suggesting solutions

We have seen the geographic and climatic conditions of India and of Kerala in particular

reference to Malabar as a low-lying ,high paddy cultivation zone and its problems and

peculiarities from prehistoric to modern times. We have seen that Cassia

fistule(Konna)bloomed out of season in Kerala last year and drongo(insectivorous bird

which hatch eggs in Feb-March shifted to earlier times) has changed its breeding

habits. The threadbin bream (two varieties of kili meen)has shifted spawning season to

cooler months of October to March.(because of raise of sea temperature to 0.3 degree C

during last 15 years).Cochin based Central Marine Fisheries Research

Institute(CMFRI)states oil sardines which were abundant in Kerala coast was because of

the warm temperature for spawning, and now they have a wider area of spawning from

Maharashtra to Orissa coasts and this shows rising temperatures there. The impact of all

such changes on rain-fed agriculture ,lifestyle of communities in coastal area, the regions

biodiversity being lost by it, and shrinking of ecosystem of western ghats were discussed

in detail. In Tamil Nad also the changing patterns of rainfall is raising anxiety. They are

expecting short but intensive rainfalls in future .Usually they get rains spread over

months in equal intensity. The cities, coastal areas and deltas are under threat of floods if

the change happen but that was because of our poor planning and poor vision for the

future. What our ancestors foresaw from experience our new administrators could not

foresee. If they had foreseen it ,they would not have made so many houses and

constructions where they should not have been constructed, and they would not have

neglected age-old practices of agriculture for new ones which have no bearing for our

climate. Why did crops in 1000 acres of land in Tiruvarur and 500 acres in

Naagapattinam in delta area damaged by floods? If the seed of Pokkali (which is always

remaining above water level)was used in low-lying areas would this have happened? If

people were cultivating in all the low-lying fields and were living in plains ,and allowing

forests to grow on hills and hillsides would it not have been the best policy for protection

of ecology, human and animal life as well as for protection and greater production of

grains? So planning to live is not there in our present day administration is very clear.

And the removal of co-operative farming for individual property farming has lead to

several acres of land being uncultivated .We have to address these problems first. Then

we have to understand the dictum that to attract tourists forever ,the “concrete” jungles

(Construction works)are not enough. The protection of nature, heritage sites and cultural

identity is needed for tourism promotion. Either way ,traditional ways of thinking ,living

as part of ecology has to be redeemed.

1.For Indian conditions ,high cost projects are not suitable. Devise low cost methods

Devise methods for high moisture content and standing waters .( For wetlands of Kerala)

For dry land which needs irrigation facilities and with less rainfall the method has to be

different.This has regional differences .

Do not try to impose monoculture on high fertile biodiversity areas like Kerala.

How to reduce labor costs?

One is to Do yourself. The other is to do as a co-operative farming by whole village .For

this ,one has to conduct awareness classes and convince all ,including labourers,and

people who do not cultivate their land however small it may be, and also people who are

doing non-ecological exploitation of land including construction works.
.
To reduce energy requirements :-Use biogas and biological manure .For this protect

domestic animals (cows etc)

Use co-operative measures of group farming by entire village

Procuring seeds ,seed selection,packaging,transportation charges to be reduced

Use simple technologies wherever possible for maximum yield. Use locally available

fuel,nonconventional energy sources, and low-cost technology, and regional seeds

suitable for geographical area.

Improve rice processing as cottage industry

To reduce weeds growing in between rice saplings during the monsoons there is a simple

method of spreading dry hay or paddy straw between them. That will act as a effective

weed suppressant. Some people also spread jatroffa leaves but take care that only leaves

and not the stems are spread because jatropha stems easily grow roots in the soil. This is a

easy and cost effective system for preventing weeds so that the cost of removal of weeds

can be minimized.

Systematic rice intensification (SRI)system can be resorted to. This is supposed to use

least water (hence suited for areas with dry climates)and releases little methane .(Any

type of natural cultivation release less methane ).

All these can be done at short-term project levels

Apart from cash crops plant all vegetables needed for village in each house in kitchen

gardens. Encourage children in schools to do it .This will build up a new generation of

citizens who know the value of food production and love nature .

2.Packaging and transport losses to be brought to very low levels.

This has to be looked into by Govt

Irrigations with canals ,bund formation etc are to be looked into. The tanks,canals,wells

etc should be protected just as rivers. And none of the existing ones should be destroyed

for construction work. Rain water conservation scheme and schemes for preservation of

natural surface and ground water should be undertaken collectively by co-operation of

entire village .

Storage of grains for village use in conditions of emergency ./famines.

Cattle/fish /growth and use of it as organic recycling of energy process in food cycle to be

encouraged .That will reduce the energy pollution and also cost of manure

3.Plant fruit trees in every village instead of trees which have no fruits and which are just

for decoration and timber. This will be useful in famine /drought and also will keep

nutritional status of all children in village and reduce incidence of anaemia and leukemia

in villages and reduce cost of treatment and hospital stay as well.Reducing the hospital

expenditure by increasing the food sufficiency and vitamin requirements is better policy.

4.Goraksha:- protection of cattle and their health .Healthy environment and food ,grazing

,grass and hay and food for them .Have music for more flow of milk as well as for growth

of animals and plants.

Healthy cattle more productivity. More milk. This is urgent step.

Crossbreeding in village itself by a strong high variety bull(a proven high quality bull as

in olden days .I remember a bull in Ambazhathel for this purpose)) in village or by

semen banks.(at state/regional level.This will cost more than an individual bull and the

state has to have facilities for this )Train manpower for veterinary services. Cross breed

development by DNA markers is available in the present world.

Develop the feed and feed quality standards for cattle consistent with the breed and the

yield.

We can upgrade the crop residue and biodegradable waste for use as cattle

feed. Development of high yield fodder seeds .Hygienic sheds for cattle reduce risks of

diseases and cost of treatment.

High quality of milk processing to be practiced. Train farmers for hygienic ways of

collecting milk.

Use biogas as power supply for homes and for industries including uninterrupted power

for milk products /processing

Treat cattle with care. They are fundamental to our agrarian economy and love them and

talk to them and sing to them as you work .That will keep them happy and healthy and

give you more.

Make a pollution free environment both for man and cattle.

3.Timely harvesting and sowing of seeds of vegetables and other crops .Educate growers

regarding proper maturity indices in harvesting. Proper post harvest treatment like vapor

heating etc should be taught .High yield of vegetables and sharing them with

neighbours,and with local markets should be encouraged rather than sending them abroad

in poor preservation conditions which will make high levels of loss .

4.Promote Horticulture projects .This is having a major boom in business. Encourage

farmers to grow on a buy-back agreement of barter ,vegetables and fruits suited to their

regions with neighbors who do not have that condition.(esp. fruits,veg,grains etc).This

will give a permanent market for all produce for all people.

5.Long term programme as a multiprong programme .

The transport infrastructure

Financial assistance to co-operative and private institutions to develop infrastructure

.CA/MA(controlled modified atmosphere) for storage and transport facilities.

Processing of fruits/veg at farm level to reduce waste by educating farmers and giving

financial assistance.

Some of these are given by A.P.J Abdul Kalam (Visions for India pp 74-80 )but with

more of technological programmes which increase cost of production and thus end up in

less self sufficiency which is applicable only in certain conditions. In Kerala as a special

region many of them are not practicable and are cost consuming and unnecessary too.

Therefore I have charted out a more practical method suitable for our region. And for all

the poor farmers my methods should bring sustained food and productivity and hunger

should be eliminated as well as nutritional deficiency so that all get immunity at a

cost-effective way ,reducing cost of high medical treatments, cost of technology and

artificial methods of farming. In this mine is different from that of A.P.J.AbdulKalam

who gives much importance to the high cost technology for production .

ICRISAT (International crops research institute for the semi-Arid Tropics )is trying to

develop crops that grow in warm and dry climates to find a solution for an expected

future global warming converting the entire earth into dry arid lands. They work on crops

like millets,sorghum,chickpea and pigeon pea and groundnut etc .Millets and sorghum

has high salinity tolerance. They produce good yields even in warm weathers. The work

of ICRISAT is based on the assumption that warmer temperatures, persistent droughts

and erratic rainfall could send poor farmers right back to the bottom of the development

ladder. The brewing up of the perfect climatic storm has a confluence of

1.Climatic change

2.Dessertification of once fertile lands

3.high energy demands of the world

4.an exploding population which needs to be fed.

So ,how we deal with this should be with extreme care and proper planning.

Each region has its own climate, its own good crops and to take what the ICRISAT say

at face value is therefore not good. For rice growing law lands it is better to improve rice

growing itself. Do not try to convert to millets and desert seeds fearing a catastrophe that

might occur or not .But be selective about crops in different seasons.

The grains suitable for India (its different regions)have been described by various texts

right from Veda and has been tested through several millennia and by Indus valley period

a agrarian ecology and sharing had been in practice(or even before that)and this had

continued till British times as I had quoted from Logan in the case of Malabar. This

continuous system is our strength. Therefore ,based on regional peculiarities and regional

seasonal rainfall(which has nothing to do with general conditions or theories)make

practical plans and for this each individual in the village and each association or group in

the village can contribute their share of service and helping hand as a co-operative effort

.This is what a panchayath is for. It has to be for the welfare of all in the village and for

the welfare of the neighboring village and as a Venn diagram the welfare should extend

to entire nation and the globe. That is the concept of my health village scheme. It works

on co-operation, love and common welfare and is free from all differences on

caste,creed,community,race ,gender ,religion etc.It is based on Indian geographical

features, Indian climate and its observation and experimentation over millennia by our

ancestors and how they saw it and solved it and how the present generation see and solve

it so that the posterity (next generations)will see the land as green and as full of fresh

water and food and enjoy it and make use of it for propagation of a healthy happy race.


In a recent report on Hunger Index of India we find a similar pattern in Kerala,Andhra

and Assam because of its rice-growing low lands and climatic conditions.These are the

only three states that produce enough rice ,the staple diet of the South Indian to a great

degree and yet their hunger index is ranked “severe”though slightly better than the other

states.The only other state that has an equal status is Punjab and that is because of the

Green revolution of the five year plans which gave high yields of wheat.If the three states

mentioned above stop growing rice,and ask for rice from other states ,or from the

center,it just shows that their policies on agriculture especially Paddy growing has not

been adequate.The geographic features of Kerala especially South Malabar and Kuttanad

are best for paddy growing and if people start converting these wetlands for other

purposes they are jeopardizing not only the food sufficiency of the region,but also of

entire nation and by that they make the nutrition,health and agroeconomy of nation

suffer.If there is no rainwater or groundwater there is no food.Without water and food

,there is no life on earth.The sustenance of life is based on agricultural activities of

human race and in a geographically suitable land (like kol puncha wetlands) where both

agroeconomy,fisheries and green tourism can thrive and bring the state more revenue as

well as national pride,both the rulers and the ruled population should be aware of their

key role .

Nature has blessed us with beauty,water ,rains and food . Let us sustain it,sustain a

healthy ,happy and unified life in tune with nature .

Nature and ecology of east

Nature and ecology of the East:-

There are two schools of thought about history of east and its ecology called 1.Golden Ageists and subalternists & 2.statistical/empiricists .Though their ideology and methods of study differ, somewhere I find these two views having a convergent point. The integration of the third method known as Oxford tradition gives a better understanding of the entire state of affairs.
I had been a practicing Pathologist throughout my life. I had done some research on children with Leukemia in 1977 onwards and on many other types of cancers and on role of environment and food on cancer epidemiology and when there was an environmental pollution in Chaliar near Medical college Hospital where I was practicing ,I went into details of environmental pollution ,food insufficiency and disease relationships.

