WORKSHOP ON ORGANIC AGRICULTURE, MARKETING AND ORGANIZATION BUILDING

A workshop on work shop cum training program on organic agriculture, marketing and organization building was organized by ICCOA at Hotel Go Bananas, New Delhi between 3rd and 5th April 2008. The workshop was attended by participants from Government Departments (Orissa, Uttarkhand, Andaman and Nicobar Islands and New Delhi), Retailers, Exporters, NGOs and Organic Input manufacturers. Resource persons were from ICCOA, Prahlada Foundation, Delhi University, Fabindia, Kohinoor Basmati Rice Sellers and NHM. M.Suresh, Senior Program Officer from CIKS attended the workshop. The resource persons stressed the following- The focus of organic growers should be on the domestic market rather than for export. Buyers are increasingly aware of certification of organic products and hence it is advisable to register the growers for certification. There will be more demand for organic cotton particularly from Europe as there is much awareness about pesticide harm to health. Different types of organic farming methods were discussed. A field trip was taken to two organic outlets namely Dubden Green and Fabindia and the modus operandi was explained. Representatives from Fabindia, Kohinoor Foods, Prahlada Foundation shared their experience in organic marketing.

BRAINSTORMING MEETING ON ORGANIC FARMING

The Centre is organizing a series of brainstorming meetings on organic farming in four districts of Tamil Nadu. The objective of these meetings is to take stock of efforts relating to organic farming, identify constraints and problems and suggest specific help that can be provided by the government, scientists and NGOs and initiatives that can be taken by farmers groups themselves. The first brainstorming meeting was held in Kancheepuram district which was organized at the CIKS Technology Resource Centre at our farm in Sukkankollai on 25th March. About twenty persons including farmers, NGO representatives and scientists attended this meeting. The major outcome of this meeting are as follows:

• NGOs should focus on capacity building of small and marginal farmers on organic farming.

• Farm scientists should undertake research on different aspects of organic farming and transfer it to the field for adoption.

• Bring farmers in the research advisory committee of universities and research institutions. Recognize innovations/research findings of organic farmers.

• Use Information and Communication Technology in rural areas to access the market for organic products.

TRCs Consultation Meeting at Chennai  

Mr.M.S.Desalphine, DG-CAPART, Mr.AV.Balasubramanian, Director, CIKS and PS.Srinivasan, Director, Rural Technology Division, CAPART during the discussion

CAPART hosted a consultation meeting of the TRCs (Training Resource Centres) to ascertain their experiences and views on the mandate of CAPART. This meeting was organized by Centre for Indian Knowledge Systems (CIKS) at Chennai on 17th March 2008. Representatives from nine TRCs from the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamilnadu participated in this meeting.

Mr. AV.Balasubramanian, Director of CIKS, welcomed the gathering. The Director General (DG) of CAPART Mr. M.S. Desalphine in his inaugural address explained the purpose of the meeting. The DG also released four new publications of CIKS on organic farming. Mr. P.N.Srinivasan, Director, Rural Technology Division, CAPART presented some of the important findings and suggestions of the Shri.N.Vittal Committee report. The report had made a comprehensive evaluation of the TRCs in January 2005 and submitted its report in April 2005. SWOT analysis of both CAPART and TRCs were presented as well as the recommendations for rejuvenation of TRCs. The TRC representative utilized the opportunity to brief the DG and his team on their core activities and constraints faced. The DG chaired the feedback and discussion session and responded to the comments and suggestions of TRCs.

Mr. P. N.Srinivasan proposed a vote of thanks. Mr.A.V.Balasubramanian, Director, CIKS, thanked all the CAPART officials and the TRCs for their participation.

Science Festival at Chennai  

CIKS participated in the “Science Festival” organized by Science City on the theme “Science in every day life”. The festival was intended for school children and the general public as well. CIKS was allotted a stall of size 200 sq.ft. in the environment pavilion. We displayed a range of organic products and publication, as well as posters and videos on organic farming . Response was very good, especially from school children - they were curious and asked a lot of questions, eager to learn about organic farming and food. The stall also enjoyed brisk sales of publications and produce.

Visitors from DARCOF, Denmark 

Dr. Niels Halberg, Scientist from the Danish Research Centre on organic farming along with his Ph.D. Student Mr. Paneerselvam visited our centre on 11th January to identify areas of mutual interest and future collaboration.   They also visited our experimental farm at Sukkankollai. 

CIKS Foundation Day

CIKS successfully completed 13 years on 23rd January 2008.  All the members of the team got together on that day at our Sukkankollai farm.  During the earlier part of the day the team members formed themselves in to different groups and cooked a variety of dishes.  Prizes were awarded to the best recipes. 

The team had a grand feast with all these cooked items.  In the afternoon, we had a cultural programme organized by the members which included a quiz programme, crossword puzzle, skit and songs.  Prizes were awarded to the winners.  The Director A.V. Balasubramanian also gave a short speech on his vision for the organization. 

