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We are what we eat.

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But how many of us know,
what we are actually eating?

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How many of us know, 


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what food does to environment
before it comes to our plate

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How many of you know,

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what food does to farmer,
who is producing that food?

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Do you know? have you ever thought?

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How many of you think
if you are eating food,

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about the farmer who has produced it 
or fate of the farmer who has produced?

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You know, some of the questions


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which grappled me when I was
studying my agriculture.

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While doing my Ph. D. in agriculture 
I had a choice,

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Like every young boy in 90's

14
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I was also crazy about 
getting into Indian Civil Sercvice

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Reading the Indian Economy 
I really understood about Indian Economy

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by reading for an exam.

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Finally by time I got into services,
I was selected for Indian Revenue Service.

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But, I also had a choice of joining as 
Agricultural Research Scientist.

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It was tough choice.

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I made my choice as joined as 
Agricultural Research Scientist.

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I thought, "I should continue 
working with farmers."

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(Applause)

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But, that didn't last long,
I'll come to that.

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Before I come to that, 
let's understand ,"What is our food?

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What we are eating? How safe is our food?"

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All of you saw this news, sometime back

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Pesticides residues in soft drinks 
and bottled water.

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But, forgot the next day.

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Have you ever thought, 


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How pesticides residues come into 
this bottled water or soft drink?

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If bottled water and soft drink had 
pesticide residues,

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The water you used to make tea or coffee
also must be having,

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But we never worried about it.

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The news is short the next day
we forget about it.

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At least this must be a memory,
Noodles having heavy metals.

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How many of you've thought,


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how did this heavy metals reached 
in the Noodles?

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If lead has to added in Noodles,


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Probably lead is more costly than Noodles.

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Nobody will add it but it came.

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If ingredients used to make Noodles
had the lead,

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The "Aata" which you used to make 
your "Chapati" also must be having.

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Or the Samosa which you're eating
also must be having. Right?

44
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But we don't connect the dots.

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Same is the story when we hear about
pesticide residues in vegetables.

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You all get horrified. 
But, forget it in the evening.

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We all think if we buy food at good place 
or eat it in good hotel, it's safe.

48
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Food is only as safe as it is grown.

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End of pipe solutions doesn't work.

50
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The pesticides which are 
used in agriculture,

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less than 1% actually kills the insects,
99% gets into the water,

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get into the air 
and comes back to your food.

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We look at it very casually.

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Everything happened around us
we look at it casually.

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I'll give you one example,
While having the lunch I saw people

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painting there, what was that?

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Spray Paint.

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Where does it go?

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Part of it goes on to the board,
part of it into the air.

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You all were eating there.
It comes there.

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We all are educated,
We feel we can make connections.

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We never make.

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And we expect that farmer will
make those connections.

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and produce safe food for all of us.

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I think that's where disconnect between,

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What we observe, what we know,
and how we act is the serious problem.

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It's not only about the pesticides,

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do you know the eggs 
that you buy in the market

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what kind of eggs you buying?

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They are half cloyed eggs.

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Half cloyed means they are produced
without male & female meeting together.

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That's why if you hatch the eggs,
they won't make chickens.

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But how they are produced?
They are produced by using estrogens

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And what happen to those estrogen?


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When you eat those eggs?
they'll come back to you.

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That's one reason today
pivot in girl child has advanced.

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Gynic problems in women has increased.

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Breast development in men has increased.

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Do you know last year's India Today's 
survey shows that,

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the largest number of plastic surgeries 
done in India of to remove breast in men

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you got into that situation 
where fruit is supposed to be healthy,

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is creating all that problems.

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It's not just pesticides or antibiotics
are growth hormones,

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which are used in production.
But also how they are processed.

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You might have heard the last one week
10 days doing rounds in all the media

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artificially ripened fruits.

87
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But why fruits are ripened artificially?

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if all of you want to fruits 
in off season.

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How will they do it?

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If you want mangoes in May,
how do you get mangoes?

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You have to cut unripened one's 
ripen it artificially and sell it.

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Banana's which are seeing uniformed yellow


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What are they? 
They all are carbon ripen.

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The apples the shiny apples which you see,


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What are they? When were they produced?
Where were they produced? Do you know?

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California apples, 
you get apple from California

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Can you keep it fresh?
They are coated with wax.

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Go back to your home, 
take apple from your fridge.