The fact remains that the doctors of East India Company Medical service in 19th century made the first revolutionary change in the consciousness of ecology of Europe cannot be forgotten. The fact that the cyclical action and reaction of deforestation, lack of rain, lack of food grain,famine,disease and nutritional deficiency that lead them to this .In Oxford dictionary the environment is “That which environs;especially those conditions or influences under which any person or thing lives or is developed”.Southern Karnataka and Kerala had human inhabitations on granite hills in Neolithic times before BC 3000(pp 48 Nature and Orient)and they did Punam krishi and protected cattle(Bos indicas)and mined goal, and exported gold, cattle ,timber and other forest produce. From 6000 BC to 300 BC they continued this activity but not much destruction of races or environment happened .
In 326 BC when Alexander came Punjab was dense forests (Spate &Learmonth ch 2 .George Erdosy.Nature and orient pp 51).In AD 11th century when Gazani Mohammad came,Yamuna and her banks were full of trees .Til 19th century entire Ganga banks were forests. The first tree for railway was cut from bank of Ganga.
Indian Ecology in Foreigners eyes:-
Heradotus heard of India from Persians and wrote that India has giant ants that do mining of gold and giant foxes etc.(Was the Persian accounts about ancient Dinosaurs?)In Mahabharata (2.48.4)it is said that tax of gold upto an ant(pipeelika)to be given. Probably this saying had traveled to Persia and to Greece.Heradotus says that the earth’s end is blessed by nature and is fertile. He wrote:_”In India ,which, as I observed lately ,is the furthest region of the inhabited world towards the east ,all the four-footed beasts and the birds are very much bigger than those found elsewhere, except only the horses”. He said Indians respect beasts and plants and will not destroy their life. This protection of nature and ecology was the hallmark of India. In 509 BC the Captain of Darius Skylax of Karianda came to Indus river and wrote about the plants there: But what he wrote is not available now. One sentence quoted as his is:-On either side of Sindhu is high mountains In them there are evergreen forests. And several thorny Kunara(Wild roses called Kunosbatos according to Theophrastus .)After 80 yrs of death of Socrates ,Aristoxanes speaks of an Indian sanyasin who saw Socrates and talked with him. What they talked is unknown. Since Socrates was not interested in ecology it must be philosophy. In 416 BC in the durbar of Darius 2nd under Artacserxus was the vaidya Tessias of Nidos.He hadn’t come to India but had written “Indica”from whatever was heard from Persia. This book also is lost but Aristotle quotes from it several times. For a vaidya the plants as medicines in India was a subject interesting .The Indian spices being famous in the west as medicines the physician was justified in writing such a book. One cannot say that Indica is a scientific text with misunderstandings like the carnivorous man-eating tigers as having three rows of teeth, and a tail like that of a scorpion etc.
In the group that accompanied Alexander, disciple of Aristotle ,were Ptolemy,Aristobulus,Niarkkes ,Kalisthenes.But we do not have any of their books .Yet the books of those who studied them and wrote of them is available. They are Deoderous,Strabo,Plutarch ,Curtius,Arrean etc.They had given something about India’s plant and animal life (only upto Sindhu river).
Deoderous wrote that India is a beautiful landscape with mountains on which different varieties of trees and plants grow and fertile expanses of fields are abundant and several rivers are present. Since water scarcity is not there majority of the areas have two harvests a year (Iruppoo in our language) and all sorts of fauna exist.The rain comes in a wonderful cycle which never fails. Therefore farming activities are according to that. Even in hot seasons from the hot atmosphere they get rain. By the heat ,the tall grass in marshes have good roots and grow well so that cattle get good feed.
Philostratus wrote:-When Appolonius the philosopher went to visit Sindhudesa from Theana,he saw a big elephant called Ayya’s which was taken from king Porus by Alexander. Among the scientists and philosophers who accompanied Alexander ,Kallesthenes ,nephew of Aristotle died before he reached India and could not see the dream country of his uncle. Others collected as many plants ,animals, information about them, and as many granthas as possible and records on history and science etc.About this we have an account of Pliny,the elder. He wrote that Alexander had a desire to know about nature and animals. Aristotle his Guru was the reason behind this. Everyone in Asia and Greece who were living on agriculture,hunting,fishing etc were asked to give as many information possible to the men who accompanied the conqueror. From their information, and collected samples Aristotle wrote his 50 volume treatise. In the “Lycium”which is the Aristotelian school ,specimens(both dead and alive)and grantha and manuscripts reached from India .The philosophers and scientists who made use of these and became scholars are known as Peripatetic philosophers. Greece knew about cotton,banyan,grains and bamboo etc from these wandering philosophers who accompanied Alexander.Elephant,snakes,monkeys of different varieties ,lion,tiger,parrots,crocodile,strong ferocious dogs of India were wonderful articles for them.Nearcus said we wanted to see the big ants which do gold mining and a clever businessman showed us the skin of a leopard and told us this is the skin of that ant. Alexander himself asked a sage which is the cleverest animal in the world and he replied that “That animal which man has not yet seen is the cleverest animal” and this is written by Plutarch. The wandering scientist/philosophers /army of Alexander wrote in 4th century BC that it is the forests which give homes,fuel,vehicles,forest goods for daily and export use,defence and hiding places and their ships are strong because of these forest trees.They wrote we have seen only the coastal fringes and beyond and far off are the real tall trees and the peaks of the mountains with dark shades.Deoderus said the wood for Alexander’s ships were brought from those far of forests which they had not seen.Strabo thought this may be in the Himalayan areas. To send Nearchus to Gulf of Persia from Sindhu river, a timber town near Sindhu(Xylinepolis)gave timber for ship making and it was from there the journey began. The army cut trees from banks of rivers for fuel and for campfires at night. Before the battle with Porus,Alexander rested in a island in Hydaspes river which was full of tall trees.
About warfare of Indians Arrian wrote:-They will never destroy the fertile nature or forest or fields of even the enemy.He expresses wonder that they never kill the agriculturists and farming community either.His words were:-“If there is internal war among the Indians ,it is not lawful for them to touch these landworkers ,nor even to devastate the land itself” The same opinion is expressed by the Jesuits about the warfare of the Koraga in South India (and of Pazhassiraja’s troup)in 15th and 16th century.So,the unity and continuity of a people is not a fleeting one. For 2000 years both kings and peasants alike knowing the dharma of protecting civilians and nature, the ecological balance of the nation by themselves ,without any pressurization from outside law ,is commendable. Such a dharmic,scientific,administrative and statecraft ,based on ecology and ethics and on a centralized and decentralized Republican way is not seen for such a continuous period without coercion in any other part of the world .

Nysa and the Meru:-
When the Macedonian army crossed Hindukush they saw a land with lot of plants. They saw Ivy which resembles the plant in Greece,grapevines,Berrys,Laurels,Myrtles,Box etc there. In the Mediterranean the ivy and grapevine is related to worship of Dionysius cult. So they thought they had reached the earthly heaven which their mythical God is said to have visited. In one place the people told them that this is called Nysa.The word meaning of Dionysius is God of Nysa and they thought the name of their God is originated form this land. The locals said ,this is a small part of Mount sumeru and is supposed to be the Devabhoomi.Immeadiately they thought that the word Meru has a similarity to the word for Thigh in Greek language and since Dionysius is born from the thigh of Zeus (as Vaisya from that of Vishnu)the cult must have originated in India ,in this place. Thus happy with finding out their origin the Greeks drank wine and wore laurels of ivy and danced on the mountain top. This had been repeated in several independent sources and seems correct according to J.Donald Hughes(pp 76 ch 3 .Nature and Orient).Thus from India ,the biology,ecology,agricultural science etc were transported from India to Greece through disciples of Aristotle who accompanied Alexander. India gave answers to Aristotle on specific questions like 1.How a life form originate.2.How does it grow.3.How does it function.4.How in a specific locality many forms of life live together without any race being destroyed.4.What is the relationship between life forms and nonliving forms of dravya in nature. Aristotle wrote that in ”Metaphysics” as follows:-“All things are ordered together somehow ,but not all alike, including fishes and fowls, and plants. And the world is not such that one thing has nothing to do with another but they are connected”. Thus oneness of nature and ecology reached Greece from India.
1.The food habits of different people
2.The food chain
3.How in the competition for life Jeevo jeevasya jeevana happens
4.The role of Veeryadharana for progeny and its strength
5.Reproductive capacity
6.When the race of prey ends the race of predator also ends
7.Local,regional peculiarities of ecology due to Geography and climate
8. The way of Paraada or parasitism
9.The importance of Symbiosis as a co-operative society
10.How the races and species of each locality adapt themselves to that particular environment
11.How are some aquatic and others terrestrial
These questions and classifications and explanations and lifestyles have influenced Aristotle from Indian medical texts and the shaddarsana.
He asked. Why elephant though it can swim in water is not an aquatic animal? Why the small variety of fish in South India though they jump and live on land are not terrestrial life?(About Psedapocrytus ,Anabas )
How mans interference in nature has affected it?(agriculture, domestication including)
He understood from India that the wild (growing on its on in forests, mountains )and tame(domesticated and living in village and towns)are present in plants,animals,birds and in men alike. The wild survive if left alone.
Indians gave him an explanation for the ferociousness and strength of their dogs used for hunting. They said it is a crossbred of Kurunari(jackal/wolf)and dog. Greeks thought that kurunari was a tiger. And they debated over this for years. Then Aristotle came up with a solution. He wrote:-“Indian dogs spring from the union of a dog with some wild dog-like animal”. In Ramayana it is said that the dogs of Kekaya ,of Prince Bharatha ,has dogs with strength of a tiger. This also was one reason for the confusion of the Greek.(The real reason was that they did not know how to crossbreed or principles of domestication and creating a strong progeny ).When discussing Indian species Aristotle was more careful about their structure and Taxonomy like the Medical texts of ancient India. About ecology and crossbreeds he wrote from second hand reports.
Theophratus of Eryssus:-He was disciple of Aristotle who continued the study .Aristotle was mainly concerned with animals while Theophratus was concerned with plants. He studied plant life mainly in the context of environment. His theory of ecology was:-“Mutation according to the place ,adaptation to the environment ,competition,symbiosis,role of environment in plant diseases ,effects of cultivation and acclimatization ,anthropogenic changes in climate” and was more scientific. Each plant should have its specific land and environment (Oikeios topos,oikeia chora).This is what the modern ecologists call a niche .Oikos means a home, a habitat, or a domicile. From this word originated Ecology .In Sanskrit an Oka is the Habitat or home .oikos from Oka,and Ecology from Oikos is the literary ,etymological derivation of the word.
Some need dry climate ,others need lot of water, some need more sunlight ,some need shade ,some need mountains and others marshes. In this way ,if all these diversities of nature exists in a country, naturally the country will have more biodiversity. All species of plants, animals and men are possible in such a landmass. The local people of Nysa had told the Greek that Ivy grow only there in India. In Ramayana it is said the four plants Suvarnakarani,Visalyakarani,Santhanakarani and Mrithasanjeevani grow only in Himalaya, in Sumeru peak. As an explanation for this Theophratus wrote:- India shows differences ,in that part of it bears certain things which another part does not. Thus the mountainous country has the vine and olive and the other parts the fruit trees.”.Theophratus describes the Mangrove forests of India which was given by people who accompanied Alexander. He mentions this ecological society of plant life, the tides, periodical salinity by floods, and its relationship, and the special type of growth of roots of mangrove forests etc.he understood the ecology of it but could not differentiate the different species in it. The first scientist(Botanist)in European language to write on mangrove forest is Theophratus.He wrote about salinity by tidal waves from Greece where it is never experienced ,by collecting material from the Indian-returned people .He tried to point out the environment needed for each plant that he got from India ,though he could not name each. he described 25 Indian plants in this way. Greeks call bamboo as the Indian reed and Theophrastus wrote that it grows in banks of river Acesines(Asikni).Just like the other Greeks before him ,he too express wonder “How does a grass grow so big?”. His generalization of the smallness of the fruit of Indian banyan(fig tree)was not scientific. He thought that all big trees produce small fruits and there is a ratio between size of tree and its fruit. Bunyan which is spreading in acres of land, giving shade for big assemblies to sit under it ,produce roots from branches was a wonder for the foreigners. In old Indian literature a saying that the Vizhuthu(branch)growing and destroying thaythadi(main stem)is seen. This is the epiphytic nature of the Vizhuthu and the symbiotic existence of the stem and branches .Aristotle and Theophratus understood this. They understood that this nature is only for Indian species and not for the Mediterranean species. After Theophratus ,all the Greek writers quoted him and never had been such an ecological enquirer with originality in Greek literature before or after him. No one continued that tradition of research.

