The Hindu : Kerala / Thiruvananthapuram News : `Monopoly over seeds led to farmer suicides'

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Wednesday, Mar 07, 2007
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Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

`Monopoly over seeds led to farmer suicides'

Staff Reporter

Attempts to privatise water alleged

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The monopoly and control over seeds by multi-national companies have led to the suicide of farmers in the State, environmentalist Vandana Shiva has said.

She was speaking at the first Dominic George Memorial Lecture on the theme `Earth democracy: freedom, sustainability and justice in the context of corporate globalisation,' organised by the Loyola College of Social Sciences, in the city on Tuesday.

"What freedom do we have if a farmer cannot choose the seed he wants to sow?" Ms. Shiva asked.

Multi-national companies had already used all gods in Hindu faith to advertise their seeds, she said. "One such advertisement shows Hanumanji carrying seeds in his palm like a mountain," she said. "Farmer suicides in Vidarbha, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab and Karnataka can all be attributed to this monopoly over seeds. Under the new patent laws, life has become the property of a handful of corporations."

There were attempts across the world by multi-national giants to privatise water, she said. "They (multi-national companies) were trying to privatise the Ganga. However, 90 per cent of the water privatisation projects in the world have been defeated by people like Mayilamma, who campaigned against groundwater exploitation by the cola company at Plachimada."

The memorial lecture was preceded by a play, an allegory on the plight of Indian secularism by the students of the college.

Fr. Joye James, provincial, Kerala Jesuit Society, presided.

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