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Just scratch it. You'll see the wax.

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We are eating all that.

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The watermelons which are red in color,


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they are injected with injections, color.

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They are injected with growth hormones.

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The milk which is sold,
we have seen in news last several years,

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the reports which say, "The milk is 
contaminated with synthetic milk."

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If you want to have milk 
at 40 rupees a liter thats what you get.

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We want food cheaper,

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and there is competition 
between the companies

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They pay low to the farmers,

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They also contaminate it 
and get away with that.

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All brands of milk sold in Hyderabad,

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prone to have 
contaminated with synthetic milk

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GM Foods, How many of you know about this?
How many of you've heard about this?

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BT Brinjal, to tell you simply,
what BT Brinjal is?

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when pesticide is sprayed from outside 
it damages the environment.

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Like I said,"99% goes into the environment
only 1% kills the insect."

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So scientist thought why not we produce
pesticide in plant itself.

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So plant produces insecticides.
So which ever insect eats plant will die.

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But what happens to us?
Who eats that.

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So there are several bio safety questions
in front of us which were never addressed.

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What you see here, yellow, white,
golden rice which is going to come soon

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You know why it was done?


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They say "vitamin A deficiency 
is serious problem, so we will produce

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vitamin A in the plant."

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If you eat that rice you can have 
as much as vitamin A as possible.

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But do you know vitamin A is 
fat soluble vitamin.

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So it's not just enough to have vitamin A,
but you also need to have enough fat.

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But if you have enough fat in your food
you don't need golden rice.

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In 2005 we came across a farmer in Guntur,

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Who was cultivating BT Bhendi.

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We were shocked.

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I said "How did you get it?"

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He said,"Company gave me the seeds."

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We went to the company.
They said,"We are doing a trial."

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We went to the government.
Government said,"Yeah, That is seen."

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They said, "You are not permitted."
Those were taken off in 2005.

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2013, similarly we came across a cotton,

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Kerbside tolerant cotton which is grown.
No permissions.

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In 2009, when BT brinjal was permitted 
there was public discussions.

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But It was the only time 
there was for public discussion,

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to introduce whether we need a food or not
And it was banned.

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Sometimes, some wise politicians 
take better decisions.

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But by this we would have 
flooded with GM foods.

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Today there is case pending in
Supreme Court,

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there is expert committee appointed by
Supreme Court.

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Which said, "We don't need this 
for next 10 yrs. Let's wait."

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There is parliament standing committee 


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which was appointed it also said 
"We don't need."

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But, you don't know how they are 
going to come into your plate.

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Food is not only useful energy
but also good for your health.

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It can treat many of the deceases.
Food is a medicine.

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It can act as preventive medicine and
It can also act as a curative medicine.

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I know many people who are working on
treating autism with good food.

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Many of the problem which you are seeing

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Obesity, diabetes, blood pressure
all are because of the food which you eat.

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You need to make right choice
about your food.

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Second, What food does to the environment.

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Let's look at ecological footprints.

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How many you have seen rice fields?
Almost all, right.

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What comes to your mind 
when we think of rice fields?

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Full of water. How much water it takes
to produce an acre of rice?


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6 million liters.

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6 million liters per acre of rice.

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Which is equal to 100 families 
annual consumption.

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1 family of 5 members eats about 
a Kg of rice a day.

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Which is equivalent to tanker of water.
180 showers.

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All of us want to eat rice,
more and more water you need

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in production of rice.

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You were making calculation

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how much 1 meal of rice in Hyderabad 
costs an environment?

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It's probably as big as, all over a dam.

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We need to worry about,
the ecological footprints.

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It's not just about the water, 
about pesticides, about growth hormone.

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Everything. What agriculture leaves 
before it comes to you plate?

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Not just that. 
What it does to farmers?

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The more and more pesticides you spray
insects get resistance. They don't work.

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First time you spray,
second time you spray

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third time you spray it,
fifth time you drink.

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That's what we have seen 
along farmer suicides.

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The fall outs of such things is 
increasing cost of cultivation,

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00:11:00,931 --> 00:11:02,981
but prices are not increasing.

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You know 1 Kg of rice costs 
Rs. 2100/- as per government calcuations

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00:11:08,128 --> 00:11:10,196
But today price is on 1400 for farmers.