Workshop on understanding our soil

A capacity building workshop on understanding our soil was conducted for our technical staff on 6th and 7th of January at Kotturpuram.  Prof. Sultan Ismail of New College and Mrs. Dakshyayani were the resource persons for the workshop.  The workshop dealt with in detail several aspects relating to soil starting from the characteristics of a good soil to maintenance of soil fertility organically.  This will be followed up by practical sessions next month.

TRAINING PROGRAMME ON LEGAL AND REGULATORY ASPECTS RELATING TO NATURAL RESOURCES MANAGEMENT, CHENNAI
26 – 28th NOVEMBER, 2007

CIKS organised a three day training programme on Legal and Regulatory Aspects Relating to Natural Resources Management between 26th and 28th November. The workshop was supported by COMPAS and HIVOS. The objective of the workshop was to provide the delegates with an overview regarding the three major laws pertaining to their work namely The Biodiversity Act, The Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers Rights Act and the Seed Act with the proposed new amendments.
The first and third day of the workshop was held at the Senate Hall of Hotel Ramada Rajpark, Chennai, while the second day was held at the Technology Resource centre of CIKS at Sukkankollai. Ten NGO’s from Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, 2 advocates, 5 law students and 4 students of Plant Biology and Biotechnology participated in the training.
Detailed presentations were made on these laws individually by the experts in the field and the discussions that were held after each presentation brought to light several issues that need to be followed up. The training programme was thought provoking and it was very well received. It was also envisaged that there would be a follow-up in the year 2008 where such training programmes are conducted in Tamil and Kannada (possibly also in Telugu) with the participants being field staff, farmers and local healers in the respective states.

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TRAINING ON LEGAL AWARENESS

Trainings on legal awareness were conducted for the farmers of Madhur, Mogalvadi, Kuripedu and Mazhaiyur villages on 4th and 5th October. The training was on some of the basic facts of the legal issues such as FIR, Right to information act, etc. A similar training was conducted for Chengalpattu field staff at Sukkankollai farm on 9th October. Ms. Poonguzhali and Mr.Gowtham of the Legal Services Clinic, National Law College, Bangalore conducted these training programmes.

TRAINING ON ORGANIC FARMING CERTIFICATION

Organic certification has become a need of the day to market the organic products with a marginal profit. Most of the farmers are aware of organic certification and its importance in marketing but are informed about the procedures to obtain certification. In order to help them, a series of training programmes on organic certification has been planned and so far two such training programmes have been completed at our Technology resource centre. The participants were trained on the procedures involved in obtaining certification and also about the accreditation agencies. They were also taken around the organic farm of CIKS which has been certified organic. Totally 15 members participated in these training programmes held on 27th October and 24th November 2007.

INDIA ORGANIC TRADE FAIR 2007

The third IOTF (India Organic Trade Fair) 2007 was held at New Delhi between 29th November and 2nd December. CIKS has been a participant consecutively for three years. IOTF is organized by ICCOA (International Competence Centre for Organic Agriculture) headquartered in Bangalore.

CIKS participated in this event in the following ways-

1. Eight farmers representing the project areas of Kancheepuram, Thiruvanamalai, Dindigul and Nagapattinam districts participated in the event and visited the 160 stalls exhibiting organic products, organic inputs etc. The farmers also had a discussion with staff of National Centre on Integrated Pest Management at IARI campus. They spent a day sight seeing places of tourist interests like India Gate, Raj Ghat, Lotus Temple etc.
2. Four staff namely S.Arumugaswamy, M.Suresh, P.Murugan and H.Ganesh also participated in the event. The former two staff had also attended the two day seminar and workshop titled “India organic agri-business at the threshold of growth” which was presented by various speakers from diverse fields.
3. CIKS had put up a stall and had displayed its publications and organic products like rice and pulses for sale. CIKS received enquiries from importers, traders and retailers of organic products.

IOTF-2007 indicated that the organic sector is growing wherein organic input suppliers were participating in more numbers and most of them were offering certified inputs and that the range of certified products was increasing in the market. There was more awareness about certification among prospective buyers. The participation of various state governments was also evident this year.

RAT CONTROL IN PADDY FIELDS USING IRULA EXPERTISE

The organic farmers in Sirkazhi area of Tamil Nadu were facing serious problems due to explosion of rat population. To bring the situation under control, the Sirkazhi Organic Farmer’s Association decided to seek the help of Irula tribals who are known for their expertise in dealing with rat and snake problems. Irula tribals from the Irula Snake Catcher’s Industrial Co-operative Society Limited, Chromepet, Chennai were invited to the field where rat menace was recorded to be maximum. The Irulas then surveyed the whole field and located the rat burrows. The rats were then smoked out and caught by them. A total number of 233 rats were thus caught. The whole exercise which was facilitated by CIKS was welcomed by the farmers who wanted it to be repeated again whenever rat population went beyond control.

