BBSM-2015 - Ii
BBSM-2015 - Ii
Bharat Beej Swaraj Manch (India Seed The Bharat Beej Swaraj Manch condemns bio-
Sovereignty Alliance) is a nationwide piracy and calls upon all farmers to resist
network for conserving and regenerating companies and corporate, who stake claim with
seed diversity and self-reliance. royalties and IPRs over seed varieties that
rightfully belong to the farming communities.
Speaker’s Note
Jacob Nellithanam welcomed the gathering and gave an Krishna Prasad said that - A National level ‘Beeja
introduction to the movement. This is an independent voice Swaraj Manch’ has been formed with 100 dedicated seed
that will voice the farmers and seed savers opinions and committees from 18 states of India. The Manch was formed
rights. This Manch is not political. But Seed being a lifeline of last April (2014) that formed a committee with Krishna
agriculture has become political. Seed conservation is Prasad being the National Convenor and Sanjay Patil and
important but at the same time seed saving has a political Soumik Banerjee as Co-Conveners. The Manch consisting of
angle. We are dealing with life itself that is why the act of farmers, seed savers, intellectuals, individuals, experts,
seed saving is such an important political act in this time. scientists of several states like Karnataka, Orissa,
There is a need to understand the threats of seed saving, Chhattisgarh, Bihar being in the process of building a
organizing ourselves to save the seeds, exchange, do network. Maharashtra has already formed seed savers’
everything that it takes to protect and rejuvenate the seed. groups and are organizing Beej Utsav, and Uttar Pradesh has
But at this point, industry is hungry to have absolute control. started the process of forming. These states have begun
Controlling our seed means control over our food, our seed, their work in identifying local genetic wealth of each area
and our freedom. The industries will not tolerate even a and are organizing support for conservation of seeds.
single farmer to have his own seeds, where he has the liberty
to save exchange or share. The main objective is to assess the need for a national
level network of seed savers’, breeders’ and representatives
As a result, seeds are becoming the private property of farming communities working towards seed diversity
of a handful of corporations, transforming the tradition of revival and self-reliance in seed. Representatives of each
saving seeds into a political act. In India farmers everywhere network should create mechanisms and plan objectives and
have been saving seeds for centuries, preserving the most strategies for the network to move forward. Each state
durable ones for replanting every season. Seed saving was could share their experiences and this meeting should be
different until India signed an international trade agreement able to reach a consensus towards the next steps.
giving multinational corporations permission to patent, own
and sell seeds.
The preservation and spread of seeds has been
mostly the work of by a few pioneer farmers that needs
to be recognized. These seed savers bring a wealth of Seed Saver, Maharashtra - The High Yielding Varieties
knowledge and skills with them and have taken up the (HYV) of the Green Revolution are the High Response
hard task of saving seed and breeding good seed at their Varieties work only with agro-chemicals.
own personal expense, without waiting for any
Beginning with the false assumption that farmers’ varieties
government support. Several examples could be pointed
are “empty”, industrial corporate breeding gives us seeds
out from different states by individual farmers, who
and crops that are not only nutritionally empty, but also
have painstakingly taken up conservation and today
loaded with toxins. While farmers breed for diversity,
have been able to revive our rich diversity. resilience, taste, quality and nutrition while the
At the last Manch meeting in 2014 in New Delhi, it was corporations breed for uniformity, and for controlling
decided that the seeds or crop varieties will not be farmer. The network needs to work more closely with
registered under PPV and FRA as it is not the wealth of farmers and seed saving being a priority. A national
one particular farmer but belongs to the whole campaign on right to seed saving should be thought off.
community and the nation as well. During the last
meeting, it was proposed that the seed savers must keep Seed Saver, Odisha – Hybrid seeds have been developed
a detailed record of seed exchange, production and with only yield being the focus, but traditional seeds are
maintain of purity of seeds. A national catalogue of seed being neglected though they have nutritional qualities and
savers containing the names of the varieties maintained could be farm saved and shared among farmers and
is to be kept. We shared our experiences and the work importantly is they are rarely bought. “Seeds are related to
that we had committed earlier. Discussion was also on our culture, health and social and national sovereignty.
