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Echoes of Eco
October, 2017 Vivekananda Kendra- nardep Newsletter Vol:9 No:8

Extracts from our book Green Pathfinders Part II In this issue:

Extracts from our book Green
Pathfinders Part II

The Happenings
Greening the Grass Roots
Visions of Wisdom:
Shri.N.Krishnamoorthy
Turning the Clock back
Prelude Deep Ecology
Calorie Nay Colliery!
Krish Phidol: We talk so much about peo ple's involvement in
Development. But every passing year sees more and more disci plines
and fields coming under government control, government inspired -
ideas. The Government is itching to take the ultimate responsibility
for the all-round growth of the society.

Annapurna Duval: Don't talk rubbish. The less the Government pokes
its nose in my affairs, the better. In our village, all the grass lands,
pastures were maintained by us, the women. Many of the ponds,
lakes, irrigation canals were being desilted by the village -men until
just one generation ago. The work of desilting of water -bodies was
linked to our Mariamman temple fes tival. All the men-folk
participated in the work with Bhaya-Bhakti (Fear and Devo tion). Now
the government has entered the scene, it collects the water -tax,
but all our ponds are silted up. Last summer my cows did not have
even drinking water.

The God, who is in water, who

pervades the universe, who is in
medicines, in vegetation; we
salute that God.

Upanishad

Echoes of Eco - Newsletter, Vivekananda Kendra nardep, October 2017, Vol.9 No: 8
 We had taken pride in resisting Things-British while They ruled us,
but strangely enough, now that the Britishers have left,
Westernisation has become synonymous with Progress.
- Deen Dayal Upadhyay

Jnani Noval: There have been interesting discussions They should definitely be controlled by the state.
on the role of Governments in the society. Swami But where creativity, innovation, persuasion,
Vivekananda, has observed that people should learn to education, value imbibition are involved, the
restrain themselves, without the imposi tion of government should leave more and more space to the
external rule. His concept of Satya Yuga's ideal state, people.
envisages self-government by the peo ple. The Greek
philosophers led by Plato said that the best govern - Krish Phidol: How did the governments all over
ment rules the least, meaning that the people by the world get into this mess?
voluntary and collec tive efforts should run their
public affairs. Marx expected the state to wither
away once his ideal society is established. All these
saints and savants rather expected the government to
engage itself constantly in promoting voluntary effort
in the society and gradually reduce its own role. But
nobody wants the government to die! There are
specific domains like defense, policing. railway,
shipping, finance, major projects that involve much
funding and take long gestation-periods, projects that
involve many provinces.

Jnani Noval: When monarchies fell all over the

world, replaced by people's government of various
hues, a new kind of public fig ures called
'Politicians' cropped up. These new rulers, drunk
with new-found power, imagined themselves to be
omniscient and started interfering in all walks of
public life. Perhaps their general feeling of
insecurity about their 'relevance' pushed them to
overreach themselves and bring more and more
aspects of the society's work under their control
The concept of Welfare society was born. The
state took over the roles of families, schools,
hotels, entertainment, employment, industries,
farming and what not. Instead of a State's
constitution evolving out of the capacities,
customs, cultures, ambitions, history of
achievements of the society, the frame-works

Echoes of Eco - Newsletter, Vivekananda Kendra nardep, October 2017, Vol.9 No: 8
 "It is essential that we think about 'Our National Identity' without
which there is no meaning of 'Independence".

- Deen Dayal Upadhyay

became highly Utopian, unrealistic, unrelated to the
grassroots, failing to enthuse the citizens even into
motions of adherence to the state laws. Such
systems were bound to fail. In sys tems like Soviet
Russia, a small percentage of voluntary and free
producers accounted for 30% of the Nation's
productivity at one stage. Only then, the
governments everywhere woke up to the power of the
innovative, humane, spontaneous and creative en -
ergies of their peoples. In some societies, as I said,
the only good work was done where the state
machinery did not poke its nose.
Krish Phidol: (Laughing) The only job for the boxes
is to create the space for the "out of the box"
thinkers and doers.
them, tribes, corporate bodies, you name it, it is
there - have striven to pool the energies of
unorganized people, for ecological conservation.
That is true democracy in action. Of course the
governments will provide the legal umbrella to cover
to systematise and to encourage such activities.
Annapurna Duval: Yes, and No. In my village the
government officers blocked self-help efforts for
desilting ponds, saying that, if funding agencies
come to know of this possible -self-help, their
funds will not be forth-coming. They with-held
permission for desilting our ponds. On the
contrary, in our neighboring village the fo rest
officers actually involved the people in saving the
tigers.

