By PD Rai
Come Monday 18th January
2016, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will officially declare Sikkim as an Organic
State. Any which way you look at it Sikkim has assumed leadership in Organic
Agriculture. The rest of the country will have to follow suit.
Years of toiling and leadership has
made this happen. The people of Sikkim, the farmers, agriculturists,
bureaucrats and politicians have all played their part in this great Sikkimese narrative.
All have to be congratulated.
One must commend Prime Minister,
Narendra Modi, for taking a look at the great potential of this venture. He has
found it to be a significant public policy move that can transform the
Agriculture Policy within the rest of India. Little wonder then that he has
skilfully combined the launch with a meeting of all Agriculture Ministers of
the Indian States to romp home this point. How are we to achieve food security
but without the costly inputs of fertilizer plants created from imported oil
and Naphtha.
Therefore, the significance of his
Sikkim visit as well as taking Sikkim’s example as one to be emulated is not to
be lost out as a moment of optics. There is real substance here and is
definitely a well thought out plan.
Everyone is aware that the Himalaya
gives the Indo Gangetic Plains as well as Assam eco-system services by just
sending down water from the myriad rivers. It also extends much needed
replenishment of fertile top soil carved out from the mountains. Climate Change
may actually disrupt this entire process. The rivers are going to be seasonal
as more and more warming will lead to drying up of the important glaciers and
permafrost. Loss of biodiversity all across the Himalaya will prove very costly
for the nation.
The entire Himalayan Ecosystem is
under threat from the externality of Climate Change and global warming. We have
signs of that even as our farmers are reporting that oranges are better off in
higher altitudes than before. And so many such like empirical evidences that
are discussed in different settings. In order to combat and delay the problems
of Ecosystem services from the Himalayas the remedy will be to start with
organic farming. Let the entire Himalayan belt get into farming the way it was done
traditionally but with much more scientific inputs and understanding.
This will change the way we all think
of farming and getting our food. Food security will once more move into the
hands of farmers rather than remain in the clutches of politicians and
bureaucrats.
Prime Minister will be addressing the
Agriculture Ministers. His deep dive into sustainability will have the
overtones of the global understanding of sustainable development. IFOAM writes
on Sustainable Development Goal #2, “Organic Agriculture supports and enhances
ecologically sound systems of food production that can achieve food security by
increasing and stabilizing yields, improving resistance to pests and diseases,
and battling poverty through reducing debt incurred by the purchase of
expensive chemical inputs.”
This is global thought leadership.
But who is practising it? Sikkim, a small Himalayan State of India decided to
do it and show the way.
This is the kind of significant
leadership that is being provided by the Hon’ble Chief Minister of Sikkim,
Pawan Chamling. How significant is this can be fathomed by the keen interest
that Sikkim’s Organic journey is being viewed all over the world.
Prime Minister Modi sees great public
policy value in this. He also sees that it can be scaled up to all the other
States of India. This perhaps is a fine example of Cooperative Federalism. But
greater still is that the significance of Organic Agriculture is the path
changing public policy initiative in Agriculture which can be compared to the
Green Revolution of the Nehruvian era. The next phase of food security will be
built on Sikkim’s success and Sikkim’s mantra of Clean Food, Clean Water and
Clean Air. Don’t pay more for cleaning the environment. Nature’s way is the
best.
Hats off to both Chamlingji and
Modiji. That is true #OrganicPartnership at play.
Politically, Chamling has again shown
his State craft and stands to gain in stature across all of India and the
world.
(The author is the sitting MP Lok
Sabha, Sikkim and the opinion shared is personal)
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