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Vandana Shiva examines the impact of the first Green Revolution on the breadbasket of India. In a cogent empirical argument, she shows how the "quick fix" promise of large gains in output pushed aside serious pursuit of an alternative agricultural strategy grounded in respect for the environmental wisdom of peasant systems and building an egalitarian, needs-oriented agriculture consistent with the village-based, endogenous political traditons of Gandhism.
Dr. Shiva documents the destruction of genetic diversity and soil fertility that resulted, and in highly orginal fashion shows how the Green Revolution also contributed to the acute social and political conflicts now tearing the Punjab apart.
Contents:
- Introduction
- Science and Politics in the Green Revolution
The Green Revolution and the Conquest of Nature
The Green Revolution and the Control of Society
- 'Miracle Seeds' and the destruction of Genetic Diversity
How the Green Revolution makes Unfair Comparisons
The Myth of the High Yielding Variety
Genetic Uniformity and the Creation of New Pests
- Chemical Fertilizers and Soil Fertility
Voracious Varieties
Diseased and Dying Soils
The Return to Organic Inputs
- Intensive Irrigation, Large Dams and Water Conflicts
Thirsty Seeds
Large Dams and the Centralisation of Poltical Power
Inter-state Water Conflicts and the Elusive Search for Equity
- The Political and Cultural Costs of the Green Revolution
The Economic Costs: A narrow and shortlived prosperity
Communalising the Farmers'Protests
Development, Social Disintegration and Violence
- Pepsico For Peace? The Ecological and Political Risks of the Biotechnology Revolution
Pepsico for Peace?
Seeds of Ecological Vulnerability
Seeds and Dependency
Seeds of Insecurity, Seeds of Violence
- The Seed and the Spinning Wheel: The Political Ecology of Technological Change
Colonisation and the Spinning Wheel
The Colonisation of the Seed
Biotechnology Development and Biodiversity Conservation Patents, Intellectual Property and the Politics of Knowledge
About the Author:
A world-renowned environmental leader and recipient of the 1993 Alternative Nobel Peace Prize (the Right Livelihood Award), Shiva has authored several books, most recently Earth Democracy, and contributed to numerous anthologies. Activist and scientist, Shiva leads, with Ralph Nader and Jeremy Rifkin, the International Forum on Globalization. Before becoming an activist, Shiva was one of India's leading physicists.
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