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00:11:10,508 --> 00:11:14,309
Today a ton of sugarcane is Rs. 2000/-

185
00:11:14,309 --> 00:11:16,646
A ton of firewood is Rs. 4000/-

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How farmers can live?

187
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The policies are also lop sided.

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Today average income of 83% of farmer
in this country is only Rs. 5000/-

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Only Rs. 5000/-

190
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So farmers have lost 
their economic independence.

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00:11:35,420 --> 00:11:38,300
Not just economic independence,
physical independence as well.

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This were photographs taken farmers were 
standing in queue for fertilizers.

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Standing in queue for seeds.

194
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Seeds which they can produce.

195
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Fertilizer which they can
make by composting.

196
00:11:49,801 --> 00:11:51,615
But they are not subsidized.

197
00:11:51,615 --> 00:11:53,802
If you buy it in a market,
they are subsidized.

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00:11:53,829 --> 00:11:56,239
Lop sided policies from government.

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All these are lead to farmer suicides.

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In last 20 yrs 3,00,000 farmers 
have committed suicide.

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Everyday about 48.

202
00:12:05,823 --> 00:12:09,489
What is the point about just discussing
dark side of the picture?

203
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How much and we can do 
to change the situation.

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Some of us working in agriculture.
Various institution came together

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we started organization called 
Center for Sustainable Agriculture in 2004

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We started working with farmers,

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telling them, 
"How they can move away from

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the high external input base agriculture 
to low external input based agriculture?"

209
00:12:30,658 --> 00:12:32,622
It was not easy.

210
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But what we found is across the country 
there were wonderful experiences.

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00:12:36,182 --> 00:12:40,071
But all those experiences were thought
in ideological framework.

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They don't talk to each other.

213
00:12:42,399 --> 00:12:45,343
There are good things, bad things 
but if they discuss with each other

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00:12:45,343 --> 00:12:48,056
it would have been good
but they never talk to each other.

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00:12:48,174 --> 00:12:50,619
Main stream institutions 
never worried about them.

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So we brought all practices together.

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Evolved what we called as sustainable 
agricultural practices.

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00:12:56,848 --> 00:12:59,218
The first success came in Kulukulla.

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Kulukulla is village in Kamang district
which became completely pesticide free.

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The village which was speinding 60 LPA,
they completely stopped using pesticides.

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00:13:07,984 --> 00:13:11,005
(Applause)

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00:13:11,005 --> 00:13:15,645
Agriculture minister came.
He said, "Wonderful. What do you want?"

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00:13:17,785 --> 00:13:22,732
Farmers said,
"Make Andhra Pradesh pesticide free."

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00:13:23,553 --> 00:13:26,684
He was amazed. He said,
"Certainly I'll do. But what do you want?"

225
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They said,"We are happy with what we have.
But change all the agricultural practices"

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00:13:30,954 --> 00:13:33,415
He brought all 
agriculture university scientists of

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00:13:33,415 --> 00:13:37,517
department of agriculture together to see
and then make a change.

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They said,"Sir, this is one village
we can't do it. It's not possible."

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Then came Enabavi this is 80 km from here,
compeltely organic village.

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The last three years over 10000 people 
have visited the village to know

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"How they are doing farming?"

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"But this has also not changed anything 
under government."

233
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But consumers have changed.

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Many people have started understanding
what is good for them.

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00:13:59,061 --> 00:14:02,388
This is an advertisement 
which is The Hindu uses for itself.

236
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This is the village called Dorli.

237
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Dorli is in Vardha. After Telanagana,
you hear lots of suicide from Vardha.

238
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In 2005 the village was put up for sale.
Farmers decided, we can't do farming.

239
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They put up village for sale.

240
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We went there in 2006 and said
"Can we start working together?"

241
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Today all of them have repaid their loans.

242
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All of them are back to farming.

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(Applause)

244
00:14:27,044 --> 00:14:30,103
It's possible. It's possible. 
It's possible.

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All examples are in front of us.

246
00:14:31,691 --> 00:14:35,270
We also side by side worked with 
woman self fill groups in Andhra Pradesh.

247
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These are cover stories of "Down To Earth"
magazine which tracked the whole change.

248
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We started with 225 acres in 2005.

249
00:14:43,540 --> 00:14:49,370
Today its 35,00,000 acre in Andhra Pradesh
and Telangana together pesticide free.