whether we are heading towards the right direction. Once you lose seed sovereignty, you lose these rights as
What could be the main objectives of Manch? well. In Orissa many of our tribal communities have shifted
from growing millets, pulses and oilseeds, all attuned to
DISCUSSION ON THE OBJECTIVE local needs and are growing corn which is used for export
only. Now economic benefit takes top priority in agriculture,
Hybrids are designed to force the farmer to the to this we have lost our culture and tradition. In this context
market every season, since they do not breed true. we have been able to revive some of the rice varieties that
Yield being the only focus, Hybrids are quantity have proved to be a challenge to hybrids. This network
empty of quality, and weight empty of nutrition. should focus on unifying the efforts of individual seed
savers and handle the issue of purity of seed varieties
- Shalini Bhutani through capacity building workshops across the
country. Sabarmati feels that even non-farmers should
Imposition of more laws and patents leads to
contribute and be a part of the movement which can also
complexities and would undermine the right of farmers
contribute to revival and conservation of indigenous seeds.
to use seeds freely and would promote the privatization
of natural resources. There is a need to raise the issue of
seed sovereignty on many fronts; number of campaigns
Seeds are our future; we have to keep
in favor of the free use of seeds should be the main task. it alive. - Ramgulam Sinha, PRERAK
Saving traditional local and farmer-bred seeds not only
keeps control over them in the hands of farming Seed Saver, Chhattisgarh - Conservation as well as the
communities, facilitating food security and autonomy, traditional practices needs urgent attention. Unless we
but also supports in situ agro diversity conservation and document the practices and put our traditional knowledge
‘barefoot innovation’, all of which have social, ecological into practice, we may leave nothing for the future
and political imperatives today. The first objective of generations. Current agriculture system saps soil nutrients,
this network should be to spread conservation of seeds we need to come out of this vicious circle of monocultures
to all communities and demand recognition. and monopolies, we need to create virtuous cycles of
diversity and reclaim our biological diversity and
knowledge associated with our seeds.
SEED SAVERS’ profile
Name of the seed Group/ Background/Seed Saver Profile Display during Total
saver/ Group State Seed Festival
Pebble garden Deepika Kundaji conserving Fifty Rare and unique 90
Deepika Kundaji Auroville Varieties of traditionally bred vegetables, vegetable seeds for
part of a larger collection of 90 hardy display and sale
plants for Home Gardens, conserved at
Pebble Garden, Auroville, TN
Vijay Jardari Beej Bachao Andolan Vijay Jardari is a internationally Millets, Rice, colorful 350
Uttarkand renowned seed saver of Himalayan hill beans, Pulses and
region. vegetables
Babulal Dahiya Sarjan Samjik Grassroots group actively involved in 60 millets, 20 rice, 26 106
Samskruthik Biodiversity Conservation pulses and vegetables
sahythya Munch
,Madhya Pradesh
Prasannaiah Chamrajnagar, Renowned seed saver conserving 40 20 finger Millet, 20 53
Karnataka millets and 20 vegetables other minor millets and
14 rare vegetables
Mitrajit Kobhragade Maharashtra Framer breeder and HMT popular rice 25 rice varieties 25
developer
Sanjeevini Araku Valley, AP Gene savior award winners actively 138
involved in conservation and promotion 30 rice, 36 millets,
of tribal seed culture and seed diversity millets, 32 pulses 40
and vegetables.
