FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

October 2, 2007

Contact:

Megha Chawla, San Carlos, CA       +1 650 861 2122, megha_aid@yahoo.com
Samantika Subramaniam, San Jose, CA   +1 404 934 4002, samantika_s@yahoo.com

Sridhar Nagarajan, Sunnyvale, CA              +1 408 761 5004, saagarmatha@gmail.com

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Masses light up candles in support of Indian Farmers on Gandhi Jayanti – Palo Alto, CA

Even as the central and state governments of India continue to give them a cold shoulder, India's long-suffering farmers can find warmth and solidarity in the thousands of candles that will light up around the world on October 2 ^nd. On the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, thousands of concerned Indians and world citizens gathered in vigils in more than 50 locations in the US, India and other countries. They seek to bring urgency and immediate attention to the shocking crisis being faced by India's agricultural community of 600 million people – more than double the size of the entire US population.

In the San Francisco bay area, the vigil was held at the Lytton Plaza in Downtown Palo Alto. Following the initiative from Association for India's Development (AID), a volunteer movement based in the US and India, individuals and organizations from around the bay area have joined hands to participate in this solidarity event.

Volunteers and participants assembled at Lytton Plaza for the vigil

The action was attended by about 40 people and by a lot of passers by who were interested in understanding the crisis and who signed a petition containing a set of demands to be presented to the Government of India calling for immediate action. The vigil started at 7PM and went on till 830PM, as the participants lit up the candles, held numerous posters in support of the cause, and discussed the problem with locals.  The participants were represented by volunteers from non-profits such as AID, FOSA (Friends of South Asia) and Asha. A video report from Andhra Pradesh, by Anu Anand was screened during the candlelight vigil.

A discussion on the crisis following a brief talk

The vigil contained a detailed description about the farmers' crisis in India as AID Volunteer Samantika Subramaniam addressed the gathering with crisp specifics on the problem. "The expensive and patented genetically engineered seeds are not a good fit for India. These have worked well, SO FAR, in well irrigated areas in Gujarat, but have not be effective in rain-fed areas like the ones at Vidarbha, and this calls for a Government policy change towards awareness and marketing of such very seeds"   insisted Samantika.  A brief discussion was followed by a participative Q&A session. The attendees also decided to hold follow-up awareness events at local farmer's markets over the next few weekends. The event concluded as the group got together and sang "Hum honge kamiyab". Photographs and videos from the event can be found at http://www.aidsfbay.org/events/2007/farmers/

Participants in a discussion

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About Association for India's Development (AID): A non-profit organization and volunteer movement committed to promoting sustainable and equitable development in India, working with NGOs and movements in India in the areas of people's rights, livelihood generation, education, agriculture, water management, environment, primary health and appropriate technology. A.I.D. has about 35 chapters in the US, 10 in India, and a few in Australia, Canada, Singapore and so on.

Website: http://www.aidindia.org | http://www.aidsfbay.org

References:

Website for Global Vigil: http://agri.aidindia.org/october2/

PBS Film "Dying Fields": http://www.pbs.org/wnet/wideangle/shows/vidarbha/index.html

PM statement in Economic Times: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/2253321.cms

Dept of agriculture:  http://agricoop.nic.in