250
00:14:49,649 --> 00:14:50,849
(Applause)

251
00:14:51,028 --> 00:14:54,182
50% use of pesticide 
in state has come down.

252
00:14:56,969 --> 00:14:59,380
We were 3rd in country 
in terms of pesticide used

253
00:14:59,432 --> 00:15:02,416
today we are 20th in the country.

254
00:15:02,510 --> 00:15:03,606
(Applause)

255
00:15:03,915 --> 00:15:06,575
This was part of a show on Satyamev Jayate

256
00:15:06,575 --> 00:15:08,112
some of you might have seen.

257
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In this show we had interesting discussion


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On the other side was person
who was largest pesticide seller in country

259
00:15:14,845 --> 00:15:16,726
Towards end Amir Khan asked me a question,

260
00:15:16,726 --> 00:15:19,250
"I am fully convienced with
what you're saying and what you're doing

261
00:15:19,530 --> 00:15:23,451
It is possible to do it India. But how to 
convince man who is sitting here?

262
00:15:23,766 --> 00:15:27,638
I said ask his brother, His brother is 
largest organic exporter in this country.

263
00:15:27,638 --> 00:15:30,653
(Applause)

264
00:15:32,066 --> 00:15:33,426
And he said, "Yes."

265
00:15:34,478 --> 00:15:36,805
That shows people see it as business.

266
00:15:36,805 --> 00:15:41,512
If they sell pesticide, will sell pesticide
if they sell organic, will sell organic.

267
00:15:41,512 --> 00:15:45,359
You buy pesticides or 
our organic pesticides

268
00:15:45,960 --> 00:15:49,342
or certificate from us, saying 
"you haven't used any of these things."

269
00:15:49,342 --> 00:15:51,799
Farmers are made into consumers.

270
00:15:52,700 --> 00:15:54,473
But what our consumers are doing?

271
00:15:54,473 --> 00:15:57,787
Then what we did is we brought 
some consumers in Hyderabad together

272
00:15:57,787 --> 00:16:00,261
to form a consumer cooperative called
Sahaja Aharam.

273
00:16:00,261 --> 00:16:03,434
We also brought all farmers together 
to form farmers cooperative

274
00:16:03,504 --> 00:16:06,078
So that they can market directly.

275
00:16:06,420 --> 00:16:08,380
Today we've 20 farmer cooperatives

276
00:16:08,555 --> 00:16:12,444
who produce organically 
and directly sell in the market.

277
00:16:12,574 --> 00:16:15,386
While many of you worry about 
organic food prices.

278
00:16:16,058 --> 00:16:20,498
The oraganic Sahaja Aharam prices are 
20% lower than the market prices.

279
00:16:20,498 --> 00:16:24,944
And 75% of what consumer pays go to farmer.

280
00:16:25,579 --> 00:16:29,170
In the regular market just 20%
which goes to farmer.

281
00:16:29,170 --> 00:16:32,481
(Applause)

282
00:16:32,481 --> 00:16:34,204
What do I see from here?

283
00:16:34,204 --> 00:16:35,772
I see a ray of hope.

284
00:16:35,772 --> 00:16:37,153
It's possible.

285
00:16:37,153 --> 00:16:40,056
If all of us can join together 
we can make a change.

286
00:16:40,056 --> 00:16:43,559
But it's long way to go 
in terms of Government Policies.

287
00:16:43,559 --> 00:16:46,089
Still there is serious crisis in agricuture.

288
00:16:46,089 --> 00:16:48,487
Yesterday you might have seen
about farmer's suicide.

289
00:16:48,487 --> 00:16:50,647
Today mornings newspaper,
you might have seen.

290
00:16:50,818 --> 00:16:52,511
Number of farmers are dying.

291
00:16:52,511 --> 00:16:54,493
It's a responsibility of all of us.

292
00:16:54,493 --> 00:16:56,377
Business as usual is not an option.

293
00:16:56,377 --> 00:17:00,493
We need to change as consumers
we need change as farmers

294
00:17:00,493 --> 00:17:04,552
We all need to come together 
to pressurize government

295
00:17:04,552 --> 00:17:05,913
to make a change.

296
00:17:05,913 --> 00:17:08,252
Otherwise, the future is very very glee.

297
00:17:08,252 --> 00:17:10,222
Thank you.

298
00:17:10,272 --> 00:17:13,302
(Applause)