Demonstration of Seed
ritual
Bhittibhumi Sambalpur, Odisha Farmers network conserving 150 rice Display of 92 rice 92
varieties. samples
Sundarpahari Jharkhand Tribal group actively involved in
Adivasi wabalambi conservation of seed diversity 80 varieties of Desi 80
Vikas Sahakarita maize, millets, rice and
Samity pulses
Anupam Paul West Bengal Rice scientist conserving 300 rice Display of ‘Jugal’ two 40
varieties. ‘Jugal’ two rice in a single grain rice in a single paddy
in is his pride collection. grain and rice panicles
Save our Rice CREATE Revival of traditional rice varieties of Display of 71 rice 71
Tamil nadu Tamil nadu Tamil nadu samples, including
‘Mapille samba’
Bridegroom rice
Jai Prakash Singh HABITAT, Varanasi, Farmer breeder from Tadiya Village, Farmer bred varieties-
Uttarpradesh Varanasi Dt, UP. Paddy, Wheat and 24
Toor
Sanjay Patil BAIF-MITTRA Plant genome savior community award Paddy – 80 , Finger 125
Maharashtra recipient Millet – 10 , Proso
Conserving 250 rice and 37 millets. Millet- 5, Maize-4,
Sorgum- 5, Cow pea-
15, Barnyard Millet- 1,
Tubers- 5
Deepak Barde Vidarbha, Renowned seed saver and sarvodaya Moong-2, cowpea - 32
Maharashtra activist 2,jowar-1,beans-
5,Wheat-6 Vegetables-
16
Paschim Srijharkali Jogesganj, Conserving 8 salt tolerant and 280 desi 105 paddy, 140
Jarnakalyana West Bengal rice varieties Vegetables- 20,
Sangha Pulses-5
Name of the seed Group/ Background/Seed Saver’ Profile Display during Total
saver/ Group State Seed Festival
Anjeneya Sharana Muddanna 150 rice varieties 150
Savayava Krushikara Pioneer in rice conservation and
Sangha, Karnataka Marketing traditional rice
Syed Ghani Khan Save Our Rice/GARD, Conserving more than 700 varieties of 200
Karnataka Indian rice varieties 200 rice varieties
Siba Prasad Sahu Ahinsa Club/Seed Farmer Breeder and Rice saver 65 Rice varieties and 6 72
Saver, Odisha pulses
Jothi Prakash Save Our rice Conserving Traditional rice varieties 150 rice varieties 150
Karnataka
The rich wealth of India’s seed diversity that exists today has been with the farmer’s
keen knowledge and interests culminated over generations of hardship.
Seed Saver, Madhya Pradesh - Seed is the first link in And also this national seed savers’ alliance should call for
the food chain. Free exchange of seed among farmers strong support and the government not to hold field trials
has been the basis of maintaining biodiversity. Such an of GM crops.
exchange mechanism should be developed in this
Seed Saver, West Bengal - The seed is the source of life
network. This network should work for revival of the
and have evolved with natural seed collection and
free exchange of seed, the seed supply system that was
selection. The traditional varieties have a stronger root
followed by the farmers. Seeds were exchanged for free
system and a natural resistance to infestation and climate
along with exchange of ideas and knowledge, which
fluctuations of floods and droughts,. We need to protect the
helps in strengthening of traditional knowledge and
diversity. In order to bring back of traditional seeds so far
skill. Introduction of hybrids has wiped off all this
extant in farmers’ fields the Manch should work at a
traditional knowledge. We need to pay attention to all
regional level.
these aspects and this network should further urge all
organizations and farmers to form community based
agriculture that encourage conservation of genetic We need to have a silent revolution;
resources and traditional knowledge. We need to fight and have to conserve our own seeds.
against the current form of seed bill and the anti We have lost the understanding of our relationship with
farmers policy of the Government. seeds and consider them as commodities to be sold,
tampered with and changed at will, without considering the
Emerging threats to our long-term impact.
agriculture, crop diversity and our All the organizations and farmers involved in the progress
farmers are the field trials of of this Manch should conduct –
Genetically Modified (GM) crops a) Regional Seed Festivals, all over the country
that the Central Government has b) Conduct Organic Seed Production Workshops for
empowering farmers and seed savers
allowed. This can widely contaminate our
traditional varieties; and such damage would be c) Scientific Characterization of seed varieties.
unstoppable and irreversible. This network should
We are worried about the emerging new technologies, such
fight from all corners of the country in a single voice
as genetic engineering, that would endanger our crop
for our seed sovereignty.
diversity further towards extinction and tighten the
corporate grip over the farmers.