Megasthenes:- (BC 300)Was an Ionian who visited as ambassador in ChandraGuptha’s court places which Alexander had not visited. His writings are known as “Indica”.Parts of it is quoted by Arrian.The importance is given not to science but for the things of wonder, and myths etc.Chandraguptha had given hundreds of elephants to Seleucus and they had participated in the wars of kings and successors of Alexander in Greece. The embassy of Asoka transferred wealth, knowledge and civilization and science and arts to Seleukid,Ptolemy dynasties .In 279 BC we find the procession of Ptolemy 2 of Philadelphius ,participated by several Indians .These Indians were people who were given by Chandraguptha as Angarakshaka and they had stayed back in Alexandria as faithful bodyguards .They with their 26 varieties of cattle,100 elephants with gold bedecked decorations, and buffaloes, horned deer, lions ,hunting dogs,parrots,peacocks,pheasants participated in this procession to commemorate the annual memory of Ptolemy 1 ,who had brought them from India. Ptolemy 1 and 2 created and nurtured the Alexandrian museum which was a research institute for study of Aristotle and Theophratus and his disciples Demetrius of Phalerath and Starto of Lampsackus taught there. Just as in Lycium here also a garden with Indian plants, animals and birds was kept for study .Eudoxus of Cyzicus traveled along coast of India in 120BC in a ship. After 20 years ,(100BC) we find that Hippalaus ,officer of Ptolemy wrote that to cross ocean and reach India one has to depend upon Monsoon winds.Hippos in Greek means the horse. The Aswins in India are the first to control winds and cross the sea in a ship. This Hippalous is the name of the winds of the Indian ocean as Aswins.And Hippalos and Aswa being horse ,this is nothing but a heresay and no such person as Hippalous was there .In 21 BC Augustus Caesar was welcomed by a procession which included Indians with their tigers and tortoises and a python. In South Asia after this period we find Roman coins. Not before that. The coming of St Thomas to Kerala coincide with the period.
Then the voyages of the west to east must have increased after Hippalas if ,such a person has identified the monsoons and known the method to cross the sea. But we find none of it till Vas co da Gamas time .So that ,simply means the Greek and Romans had no knowledge of sea travel or of the secrets of it. The knowledge of Indian plants,animals,Indian astronomy (scientific)by which the sea travel is possible is not seen in Greece of that period. They were trying to know it but often fell short of the real knowledge and went on quoting others instead of doing original work out of experience. For it the west had to wait till Vas co da gama’s arrival. But ,the quotations of the wonder trips and exotic news of India helped to preserve the nature of the west and the east to seekers like us o know the truth .
Strabo’s book on geography of world has a long chapter on India. He viewed environment as Deoderus did.Eratosthenes in Alexandrian museum was studying the botanical geography,climatology and observational methods of metereology of India. He and Aristobulus who accompanied Alexander were sources for Strabo and Deoderous.Strabo describes Indian monsoon and geographical features in a general way. By the water content of atmosphere and the nutrients ,the plants grow luxuriously in India and the reason for big size of animals in India is this as well as the nature of the rainwater India gets.
Pliny’s natural history also speaks of Indian fauna and flora. He quotes from Theophratus but discarding portions on ecology. Whatever Theophratus said of banyan,jackfruits,mango,Ebony(Veetti),pistachio nuts,Cotton,barley ,wheat ,olive Mangrove ,bamboo he quotes.
Claudius Aelinius commonly called Aelian wrote about animals of India codifying all that was said about them before him(On animals).It is a codified stories of animals of India, with lac insect that makes a precious dye,Kartazonos(Kandamriga or rhino).python that can bind an elephant, the giant monkeys in Himalaya which Alexander saw (The first mention of Yeti) are in this book. The upavana grown by chieftains, and the vana or natural forests, and nature of human ecology are spoken of. He says the upavana are garden forests looked after carefully by the state and the people and they excel even the so-called heavens of Persian kings.Animals,birds and plants grow in natural surroundings and protectors or special guards are there. Among the forests one can see beautifully placed wooden architecture ,the skill of the carpenters. They grow trees of India. If at all a species from a foreign land is brought, they bring it after careful study and analysis only (means they knew the dangers of such imbalance of ecology).Both domesticated and wild birds and animals freely grow and nest there. Several nests are on treetops. Lakes are abundant among vegetations. In them large and small varieties of fish grow. No one kills or hunts these animals, birds or destroy the forests. The only time when hunting is allowed is for the princes during their training period to learn hunting. At no other period ,and by no other person hunting is allowed. Donald Hughes writes(Dept of history .Uty of Denver,Colorado):-“Data from India stimulated the Greek thinkers to ponder ecological questions more thoroughly and to develop biological analysis “.
Till 18th century Malabar and East Indonesia were the only regions where Grampoo was grown.In 1700 BC remains of Terqua in Mediterranean the remnants of imported grampoo was excavated. Rome ,Greece and Persia imported it from India as medicine. Nutmeg and gramboo as cash crops became important in Indonesia only after 15th century(Tom Pires)but in India it was not so .The sappan tree,agaru,chandan,cinnamon,karpora or camphor,benzoin,frankincense ,ommar ,gums and resins from forest trees,lac from lac insects ,horns of Rhino and elephant,birds and bird nests ,tortoise shell, pearls and corals, conches were exported but without destroying the species and without affecting the ecology (because it was done by ADIVASI who knew the forest should last for their existence and their chieftains equally conscious of the symbiosis).Food grains from India reached all other places .Pepper was a cash crop in India from ancient times. The first instance of it being mentioned as a cash crop in South East Asia is that of Chou Jukwa in 13th century. Till 15th century all global markets including China got pepper from Malabar alone. Before 15th century cotton and pepper as cash crops did not exist in South East Asia. In 1400 the sea trade of nutmeg and pepper increased to Mediterranean ports of Europe.(Yearly 30 Town Grampoo and 10 Tonne nutmeg).It is after that the South East Asian markets became prominent.
Traditional pepper farming is done in land which is sloping so that water does not remain there. Sand and clay should be there and tree for climbing should be at hand. The land is usually near the port from where it is exported. The method is to burn the adikkad in the first year and sow dry rice.Bamboo or betel nut for the vine to climb up will be there. The vine will start giving fruit from 3rd year and in 7th to 10th year maximum fruits are given. The lifespan is 20 years. Therefore by the 10th year itself the new plants will be grown. The old garden is not used for that. Allow the old garden to grow grass or a new forest .According to the export of one year, the farmers plan their area of cultivation. In South East Asia for cash crop cultivation of pepper from 17th to 19th centuries lot of forests were destroyed.
Here we shall compare the agriculture of Sathinghpra in South East Asia from 4th to 13th century with Indians.

4-6th century was preurban in Sathingpra and 4000 Ha had irrigation and 15200 had no irrigation. Total hectares cultivated was 19200 Ha.
In Urban phase 1 (6th-9th century)it became 20000, &30000 respectively with total 50000Ha
In urban phase 2 ,increased to 60000 and 70000 with total 130000Ha(9-13th)
Phase 3 (13-14th) it was decreased to 10000-27000 with only a total of 37000 Ha.
In these phases ,produce with a single pooval was calculated in land with and without irrigation.
Preurban:-5400000 KG with irrigation and 10640000 Kg with rainwater alone =total 16040000Kg
Urban 1:-27000000 with irrigation,21000000with rain alone and total 48000000Kg
Phases 2:-81000000 with irrigation,49000000 with rain alone ,and total 130000000Kg
Phase 3 had 13500000 with irrigation,21700000 without ,and total 35200000 Kg

In iruppoo(two seasons of produce):- it was same in preurban phase and urban 1 phase
In urban phase 2 a total of 202000000Ha and in phase 3 total of 44400000 kg produced.
Supposing the annual need of a family with 5-6 members is 1400 Kg rice finding out the population of the region (both farmers and nonfarmers)the surplus grain produced in the area can be calculated. The storage or sambharana of grain depend upon that .This was the method followed in India for time immemorial. The seed sown, the produce obtained and its ratio even without irrigation is 1:15 and it is increased with irrigation to 1:30-1:40.This is 15 to 20 times more than the temperate countries (Rome 1:4,France1:6,Burgandy 1:10) and the tropical Asian countries and their prosperity depends upon this and this alone. In this no one can beat us because the nature has blessed us and it is our duty to protect it and make maximum out of it.
Table showing surplus made by SEAsia (pp174-75 nature and orient ch 6):-

Century 4-6th(preurban) Urban 1(6-9) 2(9-13) 3(13-14)

Ha(land) 19200 50000 130000 37000
No of farmer family 4266 11111 288888 8222
Nonagri.Fam 6641 21764 60254 21378
No:/fam mem upper limit 10907 32857 180703 48000000
Upper limit of persons 59988 180703 490281 162800
Grain(Kg)total 160400000 48000000 202000000 44400000
Consumed(Kg) 5973333 15555400 40443200 11510800
Annual seed reserve(Kg) 768000 2000000 10400000 2960000
Surplus(kg) 9298667 30444600 151156800 29929200



From the preurban phase to phase 4 urban we find a definite pattern. The land increase till urban 2 phase(9th to 13th century and is a sharp fall after that.)
Number of farmer families increase in the 1st and 2nd phase of urbanization, and a drastic fall is seen in the 3rd phase of urbanization. The nonfarmers increase steadily and their fall in number in 3rd urban phase is not so drastic as the farmers. Total population increase steadily and is highest in the 3rd urban phase.
The total production of grain :-
There is a drastic fall in production when the preurban changes to urban 1st phase of about 112400000 Kgs .Then from 1st urban to 2nd urban there is a increase of 154000000 Kg .The fall in production from 2nd to 3rd urban phase is drastic about 167600000 kg .With all these defects still the ratio of seed: produce is still high in tropical countries than nontropical countries. It is this strength of our nature and ecology that we should be conscious of and the ancient ways of protecting the ecology to be learned from our ancient scriptures. The modern historians who write the history of India saying that there are only petty principalities and chieftains and their quarrels in history of India had totally forgotten this economic agrarian system and its wide network which can never exist without a strong centralized administration and several regionalized agro economies due to diverse geographic features. Each region had its strengths and each shared them with the neighbors by a wide network of local markets and the rest went to the world economical markets .Even now we can do that because we have the potential for it by our position in the monsoon path, in the path of the rain Gods mercy. One has to see the Unhistorical history of Asia of Hegel and Asiatic modes of production of Marx only under this light. Wisdom to protect nature and dharma of nature comes from experience only for a people which withstood millennia of changes .The evolution of such a people is the dharma which they followed and the timely changes for maximum benefit of the people was their revolution .This ecological and historical agro economical evolution and revolutions of India has to be studied well to make us a strong agro economy again. When we certify that everything prehistorical is myth ,and everything historical is only quarrels between local chieftains we are teaching our children to be fools. To say that after the European rule only India evolved into a world power is not truth. It was the other way round. Europe learned a lot from India and improved themselves .The Industrial revolution in Europe happened only because of the learning and the wealth and food that reached Europe .It is a good thing that we got technological advancement in several fields. We have to keep it up but know our real strengths and develop them too so that we can be the models of the entire world in food self sufficiency as well as in modern ways of technologies without harming our ecology. It is not an impossible task if we plan it in an integrated way. For that first we must know what we really are. Evolution itself has to be the revolution.

