Blog
The title of the talk the organizers had sent me was - "Exploring opportunities beyond restrictions".
Why did you choose this title?, I enquired with the young lady who was coordinating the two day youth programme for which I was invited to talk on this subject.
Most of these youth are first generation rural under graduates or post-graduates from their families. They are stuck within a small experienced world, they are not looking for opportunities beyond their limited exposure. We want them to think and be able to travel somewhere else to pursue better career. Pondichery is…
Seasons Greetings.
Keeping with our custom of sending a year end report on all the happenings of year, I am enclosing the year end report for 2023. It has been an enriching and insightful year overall and we completed 25 yrs of Samanvaya on Aug 15th.
Our biggest initiative this year has been the Green Economy India portal (www.greeneconomyindia.in), through which we hope to reach out to constituency of people hitherto not reached. The trial results have been encouraging and we seem to be able to expand the horizon of engagement.
Initiatives have…
TAMIL THINAI AS INDIGENOUS BIOREGIONAL FRAMEWORK
“Bioregion has no Scientific validity!” used to be a regular line of argument by the late Scientist Eric Ramanujam. Eric like most scientists refused to acknowledge or accept any ‘’non-scientific’’ definition of land or region. More than Eric it was a question regarding the relationship between a Bioregion and Watersheds by a visiting Australian hydrologist that made me think of bioregion as a framework that can be shaped by the Thinai concept of the Tamil land mass definition.
Thinai is an old Tamil word, as old as the oldest…
I am happy to welcome Aris, my student from the College of Atlantic in Maine, USA as my executive assistant and researcher for the winter of 2023 and until mid 2024. Aris was one of the active students of the class and brought in perspective and enquiry that was rooted in the land from which they hail.
Ram, 4/12/2023
Have been wanting to write this since my return last week after attending the National Symposium at the Jeevika Ashram at the Indrana Village in Jabalpur district, Madhya Pradesh.
Traditionally called the MahaKoshal region, it hosts some amazing diversity in terms of tribal arts, crafts and culture. This place like everywhere else in India is under "development" pangs, with expressways and highway dhabas distanced several centuries between them and the villages on the side of the highways.
Ashish ji house created this beautiful little ashram in this midst that displays tribal art forms, has…
Notes from the National Conference on Defining Future Pathways for AgroEcology Research at the National Level in India
16 – 18 Nov 2023, IRMA, Gujarat
Reflection
When I initially agreed to participate in this Conference and even write a paper for the same, I was still in my US tour where I could quickly put together an Abstract of an idea over couple of mails with my two co-authors, the busy schedule after my return ensured that I could not really spend time to develop the paper, the strange monsoon viral fever followed by a dental surgery meant I was uncertain about my…