Bihar - India’s rich heritage of traditional seed varieties
kept with the national and international agencies, vital
resource collected from our farmers, must be returned Seed Saver, Andhra Pradesh - We need to have a network
to us. We thus demand the return of our traditional that voices the farmers’ problem. This network should be a
seeds to our farming communities; and we call upon our platform for farmers to fight for their rights. Our millet seed
government to facilitate and simplify such access to our savers and farmers are deprived from receiving any benefit
from the Government. When cyclone occurred in our area
heirloom varieties from national and international all the farmers’ fields were destroyed. The Government
germplasm banks; and to support conservation of crops visited the area to survey the destruction of crops and
in the regions of their respective origin. As they have compensation was paid only to big estates that have
taken our germplasm without our consent, they should plantations of coffee or pepper, but not the small/marginal
return it to our farmers. Unless our farmers can adopt farmers. So, poor farmers were not considered, as their
bio-diverse farming with our own local seeds, we will crops are not significant. This network would help fight for
farmers’ rights.
be in severe agrarian problem and threats of seed
sovereignty will loom large over us with like IPR and
GM crops. Our priority must be to guard ourselves
against the GM crops that pose a problem to human,
animal, soil and eco-system, by enriching our local
diversity and protecting and preserving our seeds.
SEED SAVERS OPINION
Afasar Jafri – locally farmers, seed keepers and
communities, networks and organizations and are
working to protect the seeds to fight laws that
undermine our seed sovereignty. However, at the
global level it is the corporate control that is
shaping the future of the seed. This Network
should change this by joining forces through
creating, strengthening and becoming a
movement to keep seed free of any interference.
The prime objective should be self empowerment
of farmers who are aware that they have the
power to liberate the seed and themselves. Also the
heritage that they have should be preserved for
Seed Savers and Farmer Breeders the future and this farmers need to be aware and
Jacob Nellithanam - Patents allow corporations to claim not share their seeds with whomsoever.
ownership over seeds and any life forms. They allow
corporations to define the acts of saving and sharing seeds Deepika Kundaji –She was stressing that the
as “intellectual property crimes”. And they allow the crime spread of the message of seed conservation was
of biopiracy – the theft of traditional knowledge and very important. Still saving seeds is very limited
biopiracy to be treated as a right. with only few farming communities. The Manch
should give priority to seed saving and every
A patent on seed implies that a farmer saving seed is an farmer needs to maximize seed saving and this
“intellectual property theft”. It means more a complete in turn will help spread the cultivation of
corporate monopoly, a system of enslaving farmers, where traditional seeds. At this point we also need to
the freedom of seed disappears, the freedom of farmers think about the functioning of the Manch. We
disappears. Further, the new technologies in agriculture in need to form a new committee or go ahead with
combination with patent monopolies are being pushed that the members already in the committee.
threatens sustenance of small farmers and threatens
farmers’ livelihood as a whole.
Jaiprakash Singh – the Manch needs to
The Bharat Beeja Swaraj Manch spearheads the movement concentrate on seed breeding and encourage
to protect the farmers’ rights of biodiversity, rights of seed breeders working towards building the
saving and seed exchange. We need to organize several biodiversity. Multiplication of farmer bred
yatras regionally to create awareness amongst the farmers. varieties in large scale/establishing farmer
field school in each block of UP and release of
Krishna Prasad - Farmers always conserved seed from varieties.
the current harvest the next season planting but saving and
conserving seed means that farmers have access to seed It is now time for analyzing the future course of action
resource and also making farmer self reliant and not falling of the Manch, so the representatives of all the groups
into the temptation of buying commercial seed of new that are according to states to discuss and list out the
varieties. There is a danger of losing seeds if seeds are not future course of action.
preserved. Saving of seeds has a connotation of recovering
the seeds from disappearance and the knowledge
associated with it. Farmers in our country have developed
special techniques to store the seed. The maintenance of
the landraces requires special skills and farmers still
remember that their forefathers knew how to collect ear
heads and how to select good seeds that has the ability to
produce a good crop.
ACTION PLAN
The general body meeting of Bharat Beej Swaraj Manch convened on 02-03-2015 during the 5th National Organic Farming
Convention held at Chandigarh. Representatives from 20 states attended the review meeting. Krishna Prasad requested the
members to take up planned activities for this coming season. Soumik Banerjee, Ammaji, Shivaprasad Sahu, Sohan, Saroj
Mohanty, Vishal Goendke were nominated co-conveners of the Manch.
