Annam Brahma

Taurus is symbolized by the Bull. Amongst its many characteristics the House stands for Values, Food and Wealth. Going forward from our previous post, we arrive at a time after the second World War, where several countries stood ravaged, pillaged and devastated by the erstwhile colonizer, Britain. It was then that the IMF and World Bank of the new colonizer, U.S.A, stepped in. Under the guise of helping with loans, they pushed their policies ruthlessly in aiming for profits and power play. And when certain leaders refused to accept, they were assassinated by the CIA.

What's on Sale?

The United Nations came up with a standard measure for the economies of countries worldwide. This measure is called the GDP. The GDP is the measure of the market value of what is produced in a country. In effect, it is the count of the price tags attached to goods and services. If it doesn't come with a price tag, it is considered worthless in this value system.

Until today, the important jobs of child rearing, taking care of the elderly, jobs of the household and farm, done largely by women, are considered worthless because price tags are not attached to them. A husband who earns money feels superior to his housewife, a daughter who starts a business looks down upon her homemaker mother.

What Else Did It Change?

Traditionally a farmer in Karnataka, of modest means, who owned an acre of land, would grow sorghum, pulses, ajwain as border crops, safflower seeds, peanuts, chillies and vegetables. He worked with the understanding that there is no entropy in nature. All the waste would be fed to nourish the soil. Peanut and safflower plants fed his sheep. The seeds gave him oil for cooking. The residual oil cakes were excellent feed for his animals. Chicken would scratch around his farm for pests and fertilize the plants with their poop. Certain insects would eat the others. 

Post the main harvest, he could grow horse gram that loves to drink the winter morning dew. Feeding it to his sheep also made them stronger. He could feed his family, sell the surplus, save his seed and engage his family in the work. It maybe difficult for a city person to imagine, but they took pleasure in their work, and rested under the trees surrounding their farm. An afternoon nap under a neem tree after the day's work was considered heaven.

Agriculture through the GDP lens

Today he grows a single crop. The big market decides. For his district the market says they will ensure a fair price for corn. There is a high demand to make High Fructose Corn Syrup to add in children's snacks. Also Agricultural Scientists say, feeding livestock with a diet of only corn, makes them fat and fetches a higher price. He is now growing a commodity.

Hybrid seeds have to bought. These work with specific formula of fertilizers, pesticides and weed killers. If he invests in these inputs, it means the environment it creates supports only that specific crop. A mono crop culture is dictated. 

The traditional ways have gone. The trees are now cut down. They are a nuisance in between the machinery. He has to rent a rotovator, a corn harvest machine and pay for transport of commodities to the market. At the end of the year he is left with a pittance. That is if the rains have cooperated.

He cannot afford to buy seeds for a rotational crop or keep livestock any longer. He throws away or burns the waste. His land has not grown anything to feed him or his family. He is now at the mercy of the meager ration of the Food Distribution System. Vegetables and fruits cost more in a village than in the cities. He can't afford them. There are no longer any fruit trees around. There used to be a village pond, now it is under the ownership of a 'committee'. This committee leases the pond to a fisheries businessman. The farmer who risks fishing there can be thrashed by the business owner, and be made to feel like a thief, if he tries to eat something nourishing.

The new system lacerated the man from his land. His work is not considered important. He is told a machine not only can but also should replace him. With the mono crop the farmer no longer needs to tend to his land on a daily basis. The land now stands toxic with high pesticide use, the land with no trees is just a barren landscape of dead commerce.  How can he enjoy spending time there? The women of the family are no longer required to work on the farm. They now have to stay put at home.

The smallholder, mono crop farmer is further robbed of any income coming from the sale of milk, eggs or meat. He slips into a cycle of poverty. The whole eco-system is destroyed. 

The Other Side of the "Green Revolution"

Punjab, on the other hand, is where the rich farmers are. It is blessed with a great irrigation system. And thus was chosen as the main focus of the "Green Revolution". The farmers became wealthier because of the high focus of agricultural inputs here. The cost they paid, however, is far too great. There is a train that leaves Punjab everyday. It is called the "Cancer Train". 7 out of 10 people on this train are going from Punjab to Rajasthan to be able to access affordable cancer treatment. This cancer is caused by the high pesticide used in this technique of farming.

The GMOs

After leaving the soil depleted, the eco-system shattered, the mainstream decided the best way forward was to throw more technology at the problem. In 2002 they introduced the Bt Cotton variety in India. This has been a colossal failure. It was introduced through the promise of higher yields to farmers and the guarantee of filling their pockets. These were empty words. Over 2,00,000 farmers have died of suicide, mainly in the cotton belt of Maharashtra, because they could not afford to get their daughters married, they could not afford to pay for health care and were struggling under heavy debts.