The upavana of Apothecary and role of Malabar in teaching Europeans:-
After the Alexandrian Greeks we find European (Portuguese,Dutch,French,British)interested in the fauna and flora of India. This is the fifth phase of European learning of India. Drawn as a pyramid the first phase in the IVC /Mehrgarh period happened in knowledge of Indian agriculture in Babylon,Persia and Assyria. The second in the Pre-Alexanderian era of Pythagorus,Herodotus,Hippocratus of cos from Phoenicians and in between was the Hathseputh recreation of an Indian garden in Karnak.The third phase started with Alexander ,Aristotle and the Greco-Roman period. The fourth phase was the Arabian Avicenna period which was more on the model of Afghan,Persian models of gardens during Buddhist times and hence limited (due to geographical peculiarity).The 5th phase came with sea route discovery by Portuguese and influx of European merchants to India .The knowledge of the variety of plants and medicines of India lead to a expanse of material medica and pharmacopoeia of European medicine .The upavana constructed in Indian model in Karnak,Lycium and Alexandria were long forgotten. But a fresh series of Apothecary’s gardens came up in Europe attached to study centers and universities in 15th century and these lead to study of natural sciences ,classification(Taxonomy )in Europe on a scientific basis. The classification in Lycium and Alexandria were based on heresay and from peripatetic philosophers and collected manuscripts. It was not direct knowledge. But the botanical gardens of the Apothecarys were not like that. They had direct knowledge of what is done and how it is done in India from experience and from direct information from natives .Thus it was more scientific and more like the Indian way of taxonomy and knowledge. In the 1st century the material medica of Theophratus and (Enquiry into the plants)and Deoscorous’ material medica were noteworthy. Between 1503-1505 there was a renaissance of this knowledge .Leonardo Davinci and Albrecht Deut are some of the earliest botanists .After 1480 the unending granary of plant life and knowledge was opened up to Europe directly through Malabar which was hitherto unapproachable due to various reasons to the Europeans. European Zoology, Botany and pharmacopoeia and its classification(Taxonomy)evolved to its present form. Thus India was in the position of Guru for Europe for a long period extending to several millennia. If we consider the five phases as preprimary,Primary,High school,Predegree and degree levels ,Europe got its degree in science in 15th to 16th century from India. But after that there was a leap of the disciple over the Guru in the post-graduate and research ,technological phases.
In 16th century Botanical gardens Europe tried to grow all types of plants in the world. Only with wealth and sea trade this is possible. And they acquired both from the colonies. The competition of European nations for getting supremacy of sea trade and for wealth is no secret. Till that time the word Horthus had two meanings.1.A book on botany.2.A botanical garden nurtured by human beings. Till that time the Arab/GreacoEgyptian models of gardens alone were seen by Europe. That was the reason for these two meanings. Since the recreation of an heaven on earth was the goal ,the name Eden gardens was also given to such gardens. The religious background of the scientists/doctors is seenin that naming. In Italy(Pisa in 1547,Padua in 1545,Bologna in 1567)universities grew botanical gardens. The Horti sick type of keeping specimens (of dried plants)started because many of the plants cannot be grown in Europe due to its climate. The specimens were used for teaching students by demonstration..The study model spread to the North and in 1587 in Amsterdam and Lyden botanical gardens were made. Mont Pelllier (1593)Hydelberg(1597)followed. The interesting part is that these gardens were kept by Vaidyas and looked after for knowledge of medicines. Just as the Aristotle-Alexander model these scientists prompted the rulers and merchants to collect as many plants as possible. One such Portuguese doctor ,Dr Gracia D’Orta was the first one to produce a European material medica called Coloquios dos simples e drogas a coucas medicines da India (1565).His Assistant Charles D’Ecluse translated that into Latin. He was the one who played major role in making the Hortus Medicus of Vienna’s Maximilian emperor and the one who made a botanical garden in Lyden in 1593 .He spread several plants of India and America all over the world. The potato from Peru which was given to him by Drake ,reached all over the world in this manner. His successor was Paul Herman Chelsea who had close relation to Oxford botanical garden. His disciple was Dr Herman Borhave and to hear his classes in Lyden garden and Medical school, students from entire British Isles gathered. By this ,Maria Theresa was influenced to make a garden in Vienna .Thus Goa was the forerunner of a series of gardens. In the meantime Cochin had made a great contribution to European science. The Dutch boy Hendrik van Reede tot Drakenstein born and brought up in Cochin of a Dutch father made a tremendous contribution with the traditional knowledge of Kerala ,from Itty Achuthan ,and that is the Horthus Indicus Malabaricus.
Only when these series of experiments and experience came to Europe the knowledge of Hippocrates was the principle of Aired was understood by west. Both Coloquis and Horthus Malabaricus are entirely Indian books .With these and with the experiments done in the Apothecary’s gardens of doctors in the west ,the European professionalism was added for making profits out of it and the rest is history. Whatever books have come after these books in Europe about South East Asia is on the model of these two Indian Books by European authors. This historiography of botany and pharmacopoeia is noteworthy .From 16th to 17th centuries most of the scientific books produced in India had their origin in India after European colonization. The books and knowledge of India were categorized as Brahmanical,Budhist,Jainist and Ezhava etc by Europe and thus the divisive class oriented /caste oriented taxonomy of regression also started with that .The classification based on the political supremacy (as Hindu.Islam,Christian)was the main reason for this classification by the Europeans. The dharma and lifestyle was totally misunderstood as Semitic religion and this was a major setback for India ever afterwards.
Books, printing and marketing etc came for global marketing. The Europeans marketed Indian knowledge in translated versions in their own languages. In middle ages Arabs had done this at a lesser rate but the discovery of printing in China made it at large scale. Science and knowledge originated in India, and marketed by Arabs in Europe ,and worldwide marketing for mass financial benefits and technology was by Europe. As Richard Grove rightly said:-“Epistemological ,textual, and cognitive origin of written accounts of South Asian Botany between AD 700-1800 find a center of balance well to the east of Venice (pp194 Ch 7 .Indigenous knowledge .Richard Grove .Ch Burkill chapters in Indian history 3 .Nature and the orient .Oxford 2000).
Colloquios:-
D’Orta from his own experience analysed the botanical and medical knowledge of the Malayali and proves that no one including old European and Arab medical men can excel their knowledge. This was a new original method at that period.D’Orta was a European Christian doctor, doing research with financial assistance from a Muslim King ,and with the help of Arab /Muslim doctors practicing in the locality. Yet he showed a courage to opine his opinion that Muslim and European medicine is nothing when compared to Indian ancient medicine. The book was printed for marketing in India and Europe. It was written in the old style of Susrutha samhitha as questions and answers of Guru and shishya.He negated all Arabic and European medicine without thinking of the personal likes or dislikes or religious aftereffects and this is possible only with a scientific temper.He was a Jew and he was hiding the fact for fear of the Nizam .He had contacted all sorts of scholars .D’Orta says these vaidyas know about theories of Hippocratus,Galen,Aristotle,Plato .But he also writes that even the small people know more than what the scholars know in this country. Even though they have not read any old Arabic books on medicine ,these people know more medicine than the scholarly Arabic doctors employed by the Shaw, he wrote. He says ,though I am only a ignorant ,learned more than what the great Arabic scholarly vaidya of Shaw knows by contact with him, with Moors, Christians and from Genoas(The gentiles/ Hindu or Sindhu/later Hindu).And he says the greatest system is that of the gentoos.At that time Portuguese were here to make money and had no intention of learning other than methods of making money. Thus he analyses the mentality and scientific temper of different people and praise for the scientific knowledge and temper of the gentoos.As a conversation to his disciple he says in the book:-I will take you to see patients cured by Malayalis and Canarese ,that you may know physic more thoroughly”. He says but it is difficult to get knowledge from the Malayali Vaidya and they will first ascertain whether you deserve to be taught before giving instruction. This difficulty which D’O rto had in North Malabar was not experienced by Van Reid in Cochin. He did not have much communication from Malayali vaidyas yet what he got what excellent than the best recognized Arabic medicine and European medicine .He praises the kurumbi of Sahya,of gardeners of forest tribes and farmers etc for the knowledge of ethno botany they have. When D’Orta was writing the Europeans have not become a major sea power in entire world and had not established a worldwide network .By the D’Orta method and sound analysis and logical statements other doctors like Johann Koenig ,Honisberger etc decided to spread the Indian medical knowledge and methods in Europe and to be used individually .Claucius could therefore make it possible to bring to an academic/university level.

Role of Vaan Reide and Itty Achyuthan:-

D’Orta lived in Goa and knew that Malabar is the best place for pharmacopeic knowledge. But Vaan Reid grew up in Malabar.His father was the chief forester of the Malabar forests. He had contact with the local people from childhood and knew their knowledge of their ecology and also he enjoyed the forest and its life forms. The beauty of the atmosphere, the emotional attachment he had to it, and his childhood habit of recording everything he saw and learned from local people in a notebook ,later on lead to the creation of Horthus Malabaricus.He visualized the forests of Malabar as the great palaces of nature and its diversity of plant life, water resources etc as its beautiful gardens. He wrote that this is the real garden of the entire world and if at all any other place can be compared to it ,it would be Taprobana(present Srilanka)was his opinion. The reason he wrote is the monsoon climate being the same in both places. The geography, the climatic peculiarities, the local people and their consciousness of these factors in their life, their scientific mindset etc were studied by him thoroughly and hence he depended upon local people for his scientific work. He understood that Europeans(himself being one)see the plant life and wealth of Malabar as a means for earning money and as medicine for treating disease only. But they were more than that to the people of the land. They had a consciousness of ecological relation of nature and human life and it was reflected in their lifestyle. Therefore though he had some preliminary discussions with Fr Mathew(St Joseph)in 1673 and 74 about the possibility of doing a work like Hortus Malabaricus,seeing the “Viridarium orientale’style of the father, he totally rejected that type of approach. Then he depended upon his knowledge on four persons. Three of them were Bhats from Karnataka(Rangabhatt,Vinayakabhatt,and Appubhat).The last and most important was Ittiachuthan,an Ezhava vaidya who lived in coastal area. The Sanskrit book knowledge of the Bhatts were useful to Van Reid. But to identify each and every plant in the locality and to describe its uses ,IttiAchuthan was more helpful. For comparison, a young doctor who finish his MBBS can only prescribe medicines and quote academic things from books. He has no experience of how the medicine act ,nor does he know what are the ingredients of the drug, unless the manufacturing company details him about it. The Susruthasamhitha speaks of great doctors who have a medicinal garden attached to their homes and these were tended with great care by the “parichaaraka”who are experts in identifying medicines and their preparation. They had to be qualified in material medica and collection of roots,stems,leaf,flowers,fruits of any plant prescribed by the main physician and thus have to know the habitat of each plant. This work was done by the Adivasin of forests and mountains(who collected forest produce)and by trained paricharaka(assistants) in village botanical gardens .Under Itty Achutha’s leadership such a group of experts were organized into three groups and sent to different forests to collect specimens. Whatever they brought were drawn by three artists .Below each ,drawing its name, its qualities, medicinal value ,habitat etc were recorded ,by IttiAchyutha .Van Reid records that the people (Adivasis)who were in IttyAchutha’s group were traditional vaidya(paramparyavaidya)and scholars in Ayurveda,and trained from their own father and grandfather in their job(as a kulathozhil)and they were a kulasangha.Thus each Adivasi group was akulasangha just as the village and urban groups of people in pre-European era. Their status and job was not considered as below standard. Van Reid also records that each of their family had several manuscripts and grantha scrupulously protected and given to next generation for protection of their system of knowledge. In Hortus malabaricus more details of Itty Achutha is given in Aryabhasha and in Kolezhuthu Malayalam lipi(script).
Achutha entered the service of the Dutch company and he was a married settler in Cochin. But was originally from Malabar. He is said to be born in Charapuram Kodacharappally Gramam Kollada veettil in Ezhava samudaaya (note,Samudaaya is a group not a caste)and was apaaramparyavaydya(traditional doctor).The actual author was IttyAchuthan who stayed in Cochin fort for the purpose and he described them both in Malayalam and Portuguese language and his disciples wrote it down. He described it to Emmanuel Carneiro ,the translator and then made him write it in Portuguese language simultaneously. Whenever he had doubts ,he clarified each then and there .On 20th April 1675 IttyAchutha himself records that I have taught the classification, uses and treatment with these plants according to our system and our books .
In fact IttyAchutha decides which are the people to be sent, which all plants should be collected, which should be included in the work, which should be drawn etc and it was his contribution than that of Van Reid. But Van Reid and his interest became a cause for this .IttyAchutha had a style of naming two plants with same type of stems or characters with a species name ,and then add a prefix to identify the two and this is still followed in the science of Botany .For example Onappoo(The flower which is seen only in sravana season).He will give a prefix cheriyonappoo(small onappoo)and valiyonappoo(big onappoo).depending on the size of plant ,flower .By the name he even denoted the season in which it is seen in Malabar .This is a general way of naming in entire Malabar (probably elsewhere in India too).In 1740 Linnaeus accepted Itty Achutha’s classification entirely and gave 240 species names in this manner. This followed in 1763(Adanson),1789(Jussieu),1818(Dennstedt)1867(Haskarl).In India ,Roxburg,Buchanan-Hamilton,Hooker etc also followed the style of Achuthan.In 1988 I saw a report that the remaining manuscripts (palm leaf)of Achuthan kept in Kollada house of Alappuzha were lost 7 years before that ,in 1981.(D.H.Nicholson,C.R.Suresh,K.S.Manilal,An interpretation of Van Reids Hortus Malabaricus .Konigstein 1988.1-22)The organization of a 15 member group of Scholars as Royal council of Cochin, and as a member of that group, taking initiative to make such a great work possible in a diplomatic way ,and thus give local knowledge of Kerala to entire world so that it influenced entire western system of knowledge and in this way trying to protect the ancient heritage of Kerala was the excellent job of Van Reede.There 784 plants with 794 diagrams described in the work. This was an original attempt at that time in Europe
From 1628-1702 Holland had become the center of tropical botany under Rumphius’herbarium Ambroinence.Linnaeus after studying under Johannes Berman and Borhav in Lyden came to Holland .Burman had taught Hortus Malabaricus to his disciples including Linnaeus. This Malabar/Dutch /Cochin/Lyden/Batavis network of gardens and botanical studies became models for all other countries in the world and still remains so. The natural love of garden in Rheede and IttyAchuthan and the ecological co-existence of Malabar ,became altered by the Lyden contact which gave importance to economic Botany than ecology.Lyden garden was the first to try coffee plantation artificially for making money. In Paris, Oxford and Edinborough Botanical gardens and medical schools were on the model of Lyden.
Lyden ,though gave importance to economic botany had a religious tolerance and allowed jews,Romans,Catholics,AnaBaptists,Anglicans,Calvinists,Lutherans and Quakers to study there .All of them learned medicine an botany there. The taught text was the Indian Medicine (Goa/Malabar/Cochin model).Lyden became very popular and seeing its potential in 1630 French Government had instituted in Paris “Jardine de Roi”.And in 1654 we see the first company garden in Cape town.