Seed Status Report, Madhya Pradesh Shalini Bhutani & Harish Pawar By this year
Bhopal Seed Festival, Madhya Pradesh Harish Pawar, SAMPARK 30-31st March 2015
Seed Savers Meeting & Seed Festival, Kerala Leenesh, Trivandrum 10th April 2015
Vegetable Seed Saving Training, Kerala Leenesh, Trivandrum Before year end
Training on Rice Characterization Dr. Anupam Paul May/June 2015 (Bef. sowing)
-Two visits to Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Sept/Oct 2015 (Aft. harvest)
Madhya Pradesh
Organic Seed Production Workshop, Vishal Goekha, Naturesgram, Thane September 2015
Maharashtra
Seed Savers Guide publication in Orya Saroj Mohanty Before year end
language, Odisha
Organic Seed Production Workshop (by Saroj Mohanty By this year
Sabarmatee & Deepika Kundaji), Odisha
Seed Festival, Vizag, Andhra Prdesh Ammaji, Sanjeevini 1st May 2015
Seed Saving Training for Women, Araku Ammaji, Sanjeevini June 2015
valley, Andhra Pradesh
Seed Festival & Promotion of seed art, West Bishnu Padh Mridha, PSJKS October 2015
Bengal
Training on Legalities and Policies, Shalini Bhutani August/Sep 2015
Maharashtra
Round-table conference with ministers and Team work By this year
officials, West Bengal
Seed Festival, Bihar Team work April 2015
Translation of seed saver guides in Bengali, Deepika Kundaji Over the course
Oriya, Hindi and Malayalam languages and
training materials on seed saving and seed
production, Tamil Nadu
Designing & Photography Support, Jagadeesh Over the course
Karnataka
Support in Documentary & Photography Anu Over the course
PARTICIPANT LIST
S.No Seed Saver/Participant Name State Organization/District Mobile Number
1 Ammaji Andhra Pradesh Vishakapattanam 9441482812
2 Sanjeeva Rao Andhra Pradesh Vishakapattanam 9440283708
3 S.Mahesh Andhra Pradesh Araku valley -
4 Manoj Kumar Bihar Muzaffarpur 9431476141
5 Rajendra Rai Bihar Muzaffarpur 8051381861
6 Prashuram Ojha Bihar Virampur, Araha 8226880318
7 S.P.Srivastra Bihar Muzaffarpur 9334463916
8 Bablu Kumar Bihar Tara Foundation, Patna 9308305339
9 Shivdhari Ram Chandigarh 8720034724
10 Abishek Dwevedi Chandigarh 9464606160
11 B.K.Purohit Chandigarh -
12 Virendra Kumar Chandigarh 9575351376
13 Shivanath Yadav Chhattisgarh 9406336508
14 Jacob Nellithanam Chhattisgarh -
15 Pramod Shera Dehradun 8392939503
16 Kuntal Kumu Dehradun 8392939505
17 Gohil Mahavir Singh Gujarat 898007277
18 Virubhai D.Patel Gujarat 9427169963
19 Kulshan K.Rathod Gujarat 9427667395
20 Archana Varma Gurugaon 9818994202
21 Dr.V.P.Goyal Haryana Roktak 9996226630
22 Davindu Haryana 9910073085
23 Satish Kumar Haryana 9812539603
24 Gurmehar Singh Haryana 999642220
25 Ram Chauder Yadav Haryana 9476231982
26 Balwanth Singh Haryana -
27 Balvir Singh Haryana -
28 Rampal Yadav Haryana 9992101296
29 Fateh Singh Haryana 8053345108
30 Manjeet Singh Haryana 9802621305
31 R.P.Singh Haryana 9813520464
32 Mamtha Kumari Himachal Pradesh -
33 Kamlesh Kumar Himachal Pradesh -
34 Kalif Bharadwaj Himachal Pradesh 9418640137
35 Sriram Hyderabad 9866744424
36 Soumik Banerjee Jharkhand Sundarphari 8294062742
37 Sunder Pahari Jharkhand 8294062742
38 Srinivasu Karnataka Mysuru 9900746499
39 Dr.Sanjeev Kulkarni Karnataka Dharwad 9448143100
40 Vanastree Karnataka Sirsi 8384233293