And the Government Of India now extends the duty waiver on cotton imports from the U.S.A. till the end of this year. 

On the other hand

As soon as Uranus entered Taurus in 2024, the same Maharashtra saw an obscene wedding of a businessman's son.It was attended by the great celebrities of today. It clearly displayed the vacuousness of money.

It carried echoes of Period 1 of Uranus' Transit in Taurus, the rich nobility partied while the peasants starved in France. That led to the French Revolution, and it didn't end well for the nobility.

The System Continues to Oppress

The year 2020 when the world was struggling to make sense of things, the Government of India (GOI) decided to sneak in new farm laws. These bills sought to favor the easy entry of big corporations into the mandi/market system by giving them freedom to decide the price and letting them get away by not paying taxes. This kind of policy approach has backfired in the U.S, where there are farmers struggling under this corporatization of farming. Farmers there are committing suicide as well.

Yet, the GOI decided that this approach makes sense. It is these rich businessmen who need our support. They were so blatant that they didn't involve any farmers in the discussions leading to the drawing of the bills.

The farmers of Punjab, however, pushed back. They organized the biggest uprising in the past 30 years of our history. Tear gas drones, rubber bullets and spikes to tear their tractor tyres were tactics deployed to scare them off. 720 of them died of hypothermia because of the Delhi Police shooting them with cold water jets in the middle of the Delhi winter.

The farmers didn't submit. Across age groups, men, women and children stood there for a whole year. They won, the bills were withdrawn.

The Paradox Of The Wrong Measure

Yeilds have increased but prices have fallen. The farmer now earns lesser than what his father earned.

There is no bio-diversity.India has to now import pulses, oil seeds, sugar and even spices.

Low cost, low tech measures are repeatedly ignored. Ground water is depleted. Yet no small rain water catchment ponds are dug in dry land states. We are headed towards a water crisis. 

Hybrid seeds are not reliable, as they don't reproduce well. Infertility amongst people is on the rise.

These new varieties have significantly lower nutritional value than the native breeds. The urban population who can afford food is still struggling with malnutrition.

Wars are terrible. But what is worse is the silent killing of people by their food. The largest causes of deaths are caused by the industrialization of our food: Cancer, Heart Disease and the Medical System itself.

And then there those who don't even count in the big data bases. People are dying of hunger. In 2022-23, over 333 million people, largely from the rural population, were unable to afford a required diet.

But the granaries are full, the GDP is doing well and India is now the fourth largest economy.

Clearly We Yielded To The Wrong Measure.

Mainstream scientists are tunnel visioned. Mainstream policy makers are taking from those who have very little and servicing those who have too much. The trickle down effect stinks of a caste system that is rotten to the core.

We Are Of The Soil

Darwin has a place in history, but it is high time we integrated Lamarck in our understanding of the world. We have millennia over millennia of experience growing food. A farmer carries intuitive knowledge about the earth and growing food.

The word human has its roots in 'humus', 'to be of the earth'. It shows us the deep connection we have to the earth. With Cartesian thinking we bifurcated mind from the body, and ourselves from the earth.

'Humus' is also where the word humility comes from. It would be good for us to at least engage with the idea that, even though a farmer may not know the terms of your biology textbook, he may just know more about food than a white coat scientist working in a lab. A top down approach doesn't take into account the holistic principles of an organism's eco-system: relationships, self-organization and inter-connectedness.

Annadata Sukhibhava

In these times of absurdity, one needs to point out the importance of Food. Traditionally, however, we have been reverent and considered our food sacred. It is what we are made of. We said "May the giver of food,be happy" every time we ate.

Adi Shankaracharya sings to the crops "You have protected our generation across pralayas/great floods of destruction, you are the Goddess manifest in front of me".

When the times of destruction, the great floods come, the hubris of the superman's knowledge will be crushed and forgotten. What will always remain across generations, is the common man's connection to Mother Earth.

What Can I Do ?

Heal the disconnect you may feel between your body and mind. The disconnect shows up as a lack of energy in taking care of yourself. Choose to eat well. Take a walk in a stimulating environment.

Don't despair. There are some amazing people, including scientists, working, getting good results and making great changes in the system.See if you can support them. See if you can make friends with a farmer. Be open to the idea of the possibility of change.

Talk to yourself in a kind way. Build your energy reserves. In the face of an intelligence that has guided humanity over ages, 60-70 years of experiments gone wrong, are things that can be corrected with patience and persistence.

Take care of yourself and see you next week.