Botanical knowledge in Colonial India(1790-1840):-
The scientific knowledge of India was called “Native knowledge” and it was systematically enquired and studied by Europeans to develop a science culture in Europe. Thus Europe learned science from the colony. One has to view the Marxian theory that the British made the botanical garden in Calcutta to grow Burmese teak for making ships has to be taken from this background. There was both economic and commercial as well as scientific and learning motives simultaneously developed in Europeans by contact with India. The field scientist of Britain, Joseph Banks, said that Botanical garden of Calcutta was for study of Botany. It was created in 1746-93 under Robert Kidd ,a military officer for transfer of plants from India to England. But Kidd did not have knowledge of botany and he thought this garden is only a luxury and during his period the garden was just a nursery. In 1793 ,Joseph Banks had to interfere and remove Kidd from the post and entrust it to Dr William Roxburg,who studied medicine in Edinborough under Prof John Hopp.He was a person studied in Linnaeus school. But some of Linnaeus description of Indian trees were rejected by him based on Cocos nucifera and grasses. According to Linnaeus system Roxburg named 5000 species of plants in Calcutta Botanical garden. After Roxburg Dr Francis Bucccanan was selected. Unless one gets a subordinate from India ,then only one from Europe must be selected and that too a person who has studied natural history was decided .At the same time the company rejected Nathaniel Valaigh saying that he is too scientific(and not concerned with practical economical aspects)..William Griffith(1810-45)started experimental practice in plant physiology there. He said without knowing the physiology how can we know the changes (pathology)happening in plants? How can one know a plant, animal or human unless one know from the seed, its germination, all processes and stages of growth and decay and functions? The method of Indian science is in this way ,right from the beginning .In 1783 William Jones came to India with a specific aim.” To know India perfectly, as no other European had ever known”. He made the Asiatic society of Bengal with aim of learning the functions of man and his environment ,and its effects.
In Indian science of life man,animal,bird,plant and all life is a single whole. Therefore the study of its nature and function and of diseases and balancing also go hand in hand. It is a holistic approach. Linnaeus had divided Botany from medicine and from zoology and neglected ecological co-existence of all. His specialization technique and learning with a dry specimen of plant(and a cadaver)was mocked at by Griffith due to this extreme specialization which loose all natural feelings. Because India is always Holistic in its approach ,the artificial specialization technique of Europe was rejected here and in 1830 itself the ecological model as against the Linnaeus model which neglect ecology developed among Europeans practicing here ,in India. The approach of Alexander Von Humboldt was related to this. For the shift from “Natural history” to “history of nature”, John Royle ,born and brought up in Kanpur(1799-1858)became instrumental .He had gone to England to get his official Medical education and returned to take up responsibility of ShaharanPur botanical garden. Just beneath the Himalayan forests ,in this gardens he formulated his ecological theories.Royl was not a Botanist but a Doctor by Profession, just like Itty Achutha.He did not agree with the trend of specialization narrowing down to inhumane practices. Just to name and identify a plant is not the goal of Botany and it is just a process equivalent to give a script to a language, he said. His approach was ecological as that of Humboldt know a plant, know its soil, its water resources, its environment ,he said. In 1833-39 his Illustrations of Himalayan Botany were published. The geography of Indian plains and mountains,geology,special climatic conditions,seasons,the heat and pressure of Simla and Mussorie,the different plants and cattle in India grown in specific seasons in specific places etc are all included in his book. With this he had given 207 plants and their descriptions and where they are seen in the world. The Indian plants in comparison with the similar plants in other parts of the world and their similarities and dissimilarities are given. This scheme was as follows:-
Tropical east Indian islands, Tropical Africa,Brazil,Guiana,West Indies ,Florida Thiruvithamkur,Cochin,Malabar,Ceylon,Malaayan peninsula,Chittagong,Bengal,Lower Assam
East &west coast of Africa, Coromandel coast,northern Circars,Konkan
Southern states of N A merica,Egypt,N.Africa,Syria Gujarat,Bihar,Doab,Delhi,Malawa
Mexican highlands,lower mountains of Spain Mysore,Deccan mountains,Rajasthan
Southern part ofAfrica,extratropical new Holland ,South America south o f23 degree 3’ Saharanpur,North Doab
Mediterranean Dehradun,Himalayan areas
China,Japan,Middle Andes,Peru,Brazil mountains Nilgiri,Assam,Himalayas
North of Europe,North of Asia,N.America Oak and pine areas of Himalaya
Arctic,mountains of Europe, high parts of Andes Himalaya above the forests

His environmentalism included human ecology and social forestation as well. The ratio between demand and supply should be controlled so that the balance of natural resources is not disturbed. Natural forests were enough for human beings when the population density was less. When population increased, people destroy natural forests for making agricultural lands and for making homes etc.Thus the natural forests which is the best wealth of humanity is lessened. When a people achieve self-sufficiency in food production, and have small scale industries needed for day to day existence a system of barter develop in which the excess is shared by neighbors .This barter later became a worldwide network .The division of labor which naturally developed in this system they applied to plant classification as well. When the soil and climate and geography of a locality give it prosperity ,other nations aspire to get that and that demand had naturally resulted in barter and trade with neighboring civilizations .That is how India entered world trade.
And according to the geography ,human demand and supply the rich tropical land had been in demand from ancient times. So Royl said that the growing tendency among modern European scientists that there is racial intellectual superiority of Europeans over the east (what Joachim von schouw had called mental superiority of races) does not exist. All are equally intelligent and superior provided they have experience in their geographical and productive economy and develop a balanced sharing system for self sustenance and sharing with others. Thus he argues that the Europeans who came to India ,learning science from India and spreading it to Europe is only a barter of intelligence. Europe gains by way of getting its science consciousness .The Horthus Malabaricus is proof for intellectual superiority of the race of Itty Achuthan over the European race because they borrowed from him to develop a system of knowledge. And for Indians including Itty Achuthan ,the knowledge is a blessing of the nature and climate and the ancient system of dharma developed by them. That dharma itself is the gift of nature for several lakhs of years .In science, tax system, in agriculture and industries the people are so experienced so that Europeans had taken their help to learn them. They had translated all they collected into their languages and taught fellow Europeans the wisdom of the East. William Jones learned names of plants from a sankrit scholar who was his Guru. He even suggested that one should use Sanskrit names not Latin for naming plants.
When Council of Linnaean society in London objected to publishing articles of Asiatic society scientific articles S.Goodnough told them that more publications mean more data and more data mean more science.Dr John Forbes Royl,was a European doctor who grew up in India and who did research in Botanical garden of Saharanpur and when he say such strong views in favour of India he was expressing the view that India was not only the Guru for spirituality but also for administration,trade,commerce,Zoology,and medicine and other sciences to Europe.
Metereology,ecology and native knowledge:-
Drought,monsoon,whirlwinds,change in climate ,seasons, annual meteorological predictions based on observations and the knowledge that all this is due to undercurrents in the southern ocean existed among local people of India(Natives).Now we call it ENSO(El Nino current and southern oscillations).The rhythm of this change was known and predicted by them. The sea trade was based on monsoon winds and thus there is no wonder that they knew this. The predictive astrology of seasonal changes like drought and famine, excess or less rain etc developed for the sake of agrarian economy .But also for trade route management. Both people,traders,rulers were therefore interested to know that in advance to plan their activities. Only in AD 1500 ,Europeans come across such knowledge of sea. Only in 1701 they understand that the Indian monsoon is not a local regional phenomenon but is a global one. By 200 years they understood the rain cycles, productive cycles, trade and how it affects people and environmental role in economy of the land etc.In 1791 they analysed what they had observed .This was first done by East India company Botanical Medical service to understand the interrelationship of nature and environment and man and his agriculture and its mutual relation. Same type of study was conducted in Caribbean .The saying of natives that if forests are not protected rains will fail was found to be true by them. For the global analysis in 1816 Botanist and medical doctor Francis Buchanan Hamilton was sent to Bengal by Wellesley. He did research for 7 years(1807-1814)and said that what the natives say of interrelation of deforestation, lack of rain and famine are true and it is scientific. Only then William Roxburg started a programme of forestry in Bengal,Bihar,Orissa,and St Helina.(East India company areas)to increase rainfall.

Australia ,Indonesia ,India, North and South Africa and Pacific coast of south America get heavy rains and floods by the warm event or ENSO.These were the sea routes of ancient Phoenicians. Therefore the rhythm of seasons in these places help us understand the unified rhythm which is teleconnected to each other.1877-79 saw the most severe artificially created famine of India and only after that the European scientists saw reason that the peoples health was due to climate, food and the lifestyle they had. If the balance is lost severe imbalance result in disease. The several discussions about this were conducted by India’s surgeon general Edward Balfour.Or it took one century for them to agree that the natives were right. In 1780 they thought about air, weather ,volcano arose and in 1783 Benjamin Franklin said the extreme cold of Paris(temperate)is due to volcanic action in Icelandic Mount Hecla.By this time German and Danish missionaries were doing meteorological research in Madras. In 1776 Sir William Roxburgh reached Madras. From 1778 he was looking after an ancient mughal garden at Samulkota.In 1778 and 1790 this Surgeon’s meteorological observations were published. In 1788 Sir Joseph Banks ,influenced by him, gave his own meteorological data to be published in Royal society transactions. Why should a young surgeon take interest in metereology as soon as he lands in India? He was the star student of John Hopp ,the curator of Edinborough Botanical garden and a plant physiologist. Therefore he was in contact with two intellectual groups
.Royal society of science as well as Arts .This and the lifelong love of Hopps in planting trees had made him do such a thing. The relation of health and environment his profession of Medicine had already taught him. Thus in 1776 itself he started his interdisciplinary programme of metereology,Arboriculture,Medical practice and medicinal plants .By 1820 he became the only European doctor who had collected maximum amount of meteorological data. Sitting in India he argued that the reason for famines and so many diseases which came with famine in India, was the extensive capitalistic destruction of Indian forests by Europeans .After 1770 the meteorological data collections all came from doctors. They were the only people who thought from the point of view of the health of the people ,health welfare,pulic health through protection of productive trees and gardens and fields .The new science of Metereology started in Europe in France by the conference of society Royale de Medicine there. The European naturalists started to understand that each plant is useful for health of man and even the plants which do not have direct medicinal use are purifying air by their presence. Thus the theory of protecting all life became a new acceptable theory of science from the east.

WHAT TYPE OF A LIFE DR ROXBURG LEAD?
He was a practicing surgeon in Nagore.He was protecting the botanical garden north of Madras in Samulkotta and was tending plants there with involvement. The seeds and saplings thus reared carefully were also sent by him to other Botanical gardens all over the world. From 1776 to 1793 for long 17 years he lived thus and at the same time for 17 years he had been measuring temperature and pressure in Coromandel coast with a Nairne thermometer and a Ramsden barometer. All his observations, analysis and conclusions were neatly written and sent to Sir John Pringle of Royal society of Britain. But many of them were lost or not published. His first article was published in 1778 Philosophical transactions of Royal society by Pringle.In 1782 Dr Roxburg wrote to Banks that his essays are being neglected and lost in Royal society. In 1790 another set was published. It was in Nagore in1780 that he understood the exact relation of ,famine and diseases. He recommended that the company should sponsor a programme of cultivating fruit trees in riverbanks and on either side of roads so that any hungry man can eat and get nourishment and free from disease. Since he gave exact data for 17 years from a particular locality in India on pressure, temperature and other meteorological observations ,the related global changes elsewhere could be compared with it and relation of Indian monsoon to El Nino was understood. If one know Monsoon cycle one know El Nino and vice versa. In 1791 there was a strong El Niño. After 1780 famine from 1789-92 Madras presidency had severe drought and Godavery delta population drastically decreased.Alexander Beatson reported on this as:-During these two years there was no rain.More than half of the population in northern Circars died of famine.The rest became too weak due to lack of food.When rice was mobilized from Malabar coast,the news spread among people and 5000 people from Rajamundry moved to the port to get rice.But they could not cross more than 50 miles ,and before that many of them fell dead due to sheer fatigue “
This famine was a topic of discussion in Europe and Edmund Burke has mentioned about it.It was here ,the European doctor Roxburg made a very brave comment about this occurrence.He said the pre-colonial irrigation projects and agricultural methods were scientific to the core and suited for the geography of India and the programme of the company to discard them was totally irresponsible and the famine was actually created by that policy.If not,India might have as usual fruitfully avoided such a change in climate as it had done before .This opinion Burke also shared.From 1782 onwards rain was decreasing in South East Asia .Roxburg had observed that.When he sent such observations and conclusions to the company in 1793 ,company immediately transferred him from Nagore to Calcutta.
The experience of South Indian famine and weather and health of people made Roxburg think in three directions.
1.Comaprison of context of history and chronology with 1789-93 famine
2.Discovering that the drought which is usual in India had become a famine by the irresponsible interference of the company in the local methods of resistance to it
3.Project to plant as many fruit bearing plants and trees so that one can give food even in famine times, and prevent soil erosion by roots, and increase rainfall. The forestation with fruit trees natural to the area will give all the effects at one stretch.(increase,food,prevent malnutrition and allied diseases, prevent bad effects of droughts and famines, keep people healthy and also by preventing soil erosion ensure rain in plenty.
The history of previous famines of India he had some information from a Brahmin accountant of Raja of Pithanpore.The description of a famine in 1685-8 (during the accountants grandfathers time)was given in his manuscript library of accounts. In that period only once rain fell in northern provinces and by three years population came down drastically. In 1737 there was a miner food shortage and in 1770 in Bengal there was a local food shortage and famine.