41 Raghava Karnataka Davanagere 9448923773
42 Shankar Karnataka Belagavi 9972150378
43 Kallappa Karnataka Belagavi 9980634062
44 Praveen Narasingamurthy Karnataka Bengaluru 8023655302
45 M.Rechanna Karnataka Chamarajanagara 9481321530
46 Mallikarjuna Karnataka Bengaluru 8023497746
47 AN Anjeneya Karnataka Davanagere 9972088929
48 Srinivasamurthy Karnataka 9900746499
49 P.Ravindra Kumar Karnataka 080-25594210
50 Shankara H.Langati Karnataka 9972150378
51 Rajesh Golani Karnataka 9845065241
52 Krishnaprasad G Karnataka Mysuru 9880862058
53 Leneesh.K Kerala Trivandrum 9544329811
54 Anuradha Sarang Kerala Trivandrum 8281211185
55 Gesge Antony Kerala Poovarani 9447808417
56 Sridhar Kerala Trivandrum 9995358205
57 Dr.A.R.Nikam Madhya Pradesh 9229581163
58 Sanjay Patil Maharashtra -
59 Kailas Vilas Sumesh Maharashtra 7709518081
60 Pradeep Sewatikar Maharashtra 9881574139
61 Vishal V.Goendke Maharashtra 9820966802
62 Swami Nagesh M Maharashtra -
63 Prithwiraj N.Ghorpade Maharashtra 9822012950
64 Sachin J.Tamhane Maharashtra 9975353612
65 Sudhir M.Dhaktar Maharashtra 9561798759
66 Devendra M.Raut Maharashtra 7030899079
67 Santosh S.Kotnod Maharashtra 9766257005
68 Sneha Shetty Maharashtra 9702831000
69 Radhika Patulkar Maharashtra 9594239660
70 Balkrishna Gavas Maharashtra 9820939464
71 Balasaheb Parwekar Maharashtra 9869573059
72 Purushottam S.Dalvi Maharashtra 9823289160
73 Kaduji V.Chavan Maharashtra 9921923560
74 Gopichand J.Rathod Maharashtra 9657380820
75 Pradeep Verma Maharashtra 9850117790
76 Leela Sute Maharashtra Wardha 779873689
77 Deepak Nanji Barde Maharastra Sevagram 9657500214
78 Lumlang Meghalaya Shillong 9615570138
79 Shiva Prasad Sahoo Odisha Baragarh 9437918498
80 Shambu Odisha Nayagar 9937222024
81 Aditya Pratap Singh Dev Odisha Kandhamal 9938261551
82 Subhranshu Odisha 9583523325
83 Dehari Odisha 977687879
84 Januvikas Odisha Kandhamal 9437765967
85 Pradeep Odisha Rayagadha 9556825614
86 Bichitra Biswas Odisha Rayagadha 9438468474
87 Sabarmatee Odisha -
88 Samanta Prada Odisha 9437037981
89 Kishore Odisha - -
90 K.Krishnamoorthi Puducherry 9943249900
91 Jaswanth Kane Punjab 9915464146
92 Kulwanth Singh Punjab -
93 Labh Singh Punjab 9417741377
94 Prem Singh Punjab 9417677963
95 Sukdeep Singh Punjab 9780820668
96 Sandeep Singh Punjab 9530869835
97 Vikramajit Singh Punjab 9464980936
98 P.L.Patel Rajasthan Anandpuri 9414573243
99 Sohan Nath Jogi Rajasthan VAAGDHARA 9414573243
100 Maniram Poonia Rajasthan 9829358387
101 Deepika Bernard Tamil Nadu Auroville
102 S.Yoganathan Tamil Nadu Musiri 9442816863
103 Jayaraman Tamil Nadu Tiruvarur, Adhirangam 9442816863
104 R. Sriram Tamil nadu 9486718853
105 J. Ram Mohan Tamil nadu 8940014805
106 P. Sampath Kumar Tamil Nadu Trichy 9488475471
107 G.Shiva Prasad Raju Telangana Hyderabad 8686871048
108 Vijay Ram Telangana Hyderabad 4027654336
109 Harinat Reddy Telangana Hyderabad 9885993481
110 Jaiprakash Singh Uttar Pradesh Varanasi 8127777127
111 Avinash Uttar Pradesh -
112 Bharath Mansata West Bengal Kolkatta 9967371183
113 Bishupada Mrida West Bengal North 24 Parganas 9002005292
114 Swapam Pandu West Bengal North 24 Parganas 9434018658
115 Sudhakar Lama West Bengal 8759550533
116 Sudhanshu Dev West Bengal 9732580915