Annapurna Duval: But still in our country, the innate
love for nature has led our peo ple to take up some
work for conservation of nature for example saving
water-bodies, afforestation, pollu tion control and
eco-awareness. But we should confess that the
quantity achieved is small.
Jnani Noval: These systems do not always act in a
predicable manner. There are good officers who
involve the people and there are others who play by
the book. But there is always space for well -meaning
individuals and groups in cities, villages and large
communities.

Jnani Noval: It is not the quantity. It is the spirit Krish Phidol: The future of our programmes for
and the trend. And the quantity itself is not conserving of Nature, in fact the future of our
negligible. From the Chipko movement of the Himala - democracies lies in such participatory efforts.
yan people to the common people desilting their
Jnani Noval: Yes. With the state machinery
village water-bodies
providing the skeletal services .
voluntarily, there is a
heart-warming array of
conservation activities
throughout India.
Every state in India
has shown this spirit.
Common homemakers,
enlightened leaders,
heads of cooperative
groups, ex-servicemen,
scientists, community
level workers, who
were able to carry
their whole village with

Echoes of Eco - Newsletter, Vivekananda Kendra nardep, October 2017, Vol.9 No: 8
 The fundamental characteristic of Bharatiya Culture is that it looks
upon life as an integrated whole.
- Deen Dayal Upadhyay

Happenings this month: Happenings this

Happenings this month:
Sustainable Agriculture month:
Sustainable Agriculture
Sustainable
Agriculture

Training programme on Azolla cattle feed Training programme on Azolla

Training programme
cultivation "Cost at
was held effective Bio-
Technology Cultivation was held at Technology
manure" was held at Technology
th Resource Resource Center from 30th Sept. to 1st
Resource Center on 7 October. 18
Center on 24th May. 21 participants Nov. 20 farmers from Odisha attended.
farmers attended the training.
attended the training. Shri.S.Rajamony Smt.S.Premalatha and Shri.S.Rajamony
Smt.S.Premalatha
was and Shri.S.Rajamony
the resource person. were the resource persons. The
were the resource persons.
programme was sponsored by
Aryasambhu Krusak Club, Khurda,
Odisha.

NPK rich Bio-manure workshop held under

natural atmosphere at J.C.Bose nursery

Training programme on NPK Rich Bio-

manure preparation was held at J.C.Bose
Nursery on 28th. 09 farmers attended the
training. Smt.S.Premalatha and
Shri.S.Rajamony were the resource
persons.
Attentive farmers Azolla cattle feed
cultivation
Azolla technology reaches to Odisha

Participants learned different types of

composting technologies during training

Green health home worked for 4 days and Group discussion with Odisha group about
Azolla cultivation
Practical session on Azolla cultivation treated 112 patients.

Echoes of Eco - Newsletter, Vivekananda Kendra nardep, October 2017, Vol.9 No: 8
 "The longings for Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha (the four kind of human
effort) are inborn in man and satisfaction of these in an integrated way is
the essence of Bharatiya Culture.
- Deen Dayal Upadhyay

