On the Journey Back...

I would like to come back to India and attract people back to our villages. UN survey predicts that we will reach the tipping point in 2020 where rural to urban migration will be skewed- 51% of our people will live in urban areas and 49% in rural. Will we be able to feed 1.5 billion mouths then? I would want people to start producing for their own needs and this is one way of keeping their needs to a minimum and stay self sufficient. While attracting food producers we will also attract people from other vocations to keep atmosphere healthy and intellectually charged: doctors, teachers, artists, etc. my objective is to move people away from currency in the age of bit coin. Is this possible? 

Man started his journey as a food gatherer before he learnt the art of producing food. During the industrial era man moved into food processing and packaging them for longer shelf life and possibly export. From food production as an activity for self consumption, we've slowly turned it into an activity for mass production setting our eyes set on profits. Mass production has created efficiency and economies of scale, but unknowingly other demons come along with it. 

An activity that began as a need has now become an activity for greed. What began as organic farming soon turned into fertilizer based farming and now corporations like Monsanto are feeding on their greed by asking people use the genetically modified seeds and pest resistance seeds for high yielding crops.

Today biologist are revolting against tampering with the ecological pyramid with genetically modified crops and doctors have been raising alarm about the use of fertilizers on plants and antibiotics on animals that cause irreversible damage humans and the ecosystem. 

Agriculture was the earliest industry that was started by humans and other industrial set-ups and software parks that include assembly line, design, r&d, production control, etc was born from it. Human greed to produce more and consume more gave birth to the Zamindari system that held agriculture workers like salves and kept them deliberately poor to ensure their sustenance. Call it remnants or inspiration, we can see reflections of Zamindari system in sweatshops across China, Vietnam, Bangladesh or software parks across Bangalore, Gurgoan or Chennai. 

Cost of borrowed capital is causing stress to both industries and its workers. In the last decade, we witnessed a million farmer suicides in India and we've read stories about software engineers caught in EMI traps and on the other hand we are hearing about shortage of farm labor and ever increasing demand for agriculture produce. One can find reports on our living conditions in medical journals that show early onset of diabetes, cardiac and mental health issues due to extreme stress. What have we turned ourselves into? 

Late last year, I took a step back to look at where the real opportunity lies: is it on the supply side or is it in the demand side? I didn't look at it from a capitalistic point of view but more from a spiritualistic point of view: do I want to be a humble producer or a greedy consumer? With "Make in India" gaining momentum at seminars and industrial gatherings; I felt there is a need for youth to return back to villages and explore the opportunity for self production, consumption and sustenance. Yes, Gandhian way of life. 

To those who are comfortably living in big air-conditioned homes, self-absorbed in their world of luxury and comfort this may sound unacceptable, but for those who would like to experience the joy of being produce your own crops with your own hands, live a simple life without being afraid of power cuts and finding happiness in a small palm leaf hand fan: seize the opportunity and return back to where you came from a few hundred years ago. There is no currency in the community and we go back to the days of barter system where we exchange produce or time satisfying each other's needs. Once money is taken out of the equation life becomes simpler. Doesn't it? Live, enjoy and discover!