The transfer was in a sense a punishment transfer because he was asked to continue the experiment of teak sapling growing in Bengal and to make teak plantations in Bengal,Orissa, Bihar as a uniculture plantation(not fruit trees).He took teal saplings from Rajamundri and started the programme and it became successful between 1793-1813.There he did observation and comparative research on growth of natural teak and the artificial teak plantations. He continued his meteorological observations there too and many of them were published in Medical journals.(William Roxburg.Remarks on the land winds and their causes :Transactions of the London medical society .1.1810.189-211)
In 1791 there had been a drought in St Helena also. Similar drought was there in west Indies too in same period. This global experience of famine in three places was compared by Alexander Beatson (East India company Governor of St Helena).Though he had asked for a reduction in revenue recovery ,the company did not grant it .And people of the island rose in revolt and Beatson himself had to control it( as per company instructions).In 1791 Peruhad floods, Mexico had famine and droughts and South Africa had famine. In Egypt, China and East Indies there were long recorded history of floods and droughts .But such observation and scientific recording was new to Europe of that time.Metereological observation was not a science of Europe but of the East and the tropical Americas. This science Roxberg,the surgeon ,taught Europe from Indian experience.When in 1791 Australia had a severe drought ,tanks in Indian model were constructed there for water (drinking and irrigation) by Governor Philip. Thus the four British colonies were experiencing same conditions and comparing them with each other and discovering the role of human interference and its bad effects on nature. They compared geotectonic mechanism, artificial deforestation,El Niño, global climatic changes and possible ways of preventing them .But the study was only on paper. The company did nothing to prevent disasters and was intend upon making profit irrespective of human suffering or not. In 1877 -79 India saw another famine. By 3 years 50 million people were dead. In Indian famine commission report of 1890 its description can be seen. The result was the establishment of three departments :_IMO or Indian Meteorological office, Agricultural department and the forestry rules of 1878.When atmospheric pressure increase droughts happen both in India and Australia was noted. Drought and famine happen simultaneously in these two distant places was confirmed. But there are certain droughts which do not occur simultaneously .The reason is southern Oscillation which is a weather teleconnection. In both continents of Australia and India in May ,drought related to El Nino occur.(just before south west monsoon).This southern oscillation is described in Indian astronomy for several millennia and in modern times the credit of discovery is given to Charles Todd and H.H.Hildebrandt.Sir Gilbert Walker of IMO named each of the southern oscillations at beginning of 20th century and showed its relation to rain in Australia .He found that Australian summer rain can be predicted correctly .The rain of southern Australia was predicted in spring, by Quayle.In 1970 El Nino became centre of global attraction again. Because in that year Australian meteorologists developed a special interest in it. Prediction of spring and summer rains and droughts and metereology was a science that was prevalent in entire India and each village community had a official employed for this very purpose whom they kept in great reverence. The barter sharing system of the panchayath looked after their requirements .(More about that in my astronomy studies. Therefore not repeated here).
Before the great Mutiny of India the prediction and study of East India company officials ,and after 1857 the study of the officials of the empire taught a global climatic and meteorological unity of the globe to Europe. Russell in 1896 compared Indian and Australian droughts as below.
Australia India
1789-91 1790-2
1793
1797
1798-1800
1802-1804 1802-04
1808-15 1812-13
1818-21
1824 1824-25
1827-9 1828
1833 1832-33
1837-9 1837-9
1842-3
1846-7
1849-52
1855
1857-9 1856-8(Mutiny of India)
1861-2
1865-9 1865-6
1872
1875-7 1875-7
1880-1
1884-6 1884

From this one find that famines are less in India .Between 1790 -1802 famine 10-12 yrs interval is there. From 1802-12 also 12 year interval exists. Again from that to 1824 is a 12 yr period. This 12 yr cycle suddenly decrease from 1824 onwards .From 1824 to 1837 the intervals have become 4, 4,and 3 3ach between three famines
Then there is a long spell of 19 years of famine free period and the severe famine of the year of Mutiny happens. Then next famine come 9 yrs later. Then 10yrs ,9 yrs intervals exist between subsequent famines. This long interval is not there in Australia and human sufferings are more frequent due to frequent droughts and famines. This is because Australia had not evolved a system of prolonged observation, resistance and withstanding such conditions by a well built agro economy as India had done. This co-operative agro economical unified Governance and political system of India did not exist in Australia so that it could not withstand frequent small droughts .

From this chapter what I want to stress is that India had been the Guru for European sciences. And India has the potential to come out of any averse situations due to her geographical position and fertility of land .If only people understand their strengths as well as weaknesses and co-operate in the optimum way ,such an ancient land can save the entire global community .But ,leave the nature alone. Do not disturb it at any cost, If we disturb it we jeopardize entire global society, not only humans but entire life forms. And also that a Medical person is the best think of such things as Roxburg did. Because the treatment of individual persons alone is not sufficient .The treatment of the mindset of entire society and nation so that it see reason and become healthy together is the view of a responsible doctor. The responsible doctor ,as a world citizen has to be concerned not only about his practice as a means of life but also of good water supply ,good nutrient foods, and good music for community health and welfare and for good value based education and ecological lifestyle not upsetting ones nature and of earths nature so that all prosper together ,for peace of all .That is for the world peace ,a doctor has to be a socio-politically motivated being ,not just a technological ,and practice oriented selfish personality!!!Roxburg taught us that model.And India had taught him that Model.

Food and society

Food and society –its economical and sociocultural implications to Human beings

Recently I happened to read a very important study by G.Balachandran Pillai (Constraints

on differences and adoption of Agromechanical Technology in Rice cultivation in Kerala

.2004.Kerala Research Proceedings on local level development Center for

Developmental studies.TVM ISBN 81.87621.62).This study points out that

1.The farmers of the Kol lands and Kuttanad harvesting and threshing are the most

difficult operations due to labour shortage

2.Shortage of labourers may be due to drudgery of operations such as harvesting

,transplanting and thrushing and because the younger generations prefer white collar jobs

outside their village

3.The Kol land farmers are best adapted for accepting the new machinery

techniques,because of their well-established group-farming concept among the farming

community .

4.The Kol lands have only one crop because in other times there is unfavourable weather

and this leads to underemployment.

5.The transplanting was previously done by women and now they are not available for

such things as harvesting,transplantation.Paddy trasplanter and vertical conveyor reaper

is the only solution now for this problem(and since Kol farmers do accept the

mechanization )this is possible to be implemented on co-operative basis.

6.The established group-farming societies called Kol padavu committees as well as the

labour union leaders favour mechanization in rice cultivation in peak seasons due to

labour shortage.

7.Inadequate custom hire facilities for farm machinery is the major constraint for

Mechanisation in Kol lands.The other serious problems are lack of credit facilities and

high capital cost of implements .

8.The author also notes that the opposition from farm labourers for mechanization is

more in Kuttanad and Palghat Kole fields while in other Kol fields this is not a major

problem. (This is an interesting social problem.If we analyse why the farm labourers are

against mechanization we get some political equations which are detrimental to the nation

and the farm labourers are being brainwashed against their own interests by someone is

clear).

I have quoted this study because most of the points he noticed ,I too have noted in my

study of Punnayurkulam Parur Padav ,and the solutions to the problems should be based

on these.

N.Gopalakrishnan Nair (Measurement of employment,unemployment and

underemployment ISBN 81.87621.75.3 2004) notes that over the years there has been a

gradual decrease in the working force in Kerala.When William Logan saw Kerala no

woman was unemployed or underemployed and had activities during agricultural season

as well as outside of it and man and woman were engaged in a co-operative way in all

socioeconomic activities though division of labour existed.Even the women were helping

in irrigating fields on a Wheel as he notes.But women as well as men does not go for

such activities and depend upon outside labourers for producing food.The dignity of

labour we have forgotten .Another study (ISBN 81.87621-84-2 Changes in the mode of

labour due to shift in landuse pattern ) finds out rapid marginalization of land holding in

most parts of India ,due mainly to a disproportionate proliferation of marginal holdings –

both ownership and operational.The households and proliferated,the small holdings

increased,share in total holdings declined and pattern of intra-generational economic

mobility of agricultural households is the explanation for such land distribution.He

describes the centripetal and centrifugal mobility (in both directions and towards centre

respectively).The first produced polarization and class differentiation among peasants

,inequality of land and wealth.That is the orthodox Marxist view.But the neopopulist

view is that the centrifugal mobility has diminished the degree of inequality.

The total wetlands Nilam in Kerala according to revenue records is 5.74 lakh ha.The

Kerala statistical institute (1992-93) says only an area of 3.33 lakh ha now remains as

wetlands and used for rice cultivation.Nearly 1.37 lakh ha are now under perennial crops

and 0.35 lakh hectare is used for nonagricultural use.Area that is being filled up and made

unsuitable for rice cultivation is increasing day by day.

The topography and climate of Kerala is different from rest of country and Kerala is best

suited for rice cultivation.From 1952 to 1997 the share of area for paddy has halved

(especially over the last two decades).Rubber cultivation area has dubbled and this is

followed by coconut and pepper and othe rcashcrops .According to economic survey

1997 during 1996-97 the area under high yielding variety(Virippu 40 % ,Mundakan 36

%, Puncha 24 %) is retained and the average productivity of state has remained over

national level ,though the total area under rice cultivation has declined .This justification

is closing our eyes to reality.The area of wetlands have reduced considerably and that too

for nonagricultural activities.A portion is used for vegetables now.The area covered by

seasonal crops can still be reconverted to paddy .Vast areas under multiple crop system is

now having just one crop.Perennial farm crops dominate farm sector.The agricultural

labourers have become rubber tappers and high wage rates have rduced their number of

working days creating underemployment through out year. In 1951 23.22 % of working

force were cultivators and in 1991 it has declined to 12.24 %.Agricultural labourers

constituted 26 % of working force both in 1951 and 1991. All trade unions

(INTUC,CITU,AITUC and KarshakaMorcha of BMS) are in favour of lease-in

cultivation of fallow land as it increases the number of days of employment and

productivity of wetlands in general.The new agrarian relations in Kerala is thus having a

radical change from what it had been .

Probably the best article about our status about food sufficiency is reflected in a

exhaustive study on India State Hunger Index ( Comparison of Hunger across the states

.Purnima Menon ,Anil Deolalikar ,Anjor Bhaskar .Washington DC .,Bonn ,and Riverside

.International food policy and Research Institute February 2009).Without going into the

details of the statistics drawn I will just draw the attention of readers to the Hunger map

of India provided by the authors.

In that we find Madhyapradesh has an hunger index 30 % or more that is extremely

alarming.Kerala,Andhrapradesh and Assam,Punjab chandigar 19.9 which is serious

.Kashmere,HP,Utharkhand,Arunachal Pradesh,Tripura,Meghalaya,Nagaland ,Manipur

and Mizoram and Goa er index not yet estimated.The rest of India

(Haryana,UP,Rajasthan,Delhi,Gujrat,Bihar,Charkhand,West Bengal,Orissa,Maharashtra

,Karnataka,Tamil Nad) has 20-29.9 which is alarming.

So only Kerala,Andhrapradesh ,Assam ,and Punjab Chandigar are less affected areas (it

has severe ,if not alarming or extremely alarming rates).Why these four areas have less

alarming Hunger index?

Because of the plain and simple reason.Kerala,Assam and Andhrapradesh are the major

paddy growing areas due to climatic conditions.If these three areas can grow more rice

,they can meet the needs of the other states which are not that lucky to have such a good

climate and fertility .This we have to remember always.And the National and State

programmes should give more importance to Agricultural operations.In Punjab

the green revolution is now growing enough wheat and therefore they have also escaped a

little from the alarming state of affairs.

See the importance of the Nature’s gift for growing rice or wheat ,the staple diet of the

people.The Civilizations of India from ancient times knew this,and on a co-operative

basis had a flourishing agroeconomy which shared foorgrains and bartered with other

products .This is still possible if we unite ,have a common goal for the nation and do not

think in individualistic and state –oriented selfish way .We are a single nation and has to

remain so.We have to produce food more for the sharing of it with others ,and the other

operations like dwelling constructions etc can be done only where there is no fields of

cultivation.

Moreover,the greenery and nature ,the protected heritage sites and opportunities for safe

boating and fishing etc can bring more tourism opportunities for the state .If no

monuments and no greenery ,no natural beauty and wild life which tourist will prefer a

state as tourist attraction?




Food is Annam and the earth is Annapoorna,the Holy mother. From Vedic India onwards

the significance of food and its role in life had been recognized and well researched by

Indians. But in the western world as Peter Atkins and Ian Bowler suggests in the

introduction to their book” Food in society” food has received little academic attention

due to it’s a taken for granted attitude to life, and as a research subject it lacked novelty in

social sciences. Recently the food and its research has become prevalent in

historical,cultural,sociological,anthropological and post modern ,post structuralist

studies. The idea of a food system according to the authors stretch back to 150 years

only(page 9) starting from George Dodd’s book(1856)to Raison’s (1933) .They give the

estimates of the main components of the UK food system 1997 from the ministry of

agriculture and the agrifood system modified after Whatmore 1995 (pp 10-11).