Happenings this month: Happenings this

Happenings this month:
Renewable Energy month:
Renewable Energy
Networking

70th Anniversary Celebration of

One-day Training programme on Shakti
Training programme "Cost effective Bio- Gandhigram Trust was held on 7th
Surbahi Bio-methanation plant was held
manure" was held at Technology Resource October. During this occasion VK-
at Technology Resource Center on 28th
Center on 24th May. 21 participants NARDEP received Dr.A.K.Tharian
October. One member attended.
attended the training. Shri.S.Rajamony Memorial Award for the best Medical
Sri.V.Muneeswaran was the resource
was the resource person. and Health Services. Shri.G.Vasudeo
person.
received the award on behalf of VK-
NARDEP.
As part of Technology transfer, Shakti
Surabhi Bio-methanation plant was
launched at Udupi, Karnataka by
M/S.Vijaya Industries on 28th October.
Shri.V.Ramakrishnan was honoured
during the programme.
Dinamalar, Madurai gave a good coverage
about the usage of Shakti Surabhi Bio-
methanation plant. Under the title
Samaiyal Arai Kazhivu Neeril Biogas
Shri.Sundararajan from Vadipatti sharing
his experiences. Smt. Krishnammal Jaganathan,
Shri.K.M.Natarajan and Shri.Shivakumar
giving the award to Shri.G.Vasudeo
Construction of Biogas Plant

Fixed type
IFAD, Kanyakumari 1 cum 8 nos.
IFAD, Kancheepuram 1 cum 20 nos.
Thiruvotiyur 100 cum 1 no.

During the occasion Shri.G.Vasudeo gave

a power point presentation on Green
technologies

Ministry of Rural Development, New

Delhi conducted workshop during the
Birth Centenary Celebrations of
Newspapers in Karnataka gave a good Shri.Nanaji Deshmukh on 10th October
coverage to the launching of Shakti at ICAR Campus, PUSA, New Delhi. The
Surabhi by Vijaya Industries, Udupi theme of the workshop Technology in
Construction of fixed type Bio-methanation
Rural Life
plant work is going on .

Echoes of Eco - Newsletter, Vivekananda Kendra nardep, October 2017, Vol.9 No: 8
 Milking rather than exploitation should be our aim
Turning the Clock
Back
It is claimed that those who advocate a
simple lifestyle are "turning the clock
back". But the real turners back of the
clock are those defending present
patterns of "progress" and
"development" which are already leading
to violent conflict, from the Bombay
slums to the so called development from
uranium mining in Australia to the
Amazonian rainforests. Hyper-
consumption by the rich is modifying the
climate, which will drag and drive us back
to the climatic conditions of thousands
of years ago. Such a state, which could
be unimaginably harsh. When "the earth
is void and empty and darkness is upon
the face of the deep" once more, who
will then have been the agents of turning
back the clock?
Winin Pereira &
Jeremy Seabrook
Authors & Journalists
Founders of the
Centre for Holistic
Studies in Mumbai
Echoes of Eco - Newsletter, Vivekananda Kendra nardep, October 2017, Vol.9 No: 8
Vivekananda Kendra nardep, Kanyakumari-629702 Phone:91-4652-246296 www.vknardep.org
Visions of Wisdom
Deep Ecology
Deep ecology does not separate
humans from the natural
environment, nor does it separate
anything else from it. It does not
see the world as a collection of
isolated objects but rather as a
network of phenomena that are
fundamentally interconnected and
interdependent. Deep ecology
recognizes the intrinsic values of
all living beings and views humans
as just one particular strand in the
web of life. It recognizes that we
are all embedded in, and dependent
upon, the cyclical processes of
nature.
Fritjof Capra
World famous
Physicist,
Director of the Center
for Eco literacy in
California.
Deen Dayal Upadhyay
Calorie nay Colliery!
A disciple of Swami Sivananda of the
Divine Life Society used to say this of
the Calorie theory. "This is not calorie
theory. It is actually colliery theory.
As England was a cold country,
producing a lot of coal and chalk, all
their scientific thinking came to be
centred around greater consumption
of energy, heat, coal etc. The more
calories you burn, the more advanced
and healthier you are, your more
nation is more civilized".
Our great saint Kanchi Paramacharya,
who walked around India four times,
used to take only three handfuls of
puffed rice and lived up to 100 years.
That much for the calorie theory!
Dr.H.R.Nagendra
Expert in the field of
Yoga and Vice
chancellor of Swami
Vivekananda Yoga
Anusandhana
Samsthana, Bengaluru