ items of life are now gathering dust in our attics, or say, the three burners out of six of my cook-top were never used at all. However inefficient, wasteful and resource hungry the system might be, it is the only system that we know can bring progress and development in our lives.

Makes me wonder if there can be a BPL (Below Poverty Line) card for a poor (in some countries this is known as social security) what prevents the best of our minds to devise an AWL (Above Wealth Line) card too for the likes of Mr. Anil Ambani? That will make the cross subsidies a good lot transparent.

The question appears to be the most by-passed in the list of few questions humanity seeks answer for. But sooner or later, I feel, we have to face it seriously in our ever contracting world of common resources.

Many of my well informed friends link it with Capitalistic ideals of free enterprise and equitable reward for personal efforts. While, in a way, this has a connection with basic economics, we will do better not to mistake it for a communist credo – simply because it is not. All our innovations and excellence work on the demand side of our societies and this question takes you to the supply side of it. It makes you ask yourself, how many pairs of shoes you will need to be comfortable and happy when half the world walks bare foot.

Hopefully, people have started looking for answer.

AUTHOR: Pabitra Mukhopadhyay
URL: http://pabitraspeaks.com
E-MAIL: mukhopadhyay.pabitra [at] gmail.com