October 2010

Beeja mela, Haveri. Public meeting ,Harihar. Burning Company seeds, Davangere.

October 21, 2010: On the twentieth day after it set off at Sabarmati Ashram, Kisan Swaraj Yatra reached Dharwad town from Goa, to register a protest against appropriation of farmers’ varieties by seed corporations. This occasion was also used to strike a dialogue with the University, represented by the Registrar and other senior officials/scientists. Hundreds of farmers who assembled at the University of Agricultural Sciences (UAS-Dharwad) said that the University should stop all toxic technologies, should stop siding with big corporations like Monsanto and Mahyco and protect farmers' varieties. More...

After two exhausting days due to the bus fiasco, the tired but determined Yatris bounced back with the same energy and eagerness that they have had over the past 20 days as the second day in Goa began. More...

It was as though someone was testing us for our grit and commitment and the ability to carry on with work despite hardships. Yesterday afternoon, after we set off from Tara, we were stranded first with two flat tyres. It took hours to get the puncture made given that there was no power supply in the small place that we stopped at. However, it didn’t end there. In pouring rain, we managed to have some dinner at around 10.30 pm somewhere along the way. Around 2.30 am, however, the bus stopped and refused to budge. Even though some of us kept warning the driver and cleaner that we can smell diesel fumes, they ignored us and kept driving. It turned out that there was diesel leaking from some nozzle that got broken at the engine. Stranded, again, in the middle of nowhere. The patience of people in the bus was wearing very thin, not to mention extreme exhaustion at lack of sleep in the nights and much-running-around during the day. What does one do? More...

10 am to 4 pm : Desi Brinjal Mela & Protest against the University’s anti-farmer research activities at UAS-Dharwad 7 pm :... Read More

It was a slightly slow day for us and everyone breathed a sigh of relief. The earlier night, we drove down from a festive Mumbai down to the Yusuf Meherally Centre campus in Tara and had an early night after a long time (mind you, an early night was 11 pm!). More...

10:30 am : Protest against KVK against Bt Brinjal testing 12 pm : Meeting with villagers of mining – affected village Colomba,... Read More

9 am : Shram daan for Bapu kuti 11 am : Public meeting in Yusuf meherally center, Tara, Panvel, Raigad Dist.

Mumbai/New Delhi, October 17, 2010: On the fifteenth day of its pan-Indian bus tour for the cause of “Food, Farmers & Freedom”, the Kisan Swaraj Yatra organized by Alliance for Sustainable & Holistic Agriculture (ASHA) reached Mumbai today to a warm welcome. In an event to pay homage to Gandhiji at Mani Bhawan, the Yatris were welcomed by famous Bollywood personalities Rakeysh Mehra and Atul Kulkarni (of Rang de Basanti fame), Dr Shanti Patel and Dr G G Parikh, both of whom are well-known freedom fighters. More...

On October 16th 2010, the Kisan Swaraj Yatra reached Ralegan Siddhi in Ahmednagar district, the renowned village of Anna Saheb Hazare, a rare Gandhian activist who transformed his village into a village which combined development with environment conservation, particularly of water resources. More...