#AceNewsServices (Exclusive) – INDIA (Mumbai) – August 10 – On 15 August, India will mark its 67th anniversary of independence from Britain. It may seem strange to some that a nation would publicly celebrate its independence while at the same time it less publicly cedes it to outsiders Global Research reported.
The gleaming façade of flags and fly-pasts will belie the fact that national security and independence do not depend on military might and patriotic speeches.
Eye-catching celebrations will take place in Delhi and much of the media will mouth platitudes about the strength of the nation and its independence.
The reality is, however, an ongoing, concerted attempt to undermine and destroy the very foundation and security of the country.
The bedrock of any society is its agriculture. Without food there can be no life. Without food security, there can be no genuine independence.
A recent report by the organisation GRAIN revealed that small farms produce most of the world’s food and are more productively efficient than large farms.
Facilitated by an appropriate policy framework, small farmers could easily feed the global population. But small farmers are currently squeezed onto less than a quarter of the world’s farmland and the world is fast losing farms and farmers through the concentration of land into the hands big agribusiness and the rich and powerful. If nothing is done to reverse this trend, the world will lose its capacity to feed itself.
The Oakland Institute in the US recently stated that the first years of the 21st century will be remembered for a global land rush of nearly unprecedented scale . An estimated 500 million acres, an area eight times the size of Britain, was reported bought or leased across the developing world between 2000 and 2011, often at the expense of local food security and land rights.
This trend could eventually result in the permanent shift of farm ownership from family businesses to institutional investors and other consolidated corporate operations.
MONSANTO PURCHASE AND DEVELOPMENT OF LAND SCHEMES:
In India, small farms account for 92 percent of farms and occupy around 40 percent of all agricultural land. They form the bedrock of food production. However, there is a concerted effort to remove farmers from the land. Hundreds of thousands of farmers have taken their lives since 1997 and many more are experiencing economic distress or have left farming as a result of debt, a shift to (GM) cash crops and economic liberalisation .
Monsanto already controls the cotton industry in India and is increasingly shaping agri-policy and the knowledge paradigm by funding agricultural research in public universities and institutes. Its practices and colonisation of institutions have led to it being called the ‘contemporary East India Company’ and regulatory bodies are now severely compromised and riddled with conflicts of interest where decision-making over GMOs are concerned.
In the meantime, Monsanto and the GM biotech (India) sector forward the myth that GM food is necessary to feed the world’s burgeoning population. They are not. Aside from the review by GRAIN, the World Bank-funded International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge and Science for Development Report stated that smallholder, traditional farming (not GMO’s) can deliver food security in low-income countries through sustainable agri-ecological systems .
The Standing Committee on Agriculture in Parliament unequivocally concluded that GM seeds and foods are dangerous to human, animal and environmental health and directed the former Government of Manmohan Singh to ban GMO’s Despite such evidence and the recommendations to put a hold on open field GM trials by the Supreme Court-appointed Technical Expert Committee, the push is on within official circles to give such trials the green light.
History on Day of independence:
This is a far cry from that day on the August 15 1947, when Jawaharlal Nehru, who had become the first Prime Minister of India that day, and they raised the Indian national flag above the Lahore Gate of the Red Fort in Delhi. On each subsequent Independence Day, the Prime Minister has raised the flag and given a speech.
This same holiday is still observed throughout India with flag-hoisting ceremonies, parades and cultural events. Indians celebrate the day by displaying the national flag on their attire, accessories, homes and vehicles; by listening to patriotic songs, watching patriotic movies; and bonding with family and friends. Books and films feature the independence and partition in their narrative.
Separatist and militant organisations have often carried out terrorist attacks on and around 15 August, and others have declared strikes and used black flags to boycott the celebration.
European traders had established outposts on the Indian subcontinent by the 17th century. Through overwhelming military strength, the British East India company subdued local kingdoms and established themselves as the dominant force by the 18th century. Following the Rebellion of 1857, the Government of India Act 1858 led the British Crown to assume direct control of India. In the decades following, civic society gradually emerged across India, most notably the Indian National Congress, formed in 1885.
The period after World War I was marked by British reforms such as the Montagu–Chelmsford Reforms, but it also witnessed the enactment of the repressive Rowlatt Act and calls for self-rule by Indian activists. The discontent of this period crystallized into nationwide non-violent movements of non-cooperation and civil disobedience, led by Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi.
During the 1930’s, reform was gradually legislated by the British; Congress won victories in the resulting elections.
The next decade was beset with political turmoil: Indian participation in World War II, the Congress’s final push for non-cooperation, and an upsurge of Muslim nationalism led by the All-India Muslim League. The escalating political tension was capped by Independence in 1947.
The jubilation was tempered by the bloody partition of the subcontinent into India and Pakistan, this was when both countries became independent and a time when both retained their own identity.
Fast forward to India and Pakistan of today and a very different story emerges, where people become surplus to requirements unless they fulfil the golden rule of consumerism and the politicians see a burgeoning population of poor, tipping the scales into anarchy and injustice. with the rise of terrorist groups with one intention to destabilise and create unrest in the country.
So what of their Independence from Britain 67 years-ago and their new development strategy will they as so many before them sell-out to the highest bidder of the likes of Monsanto and allow themselves to become not independent but to tempt billionaire politicians of the use of GM and to use their poor, uneducated people as guinea pigs, to test their food theories.
#ANS2014
#india, #monsanto, #mumbai, #pakistan
