Dear friend,

This is to invite you to join the “Monsanto, Quit India” event in Bangalore on August 9th, at 10.30 am, at the Commissionerate of Agriculture, Near K.R.Circle being led by Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha, to demand that the Government of Karnataka scrap the various agreements that it has with Monsanto, Mahyco and the likes and blacklist Monsanto given the recent objectionable biosafety violations found in its GM maize plot in Bijapur. This is also to demand that the state government does not allow any GM crop trials in the state and does not facilitate bio-piracy of invaluable germplasm that belongs to farmers of the state.

Please do circulate this widely and bring as many farmers and consumers as you can for this.

MONSANTO, QUIT INDIA! NO TO CORPORATE CONTROL OF INDIAN AGRICULTURE!

Date: 9th August 2011 ,10.30 am

Venue: Commissionerate of Agriculture ,Seshadri Road,Near K.R.Circle,Bangalore

“No food shall be grown, that we do not own” – that is the reported objective of Monsanto, the multi-national seed and agro-chemical company notorious for suing and jailing farmers for the “crime” of reusing seeds they purchased from the company! If you are shocked by Monsanto’s aim of controlling the entire world’s food production system, what is more mind-boggling is how much progress it has already made towards its goal. Monsanto is today the world’s largest seed company, already controlling 23% of the proprietary seed market. The annual profit of this single company is Rs. 22,500 crores, more than the GDP of 48 countries! Known for its unscrupulous practices, it is now re-writing the laws and manipulating politicians and officials in the developing world to push its GM (genetic modification) technology, herbicides and proprietary hybrids. Recently, gross violations were exposed in its field trials of GM maize in Karnataka showing the impunity with which the company defies biosafety concerns.

The question of who controls our agriculture – our crores of farmers or a few big corporations – has deep ramifications for the whole society. We all have a big stake in whether unsafe genetically modified foods will be thrust on us, whether unsafe agri-chemicals would further damage our water, soil and health, whether 10 crore farmer families will lose their livelihoods, whether our rural and urban areas will be sustainable and whether we would have safe, diverse and nutritious food to eat.

If we as a nation want to protect our food sovereignty, if we want to retain control on what we grow and what we eat, this is the time for us to act decisively. This is a call to all like-minded organizations, alliances and individuals to come together and join Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha in its “Monsanto, Quit India” event at Directorate of Agriculture, Seshadri Road, Bangalore at 10.30 am. This Day of Action aims to strengthen the broader struggle against corporate domination of agriculture by focusing on its most potent symbol. Let us send a strong signal from Bangalore and from across the country that day that citizens will not tolerate corporate domination of our food and farming systems.

This call is being put out by Alliance for Sustainable and Holistic Agriculture (ASHA). Alliance for Sustainable and Holistic Agriculture (ASHA) is an all-India network of about 400 organizations of farmers, agricultural workers, consumers, social activists and academics, working to promote ecologically sustainable agriculture and secure livelihoods for farmers, and stop corporate domination of our agriculture and food system. ASHA organized the nation-wide Kisan Swaraj Yatra from Sabarmati to Raj Ghat in Oct-Dec 2010 for “Food, Farmers, Freedom”.

Website: http://www.kisanswaraj.in/

Contacts:

Karnataka: Kodihalli Chandrasekhar (Karnataka Rajya Raita Sangha); kodihallikrrs@gmail.com, 098442-93908;

Anekatte Vishwanath (Samvada): 089-700-74278; anekatte@gmail.com;

Kavitha Kuruganti (ASHA, Alliance for Sustainable & Holistic Agriculture): 093-930-01550; kavitha.kuruganti@gmail.com

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G. KRISHNA PRASAD

Sahaja Samrudha

‘Nandana’, No-7, 2nd Cross,

7th Main, Sulthanpalya, Bangalore-560 032

Phone: 080-23655302 / 9880862058

www.sahajasamrudha.org