The food from farms goes to manufacturers and from them to wholesalers and retailers

,and thence to caterers and consumers. The export is about 7 less than the import.

The Agrifood system has the agritechnology industries at the top and the food

consumption at its base.

Agritechnology industries Machinery
Chemicals (fertilizer, pesticides)
Biological(breeding ,GMOs)
Factors of production Capital,credit,financial services,labour market,information,training,supply of seeds,chemicals,equipments
Farming industry Landed/property interests,
Farm business
Farm/property servicing agencies
Intermediate Wholesale assembly
Imports/exports
Storage and transport industries
Co-operative /state collective marketing
Policy and intervention arrangements
Food industries Processing,manufacturing,packaging,wholesale distribution,catering,retailing
Regulation State health and nutrition policy
State food quality
Safety monitoring
Food security measures
Food consumption Household labor in food preparation
Purchasing power
Food habits
culture

The food studies are inter-multidisciplinary involving

agriculture,geography,ecology,sociology,anthroplology psychology, social administration

,education marketing and media studies and regional cultures and climatology. In human

history food is mainly consumed at site of production .The early food gatherers/hunters

and the cave dwellers and villagers all depended on their region and climate for food and

knew it well for survival. Trade by bartering developed among neighboring societies and

it expanded through wandering tribes of the cattle-rearer class and the fisherfolk .By 15th

to 17th century India and Europe established a commercial trade and the gain of

knowledge was more for the west than the east regarding agricultural economy and food

chains and ecology.The globalization of food and international trading in food started

with this at large scale.Production,distribution and consumption of food changed

equations with this .Political economy is a branch which helps developing nationally and

globally oriented food system along with subsistence agriculture and commercial

agriculture for regional as well as international markets. This is a social economy as a way

of life founded on food production on a regional basis expanded globally. The concept of

food regime developed in the west in 1980 out of French schools of regulation theory.

1 EXTENSIVE REGIME mid 17th to world war 1.

2 INTENSIVE REGIME end of world war 2 to 1970( 1947-1970)
3.Regimes since 1980.

Regimes of accumulation existed from 1930 depression to global recession in 1970.It was

a stability by mode of social regulation(MSR) by which society organizes and conducts

production and reproduction and how social relations were maintained .In this

interpretation national regulatory frameworks and state rules are product of class

powers. International regulatory structures are created from and are sustained by nations

and other transnational entities.



Characteristics of food regimes by Le Heron 1993 (pp 26.Peter Atkins)

Food regime First (pre-world war 2) Second(1950-1970) Transition to 3rd (1980-1990)
Principal tendencies Culmination of colonialism
Rise of nation-state system Extension of state to former colonies
Transnational restructuring of agriculture by agro-food capitals Contradictions of productive and consumption trends
Disintegration of national agro food capitals
Governing premises Acceptability of alien rule
Propriety of accumulation regime
Importance of balancing power
Legitimacy of neo-mercantilism
Noninterference in others colonial administration International free markets and enterprises
Extra market channels for food distribution
Avoidance of starvation
Free flow of crop information that is scientific
Low priority for national self-reliance
National sovereignty
Low concern about chronic hunger Multipolarity of power-US ,EC,Japan
Global transmission of adjustments
Rise of new protectionism
Retreat from distributional issues
Restricted flow of technological information
Renewed interest in national self-reliance
Main historical features Centered on European import of wheat and meat from settler states1910-1914
Import by settler states of European manufactured goods,labour ,capital Based on strong state protection
Organization of world food economy under US hegemony after 1945 Crisis in world agricultural trade featuring price instability ,breakdown in multilateral agreements increased competition in export markets limited imposition of structural adjustment policies
Main international policy features Imperial preference .vertical hierarchical relation Bretton-woods agreement,GATT,postwar reconstruction
Multilateralism
Nondiscrimination and
Legal approach to regulation
US management of international agricultural trade system via agenda setting in international relations
Commodity agreement and conventions
Attempts to resolve world agricultural trade issues through GATT Framework
Main national policy features Assistance for land settlement and infrastructure Cheap food policies
Credit expansion
Production control mechanisms
Market creation via concessionary export sales and food aid Opposing trends of further protection and deregulation of agricultural sector

The economic base of the alternative food network have a range of social

movements :-

Environment

Sustainable agriculture

Community-supported agriculture

Consumer and health

Genetic resources conservation

Animal rights

Consumer preferences

Farmer’s markets

Traditional medicines ethnic cuisine

Variations in farm size in selected European nations (1993) showing % holdings

in each farm size groups from 1-5 Ha to more than 50 hectares.(European

commission statistics)

Country 1-5 Ha 5-10 10-20 20-50 .>50
Germany 31 15 18 23 13
Greece 75 15 7 2 0.4
Italy 77 11 6 4 2
Spain 57 16 11 8 7
UK 14 12 15 24 33
EU12 58 13 10 11 7

Alternative agriculture (Beus and Dunlap 1998 pp 598-599Conventional and

alternative agriculture :The paradigmatic roots of the debate Rural sociology )

CONVENTIONAL AGRICULTURE ALTERNATIVE AGRICULTURE
Centralisation:-
1 .Fewer farms
2.Concentrated resources
3.National /international marketing Decentralisation:-
More farms
Dispersed resources
Local/regional markets
Individualism:-
1.Self interest
2.Reduced labor
3.Farming as business
4.External costs ignored
5Material success Community
Co-operation
Retained labor
Farming as a way of life
All costs considered
Non-material values
Specialization
1.Farming reduced to individual components
2.standardised production Holism
Farming as a system

Diversification

The dictum “Grow globally and eat locally “is the reflection of sound economy

.The food surplus and shortage in different regions has to be tackled by more

production in the deficient regions for local consumption. There is direct relation

to population growth and food insufficiency and poverty and hunger. Abraham

J(1991 Food and development .The political economy of hunger and the modern

diet .London) shows the relation like this.

Patriarchy leads to large families, and high population growth and poverty and

hunger. In families with low population growth (and small )wealth accumulates

and there is a class divided agrarian system with more surplus food and diet in

sufficient calories. He does not say the role of matriarchal system but in India this

was the reason for the class divide. The matriarchal small family and the joint

family (undivided land)and the co-operative farming of all members of the joint

family were undertaken in Kerala till recently. It was only in 1903 the partition

deed of the Kurumbatur and Punnayrkulam branches were done (though they

existed from 1790 onwards).Both the landed property was looked after by the

senior member of the Kurumbattur branch till 1903.(Also see the Nalapat saga for

the population control of matriarchal and patriarchal systems)

According to Buringh and Dudal (1987 Agricultural land use in space and time. Q

P Atkins)and Alexandros (1995 world agriculture :towards 2010 Chichester

:wiley) the cultivated land in South Asia from 1988-1990 in million hectares is

175,and further potential for arable land is 38 and a total is 213 million Ha .For

possible more efficiency of food production Smil,V(1994How many people

can the earth feed ?Population and development review 20,255 -92)suggests :-

Improved field efficiencies with better agronomic practices,higher fertilizer

uptake, reduced irrigation waste,reduse waste by post-harvest losses ,and end-use

waste, and have healthier diets having limited fat intake to 30 % of total energy

and by these means a total gain of 60 % by 2050 is aimed at. Results from

regression analysis of determinants of food supply factors in 90 developing

countries ,Bongaarta J(1995.Can the human population feed itself ?scientific

American 270(3),18-24) takes the supply factor, population density GDP per

capita for different regions.

The supply factors are

1.Proportion of land cultivated

2.cropping frequency

3.proportion of area for food crops

4.crop yield

5.Trade multiplier proportion directly consumed

6.Animal product multiplier

7.Calories per capita per day

In Asia the cropping frequency is less and crop yield isles due to this.

Malnutrition, food and famines:-Income and purchasing power, class and

geographical peculiarities and lack of awareness of nutritious food are the reasons

for malnutrition in varying proportions.

What should we eat and in what quantity and quality? What is a vulnerable group

for hunger and malnutrition and what are its causes ? How can we combat the

problem of hunger and malnutrition in an overpopulated society?

Our requirements vary with age,sex,occupation and several other

factors.Undernutrition is an inadequate intake of calories and malnutrition an

imbalance of nutrient consumption due to shortage of a key element like a vitamin

or mineral like iron etc.Deficiency can also arise due to soil peculiarity and

geological factors.



Vulnerability in social space

Entitlement relations Power/institutional relations Social relations/class relations
In social relations Vulnerability as entitlement problem Vulnerability as powerlessness Through appropriation and exploitation
Vulnerable groups The resource-poor The powerless The exploited
Critical regions Marginal regions Peripheral/dependent Crisis-prone regions

Causes of vulnerability:-

Underlying causes :- population growth ,surplus production and resource

competition, hierarchical appropriation, environmental fluctuations

Immediate causes:-Natural disasters,war,social disruption, entitlement loss

Hunger situations:-regional food shortage, household food poverty, individual

food Deprivation

Direct consequences;-economic loss, depopulation social conflict

,impoverishment ,family dispersal ,migration, limited activity,wasting,stunting

diseases and death.Each leads to the other.

The underlying processes lead to the immeadiate causes. They in turn to hunger

situation and direct consequences.

IMMEADITE HUNGER SITUATIONS DIRECT CONSEQUENCES
Natural disaster
War
Social disruption
Entitlement loss Regional food shortage Economic loss ,depopulation, social conflicts
Resource poverty
Excess tax/rent
Entitlement exclusion and failure
Ethnic, societal discriminations Household food
poverty Impoverishment
Family dispersal
Migration
Disease
Special needs
Neglect and abuse
Gender and age
Discriminations Individual food deprivation Limited activity
Wasting and stunting
Disease and death

How do people cope with a famine /


Source of adjustment Early stage of response Intermediate Final stage
Production Change cropping
Planting practices
Increase home production
Labor In search of employment In search of employment in face of expected wage rate fall. separation from family Distress migration
Assets/capita Sale of small stock (liquid easily reversible) Sale of production assets(livestock,tools,land) in a depressed market Separation of families probably permanent
Loans/transfers Interhousehold transfers and loans Credit from money lenders Donation(relief assistance)
consumption Switch in expenditure/diet composition
Reduction of consumption level
(cut frequency or size of meal or both)
Adjustment in intra-household allocations Reduction of consumption
(greater dependence on market) Reduction of consumption(survival threatened)

Food production surplus to domestic demand is an achievement a

family/society/nation /world can be proud of. The excess produce can be shared

with others. This is needed not only for appeasing hunger but for having a healthy

nutritious diet for a healthy society .That can cause cost reduction in the medical

field which is in enormous proportions at present.

Early warning systems (EWS )of famine by a state Government by climatological

observations and proper organization and collection of surplus grain in granaries

has to be viewed in this way and then we will understand the Mohenjodaro

granary in its proper perspective and the astronomical varshaphala in each village

as well. It had been a national surveillance at community level ,the supply-side

data, especially on harvest ,storage and marketing and the power of monitoring

and coping strategies of an ancient people who had knowledge of their

environment ,and geographical features. They did not have satellite remote

sensing or automated data analysis but were well informed of their environment

and geography and its implications on food and famines and natural disasters.

They were well equipped with dealing an emergency situation and had the moral

and economic strength for it traditionally.(as we have demonstrated in Indian

history chapters).The food security priorities of the NGO forum to world summit

(1996) are on strengthening of family farming decentralization of wealth and

power, agriculture and food production based on agric-ecological principles .They

even suggest the suspension of IMF /World bank structural adjustment


programmes,more participation of peoples programmes and food sovereignty take

precedence over macroeconomic policies and trade liberalizations. Hunger and

poverty and malnutrition are fundamental questions of justice. The right of every

one to life should come before the profit motive is the message.(pp 171 Peter

Atkins)

Food and health:- A high cereal diet ,with lots of vegetables and fruits lower heart

disease ,cancer and a variety of other diseases. Reduced alcohol and tobacco use

with lot of fibers in diet prevent cancers of different types. Antioxidant quality of

fruits and vegetables having vit A,C and E neutralize the degrading effects of free

radicals on cellular DNA reducing cancer risk.Grapes,tomatoes,garlic ,cruciferous

vegetables like broccoli and cauliflower,fish oil,soya,turmeric and carrots have

anticancer properties and are called functional foods.Upto 80 % bowel and breast

cancer can be preventable by diet change. Red meat and processed food without

fibres increase risk of cancer.committtee of medical aspects of food

policy(COMA) of UK recommended cereals ,fruits and vegetables to be more in

diet.(1984).

Low income and dietary health links:-When purchasing power is high people

neglects agriculture and depend upon purchasing food with high costs. And they

go for fast foods and high meat ,fibreless diet and become unhealthy. The low

income people depend upon the regional foods available and if that is not

produced in enough quantities they become malnourished.

