Sarson Satyagraha
| Event Start Date: 15th October 2016 | Event End Date: 25th October 2016 | Event Venue: Jantar Mantar, New Delhi |
GM Mustard is on the verge of being approved by the Indian government – very soon, we might seefor the first time in India a Genetically Modified Food crop being cultivated. Mustard is a very important part of our food across India, in the form of seed, paste, leaves and oil. It is also a crop that has 60 lakh cultivators and around 5 lakh bee-keepers directly dependent on it. And if one GM food crop is allowed, many others are waiting to be approved – rice, maize, wheat, jowar, tur dal, groundnut and many vegetables – most of them pushed by big multinational seed companies like Monsanto-Bayer, Syngenta and DuPont-Dow.
Despite serious concerns about food safety and environment, the government has proceeded with GM Mustard, a herbicide-tolerant crop which will increase chemical usage in our farms – though its yield is no better than existing varieties, and it only facilitates seed manufacturers’ work with no benefits to farmers or consumers. There are only risks here. Despite the demands of thousands of citizens including scientists and many major farmer organizations, the government has not published the data related to GM Mustard, nor has it provided time and space for getting genuine feedback from farmers and scientists, experts and common citizens. Now we need to go beyond letters, faxes and representations – we need to make our voice heard directly in Delhi, URGENTLY!
Can we stop GM Mustard? Yes we can, if we all raise our voice together, if we show that the farmers, consumers, social movements, political organizations and citizens are united against GM Mustard. We were able to stop Bt Brinjal 6 years ago, with the same common voices, with strong evidence to support our resistance. We know that in the GM Mustard case in the Supreme Court, the government is on the back-foot. We know that in the past when the farmers of India spoke out strongly, the government had to step back on Land Acquisition Ordinance. WE CAN DO IT AGAIN.
We seek your participation in SARSON SATYAGRAHA RALLY on October 25th 2016 at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi. We urge you to come to Delhi in big numbers. This is Indian agriculture at a cross-road, a critical juncture! There is a lot at stake – our farmers’ control over seed, our food safety, environment, and whether we would be left with any choices in future as consumers and farmers. Together, we need to uphold food safety, environmental sustainability, seed sovereignty, social justice and scientific integrity in this fight against GM mustard.
Sarson Satyagraha is a common platform of a broad spectrum of farmers’ organizations, social movements, agricultural, health and environmental experts, and citizens’ groups – which exists to safeguard our mustard and our food system, and fight for farmer-centric and farmer-controlled solutions without compromising on safety, sustainability, social justice and sovereignty.
Organizing Details:
- This event is being organized by pooling donations. Travel costs should be borne by participants. Please book your tickets at the earliest!
- The event is from 10.30am to 4.30pm.
- If you are from a state near Delhi, you can return on the same day. For long-distance participants who cannot arrange their own accommodation, please inform us and we will arrange simple shared accommodation.
- Lunch will be provided for all participants on the 25th of October.
- We request you to make any donation in cash or kind if possible. For further communication on this, you could write to sarsonsatyagraha@gmail.com .
- Please confirm your participation with number of people, as well as arrival-departure details tosarsonsatyagraha@gmail.com email address and phone number 9628970875 & 9811202794
- For each group, please provide contact information of one or two responsible persons.
- Please bring your own cloth banner (no flex banners, please) to represent your organization or your message as a slogan, including in your vernacular language.
It is to be noted that there is a Supreme Court Hearing on the subject of GM crops and GM mustard in particular, on October 17th 2016, and we will certainly keep track of any developments there.