Vandana Shiva
- Nidhi Shegokar
- Aug 26, 2023
- 2 min read
For nearly fifty years, Shiva has been deeply involved in advocating for environmental justice in India. Recognized as one of the world's most formidable environmental activists, she has dedicated her efforts to preserving forests, closing polluting mines, revealing the hazards of pesticides, promoting the global movement for organic farming, supporting ecofeminism, and confronting influential chemical corporations.
Her ongoing mission to safeguard the natural state of the world's seeds, as opposed to genetically modified and commercially controlled versions, remains the central focus of her life's work. Shiva's stance against globalisation and her extensive journeys across India have drawn comparisons to Mahatma Gandhi. However, while Gandhi became synonymous with the spinning wheel as a symbol of self-sufficiency, Shiva's emblem is the seed.
In 1982, within her mother's cow shed in Dehradun, a mountain town, Shiva established her research foundation to explore the intersection of science, technology, and ecology. She embarked on documenting the "green revolution" that swept rural India starting from the late 1960s, where the government pushed farmers to adopt technology, mechanisation, and agrochemicals to boost crop yields and prevent famine. This experience solidified her lifelong opposition to industrial interference in agriculture.
In 1991, five years before the initial cultivation of genetically modified (GM) crops, she founded Navdanya, meaning "nine seeds," an initiative aimed at preserving India's indigenous seeds and promoting their utilisation among farmers. Eight years later, she took on the chemical giant Monsanto, the world's largest seed producer, in the supreme court for introducing GM cotton into India without authorization.
by Drona Chetri/Navdanya
Monsanto gained notoriety in the 1960s for manufacturing the herbicide Agent Orange for the US military during the Vietnam War, and later spearheaded the development of GM crops in the 1990s. The company swiftly sought to establish its privatised seeds in the global market, particularly in developing agricultural nations.
Monsanto eventually gained approval to introduce GM cotton to India in 2002, but Shiva has persisted in her battle against chemical multinational corporations, which she labels the "poison cartel." Presently, only four companies control over 60% of the world's commercial seeds, driving efforts to patent seeds, monopolising specific GM crops like cotton and soy, and litigating against numerous small-scale farmers for saving seeds from commercial crops.
Her conviction remains unshaken that GM crops have proven unsuccessful. Nonetheless, the complex legacy of GM pest-resistant cotton in India, which has led to increased pesticide usage, isn't necessarily a clear-cut issue. Her outspoken and sometimes uncompromising stances on GM organisms and globalisation have earned her both critics and powerful adversaries.
Critics have accused her of overstating the risks of GM and oversimplifying the relationship between farmers' suicides and genetically modified crops. She has also been labelled an opponent of progress due to her rhetoric against globalisation, given the global challenges at hand. Shiva contends, "This industrialised, globalised food system is depleting soil, water, and contributing to 30% of our greenhouse gas emissions. To rectify this, we must transition from industrial to ecological farming."
Nonetheless, even as she continues her crusade against the dominance of chemical corporations, Shiva regards her most crucial efforts to be her journeys through India's villages. She collects and preserves seeds, including around 4,000 varieties of rice, and has established over 100 seed banks, aiding farmers in reverting to organic practices.