The low consumption of fruits and vegetables

Less food rich in vegetable fiber

Low intake of antioxidant ,vitamin and mineral rich foods

Reduced growth rates in utero

High rates of female obesity

Low incidence of breast feeding

Maternal smoking during pregnancy

High salt intake of mother and hypertension

High alcohol related morbidity

Dental decay

Kwashiorkor and related diseases

Anemia

These are directly related to infant and child health in society .Social exclusion of

certain fruits by poverty and lack of purchasing power and unavailability of

nourishing food and also lack of awareness of what to eat to be well nourished are

factors to be dealt with for a healthy community living. Industrial food processing

and additives for preservation are other reasons for unhealthy food .The

traditional food processing systems of India and the simple diet was free from

these (See the interviews with the people of Punnayurkulam).The agrichemicals

like insecticides,rodenticides,herbicides,fungicides are causing concern since they

appear in the food .The side effects of drugs used to increase growth of plants is

yet another problem. These are manmade problems and is of short history. The

traditional remedies for the pest control, manure ,and preservation are safer .

The green revolution was the result of an intense plant breeding programme that

relied upon applied science and luck. It was green and related to food and plants

while that of revolution was red related to bloodshed. The HYv of wheat and rice

from Mexico and Philippines was used for it.In 1943 Rockefeller foundation

started the research on new local variety of wheat in Mexico.In 196 the research

institute International rice research institute was founded in Philippines

(IRRI)with financial backing of Rockefeller and Ford foundation. They collected

rice from all over the world ,kept them in seed bank for possible future research

and breeding .In 1966 the miracle rice IR 8 was released. It was a crossbreed

between Petan ,a tall vigorous Indonesian variety and Dee-geo-woo-gen ,a short

stiff strawed Chinese rice. The new variant showed some desirable characters. By

1981 500 semi dwarf varieties came and 150 were from IRRI. IR 64 in 1985 was

one of the most successful one with high yields and resistant to pests and

diseases.HYV s now have taken over the traditional varieties(TVs) globally by

now.

Phase 1 of Green revolution was one of euphoria in the 1960 s.The defect with

TVs was that the farmers could not store them for long times for future

use.HYVs demanded more work (10-40 % more per Ha for wheat and 30-60 %

more for rice).This was for weeding, pest control fertilizer application and

moisture control. consumers also benefited by low price. The small holders of

farms could grow more in a small plot and devote the rest of the area for cash

crops.

Phase 2 by early 1970s.Poor became poorer and there was a negative

phase.Greenrevolution in theory was to help all but in practice it cold not do that

and the rich became richer widening the gap.Rice is host to 150 diseases and

pests.TVs developed for centuries of trial and error experience was immune to

many of them but HYVs were not .In 1970 and 80s the brown leaf grasshopper

that carry the grassy stunt virus caused widespread damage to IR8 in Indonesia

and other countries. More pesticides had to be used. Negative impacts on soil

occurred. Small farmers could not cope with the loss and the cost of agriculture.

In areas of floods like Bangladesh a long-stemmed and floating varieties were

used (refer to the pokkali mentioned by farmers of Punnayurkulam)because the

people knew the nature of their locality.Shortstrawed HYV cannot be grown

there.Modernisation with tractor was an inbuilt threat for the poor. They improve

the timeliness of ploughing and harvesting operations. But displaced the laborers

and left them unemployed and small holders could not do this operation without

pooling with larger farmers who has lumpy investments. In India the irrigated

areas of Punjab was well suited for HYV of wheat and Tamil nadu for HYV of

rice. Their success in green revolution caused rural disparities of wealth in

India. The less favored areas suffered price cuts and this was corrected by self

migration of people to the areas of green revolution.(pp 224 Peter Atkins)

Phase 3 Late 1970-80.Small farmers were adapting to the HYVs and they could

afford the high expensive input of chemicals and fertilizers. More research and

more investment and food availability was replaced by the concept of entitlement

of poor farmers and to environmental variations and socioeconomic

contexts.HYV was labor-intensive and appropriate for the densely populated

south Asia and inappropriate for Africa where there is a rural labor shortage.

Phase 4 1980-90s.There was a realization that the traditional breeding methods

which had been the basic underpinning of the green revolution was nearing their

ceiling for increased production. Yield growth slowed in Punjab due to ground

water exhaustion, micronutrient depletion, built up of pests, conventional plant

breeding was unable to find the answers. Tissue culture and embryo transfers had

to be done to keep the races of plants and animals. The natural was replaced by

artificial .Green revolution shifted to gene revolution.

The spatial typology of the green revolution
Type 1.Leading innovative regions with rain fed well irrigated fields for poverty alleviation.
Type 2.Backward areas poor or exhausted soil, few water resource, dry or cold climate. For forestry and non-farm rural development
Type 3.Second generation breakthrough areas ,in crops like Kharrif sorghum in Maharashtra,ragi in Karnataka,Maize in Malawi,Zimbabwe,rice in west Africa for small farmers as an experiment
Type 4.Reasonably favored areas not suited for HYVs and where farmers had switched of to cash crops that were abandoned in type 1 areas. Like pulses and fodder. In Gujarat from wheat to mustard ,rapeseed and groundnuts and in North Arcot from rice to groundnuts and sugar.

The key components of biotechnology
Genomics. Mapping the genetic make up of living things
Bioinformatics. Assembly of genome data into accessible forms
Transformation. Insertion of new genes with useful traits
Molecular breeding. Identification and evaluation of desirable genetic traits in breeding programmes
Diagnostics. Identification of pathogens using molecular characterization
Vaccines. Development of recombinant technology DNA vaccines to control disease

Biotechnological applications in agriculture
CROP IMPROVEMENT LIVESTOCK IMPROVEMENT
Protoplast fusion and somatic hybridization to produce new breeds
Disease free plant propagation
Production of genetic maps
Biological nitrogen fixation
Genetically engineered male sterility ,to produce hybrids
Transgenic plants for pest resistance
In vitro germ plasma conservation ,storage and distribution Production of growth hormones using engineered bacteria
Embryo manipulation to introduce traits
Transgenic animals for better feed efficiency
New vaccines
Disease diagnosis

The threat to diversity of cultivated plants by using a single variety in vast areas

by a monoculture is there. There had been 95 % loss of farm level biodiversity in

the 20th century alone. It seems essential to protect the vast variety of genes in

traditional agriculture in the less developed countries as well as in wild plants.

The five freedoms :-

1.Freedom from thirst,hunger,malnutrition.Easy access to clean and fresh water in

adequate amounts and nutritious food for all living things


2.Freedom from discomfort. Environment suitable to their species, including

adequate shelter and comfortable rest area.

3.Freedom from pain ,injury ,disease. By prevention, rapid or early diagnosis and

Treatment

4.Freedom to express normal behaviour.By provision of sufficient space ,proper

facilities, and company of its own kind

5.Freedom from fear and distress .By ensuring that living conditions avoid mental

suffering.

The discussion from animal welfare naturally leads to animal rights and

increasing trends to vegetarianism .Singer (1998)reported that in next few years

vegetarianism will prevail and meat eating will be abandoned as tobacoo

smoking. The principal motives for vegetarianism on the increase are the

moral/spiritual, health reasons,ecological,taste reasons. In India once a

predominantly vegetarian nation, with occasional meat in diet there is an

increasing trend in nonvegetarian food after the western rule and by the 1970’s

only Punjab,Rajasthan and Gujarat has more than 60 % vegetarians in rural/urban

settings. I Kerala 29 % rural and only 10 % urban people are vegetarians at

present and this trend shows though considered most literate Kerala people are not

aware of the new trends in the west concerning vegetarian food and its

acceptability over nonvegetarian due to several reasons –both ecological, moral

and health related .

Factors affecting our food choice:-

1.Geoenvironmental. The agroecosystems,time of day ,season,regionality of food

culture,spatiotempoaral and hierarchical diffusion of food habits

2.Socioeconomic: Religions,taboo,social customs,ethnicity,income,social

class, household composition, knowledge of nutrition, attitude to food related

health risk, advertising mass communications,travel,retail system, moral values

3.Physiological.Heredity,allergy,therapeutic diets, taste ,accessibility,sex,body

size, age

Classification of different types of eating:

1.A meal:-structured event ,a social occasion, when food is eaten according to

certain rules

2.Snack .Unstructured food event without rules of combination or sequence

Types of meal:

1 Major meal/main meal. First course of cereals (CH) the central course of

vegetables of different types prepared in different way(culinary science) with

gravy ,dhals and pulses and also curd/butter etc..Finally a sweet .(may have

fish, eggs or meat for nonvegetarians)

2.A minor or secondary meal. Eg Breakfast

3.Less significant meal.Eg tea and biscuits .


A complete meal is that which contains all nutrients like CH,Fats and Proteins and

vitamins and minerals. If protein,CH and fats present but no vitamins or minerals it is an

incomplete meal. If there is protein ,fat and vitamins and minerals but no starch ,plant

proteins and dietary fibres it is a less balanced meal. The food without animal protein and

fat is a vegetarian meal .

Apple is a high quality snack .Apple and a chocolate makes a mixed quality snack and

chocolate alone is a low quality snack .

Daily pattern of meal intake in sample of American adolescents (1989-91)

1.Three meals with or without snacks 58.4 %

2.Breakfast,lunch with or without snacks 5.5

3.lunch,dinner with or without snacks 13.4

4.Breakfast and dinner with or without snacks 14.4

5One meal and snack 5.4

6.One meal and snack 2.9

(compare with Punnayurkulam interviews and the food of local people as told by William

Logan )

Dietary pattern and food including proper nutrients is a culiery science closely followed

and researched by the Indian women of antiquity to this day. This depends on the female

household head and her knowledge, freedom and skills in processing and cooking

etc,gardening and making fruits and vegetables in her gardens .

Agricultural decision making was as much of a woman’s area as it was that of man

since she was also participant of rice and vegetable growing and knew all aspects of

cultivation, season etc and this gave lot of freedom for agrarian women than their modern

counterparts of India .They had access to irrigation, spring water,rivers,land,cow and

cattle,sheep,goats and other domestic animals,poultry,horticulture crop produce, trees and

credit systems ,agricultural labour,team work and farm inputs and the monetary benefits

there from .This was so in Ethiopia and Tanzania surveys of 1998 by FAO.The effect of

combined income of man and woman in the household had several positive effects in

society as a family productive unit of agriculture. This also was found the same in other

regions like Kenya,Taiwan,Guatemala,Brazil etc .The household calorie

level, expenditure on food, child welfare, and child survival depends on the share of

woman have in the total family income and her decisions in family matters of food and

health and population control and agricultural decisions of production for sustenance of

family.

The sex ratio of India (1901-91)

1991 census show 407 million girls and women and 439 million boys and men .For every

1000 men 927 women. This is called the sex ratio. India is having the lowest proportion

of women population in the world today. The sex ratio is falling gradually from 1901.

1901 972
1911 964
1921 955
1931 950
1941 945
1951 946
1961 941
1971 930
1981 934
1991 927

Haryana (865 as ratio) has the lowest ratio in the world ,succeeded by parts of

Gujrat,North western Madhyapradesh,border districts of Rajasthan, and western Uthar

Pradesh .Kerala has a better sex ratio. The central role of women in the food chain is now

receiving more attention by the academicians .The matriarchal pattern of society and its

agrarian joint family system needs to be studied in this light and not under the western

nuclear family concept .For co-operative farming and for labor needed for various

agrarian operations, joint family and joint communes or society and common land

holdings are more suitable .It increase productivity ,and production by common co-

operative work which is cost-effective in itself.

The aim of any community development project and National Extension science is to

Provide nutritious food,clothing ,shelter,health by clean water and environment,free

education for all ,but along with these basic materialistic needs a change in the outlook of

the citizens and rulers for development of the full potential of human resources and a

unified co-operative effort to develop the nation and its environment and in the long run

,that of the entire world.Unless this is not achieved,the goal of welfare state with equal

opportunities for all citizens will never be achieved.The process of transformation in the

socioeconomic life of villages leading to growth –economic,manpower resources –for

rejuvenatation and revitalization of nation.

1 Elimination of poverty ,disease and ignorance is in other words socioeconomic

growth,Perfect physical,mental and intellectual health ,and educating every citizen .

2.To infuse spirit of brotherhood and co-operation is equivalent to instill the spirit of

Humanity and spirit of a unified nation and that is Indianness for an Indian.Not based on

any other factor like caste,creed,language ,religion or political affiliations etc.

3.Seeking self-help is learning self-reliance

4.Sufficient scientific knowledge has to be taken to the most distant neighbour’s door –

that is to the most distant village –and for that one needs knowledge and communication

skills and a spirit of unity and co-operation and compassion for all.

For these to be achieved we need the Triple tenets.

1.The Faith in ourselves
That we can Do it
We can Train to do it.
We can Create conditions to achieve it

2.Triple character of Rights
To Live
To learn
To do duties

3.Rules of business
Elevate
Integrate
Standardize