Editorial 1 : The Natural Way Out
Context: How regenerative farming can safeguard our soil.
India’s Food Demand
- At present India, with a population of 145 crore, is self-reliant in its food and nutritional requirements.
- This has been achieved partly by expanding the area under agriculture and intensifying practices largely during the green revolution.
- With an annual increase in demand of 2-3% for food, India must grow 50% more food by 2050.
- India is likely to fall short of this food demand by 2050.
Key Challenges in Indian Agriculture
- Risks of Current Intensive Agriculture
- Sole reliance on fossil fuel-based agriculture risks food, nutritional, and ecological security.
- Intensive farming methods are energy-intensive and wasteful, contributing to environmental degradation.
- Declining Soil Health
- Decades of synthetic fertiliser use has reduced soil organic carbon content from 2.4% in 1947 to 0.4% today.
- The threshold for maintaining soil’s arable properties is 1.5%, indicating a severe deficiency.
- Economic and Environmental Costs
- Financial Impact
- Rs 47.7 lakh crore ($564 billion) in lost soil carbon value over 70 years.
- Rs 2 lakh crore ($25 billion) annual subsidy for synthetic fertilisers.
- Rs 14,813 crore ($1.75 billion) annual cost of greenhouse gas emissions from fertiliser use.
- Environmental cost: Synthetic fertilisers contribute approximately 25 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions annually.
State of the Food and Agriculture report by FAO
- It highlights the growing social, health, and environmental costs of global agriculture and food systems. These costs total $12 trillion annually.
- While the current ways of producing can fulfil the calorific requirements of more than 8 billion people worldwide, it yields a massive cost to our society and the environment.
- The FAO report states that the Indian agrifood system has hidden costs that include damages to health, environment, and society.
New Transformative Approach
- Climate-Resilient and Nature-Based Solutions: Transition to a sustainable agricultural model that reduces dependence on synthetic inputs, improves soil health and biodiversity and enhances farmer livelihoods and ensures food security.
- Regenerative Farming: Regenerative farming based on the principles of agroecology can help reduce input costs, improve soil health, promote judicious use of groundwater, reduce the depletion of natural resources, and, at the same time, increase farm productivity and profits.
- Community-managed natural farming: Improved the health of farmers, farm workers, their families, and consumers by successfully building social capital in rural India.
Way Forward: Recommendations
- Redesigning Agriculture in India
- Adopt regenerative farming and agroecological principles.
- Shift focus from managing intensive systems to knowledge-intensive systems.
- Enhance social capital through participatory and decentralised practices.
- Field Research
- Conduct longitudinal studies across all 15 agro-climatic zones in India to:
- Establish the benefits of regenerative farming scientifically.
- Raise awareness about climate resilience and health impacts.
- This will help to create political will and policy frameworks.
- Scaling up Regenerative Farming: A redesign of agriculture in India needs to focus on radical transformation by adopting regenerative farming and not relying merely on managing the existing intensive system, understanding and practising agroecological principles, enhancing social capital and relying on knowledge-intensive systems, which are supported by participatory and decentralised pedagogies.
Conclusion: Regenerative farming, based on agroecological principles, offers a viable solution to reduce input costs, enhance productivity, and safeguard ecological balance. It will also contribute to the country’s vision of achieving net zero status by 2070.Intensive field research and policy support are essential to mainstream such practices and ensure a resilient agricultural future for India.
Editorial 2 : An Appeal to MPs
Context: MPs should go back to Constituent Assembly debates and learn.
Introduction: The Constitution says: We the People of India have solemnly resolved to constitute India into a Democratic Republic. What happened in Parliament last week raises questions about the commitment of our representatives on that score. Parliament saw an unfortunate series of events in Dr. Amebdkar’s name.
Key Reflections from the Constituent Assembly Debates
- Vision of the Constitution Makers
- Purushottam Das Tandon: Believed that democracy serves all people without discrimination.
- Minoo R. Masani: Quoted Mahatma Gandhi, emphasizing that the State is subordinate to the people and must serve them.
- Syama Prasad Mookerjee: Advocated for a united India that serves all citizens, irrespective of race, caste, creed, or community.
- Rajendra Prasad: Highlighted the importance of respecting diverse opinions to foster unity and understanding.
- Parliamentary Democracy and Its Principles
- B.R. Ambedkar: Preferred parliamentary democracy over the presidential system due to its daily checks on the executive through debates, motions, and questions.
- S. Radhakrishnan: Stressed the importance of gentleness and harmony, describing India as a symphony of diverse elements.
- Jawaharlal Nehru: Advocated for governance through friendship, cooperation, and goodwill, warning against any imposition or patronage.
Current Challenges in Parliamentary Conduct
- Lack of Respect for Democratic Ideals
- Recent parliamentary incidents suggest a departure from the principles of mutual respect and service to the people.
- MPs seem more loyal to their parties than to the ideals of democracy.
- Absence of Constructive Debate
- Parliamentary debates often devolve into discord, overshadowing their purpose of addressing the nation’s pressing challenges.
- The ideals of dialogue, cooperation, and concessions to opposing views, as emphasized by Dr. Ambedkar, are often ignored.
- Neglect of National Challenges: The focus on partisan politics detracts from addressing critical issues such as poverty, illiteracy, social and economic inequality, marginalisation.
Way Forward: Recommendations
- Accountability and Apologies: MPs should apologize to each other and the nation to foster mutual respect and the Chair should remove words that can be deemed offensive.
- Reviving Democratic Ideals: MPs must prioritise respect for opposing views, dialogue over discord, service to the people above party loyalty.
- Following Dr. Ambedkar’s Vision: MPs should heed Dr. Ambedkar’s advice to make concessions to opposing views, unite diverse groups for cooperative progress and avoid slogans and words that alienate or frighten people.
Conclusion
The MPs must remember that the Mahatma Gandhi had dreamt of real democracy, not concentration of powers in their hands. They must strive to fulfil the expectations of the people and contribute to building a brighter, united India.