VISIT OF A TEAM FROM SRI LANKA

At the request of an Italian Funding Agency, ICEI which has been carrying out Tsunami Relief operations relating to agriculture in Sri Lanka, CIKS had organized a training programme and exposure visit for the team of four persons from Sri Lanka.  The members of the team were Mr. Giuseppe Busalacchi from ICEI, Italy, Mr. I. M. Najeem from ICEI, Sri Lanka, Mr. Harischandra Silva from Gami Sewa Sewana, Srilanka and Mr. Nimal Dayaratni from the Department of Agriculture, Ampara District, Sri Lanka.  They spent a period of eight days undergoing training and exposure visits between 17th and 24th July at Chennai, Chengalpet and Sirkazhi areas and subsequently they visited some other NGOs and research organizations in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.

ORGANIC FARMERS PRODUCERS SOCIETY-FIRST GENERAL BODY MEETING

The first general body meeting of the societies formed in Kanchipuram and Thiruvannamalai districts were held during this month. The meeting for Thiruvannamalai district was held at Mazhaiyur on 22nd May. Our staff S. Arumugasamy, M. Suresh and K. Subramanian co-ordinated the meeting and totally 39 members participated. The meeting for the farmers of Kanchipuram district was held at Sukkankollai farm on 26th May. K. Vijayalakshmi, S. Arumugasamy, M. Suresh, K. Subramanian and K. Parimala co-ordinated the meeting and totally 57 members participated. The rules and regulations of the society were discussed in the meetings. Committees were formed and important decisions were taken in the office bearers’ meetings. It was resolved that the office bearers meeting for the Thiruvannamalai district will be conducted on 5th of every month at Mazhaiyur office and on 7th of every month at Chengalpet Field office for the Kanchipuram district.

LECTURE ON PROTECTION AGAINST SEXUAL HARASSMENT IN THE WORKPLACE

On 24th May, Mrs. Sudha Ramalingam, Leading Advocate, Chennai High Court, visited our office in Chennai and delivered a lecture on “Protection against Sexual harassment of women in the work place”. She explained about the laws available for protecting women against the various kinds of harassment they face at work. She also said that it is the responsibility of every woman to identify such problems, and take active steps to bring offenders to book, to ensure comfortable and safe working conditions. Mrs. S. Rajalakshmi, Secretary from the Avvai home school and our trustee Dr. Latha Sathish, Dept. of Psychology, Madras University attended this lecture along with our staff.

Inauguration of training centre at Sukkankollai

Construction of the first phase of a 2000 sq.ft. training centre as part of our TRC project has been completed. It contains atraining hall to house 60 trainees, a dormitory and a small office space. The building was inaugurated on the 20th of April with a small, informal function. A number of farmers from the neighbouring areas and CIKS staff participated.

Friends from the North-East

A group of eight members from FERTILE GROUNDS, led by Ms. Peggy Carswell from Assam visited CIKS between 26th February and 2nd March. They visited some of our project villages, the experimental farm at Sukkankollai, Bio-control lab at Chenglepet and ITWWS at Thandarai village. They were given an overview of the various activities taken up in our experimental farm like vermicompost and biopesticide production, medicinal demo garden and kitchen garden. They also visited the organic fields at Kaliyapettai, Kolathancherry and Valathodu villages. A video film on “Composting techniques” was also screened for them. On 2nd March, the team visited our Chennai office and had a discussion with our Research Director and the technical team to explore the possible areas of collaboration.

Compas Partners Meeting in Sri Lanka

A. V. Balasubramanian attended the COMPAS Asian partners meeting at Tholangamuwa at Sri Lanka between 12th and 16th February. The objective of the meeting was to review the performance of the existing partners during the project period that has just concluded in December 2006 and also make plans for the new COMPAS programme that is commencing in 2007. The meeting was attended by the existing COMPAS partners from India and Sri Lanka as well as prospective new partners who have been identified in Sri Lanka, Vietnam and Japan. Mr. Wim Hiemstra, International Coordinator, Mr. Claire Boonzaaijer, COMPAS Netherlands and Mr. Mark Lemmerink from Portugal also attended the meeting.

VISIT OF SCIENTISTS FROM NCIPM

On 23rd January, Prof. Amerika Singh, Director and Dr. O. P. Sharma, Scientist from the National Centre for Integrated Pest Management, ICAR, New Delhi visited our centre. There was a discussion meeting with the technical staff and CIKS made a presentation regarding the work being done by our centre, particularly with respect to crop protection. Following this, Prof. Amerika Singh made a presentation regarding the various programmes of NCIPM. Subsequently on 24th January the two scientists visited our experimental farm in Kancheepuram district. Currently we are exploring specific ways in which CIKS can work together with NCIPM in the areas of mutual interest.

CIKS TURNS 12

CIKS celebrated its 12th anniversary on 23rd January 2007. It was a pleasure to have Prof. Amerika Singh and Dr. O.P. Sharma from NCIPM amongst us on this occasion. Our Chenglepet and Sirkazhi field staff celebrated this occasion together by spending the day at our farm in Sukkankollai. They went on a tour of the farm and had a look at the various activities in the farm. They also did a cultural programme together. In the evening, they visited Mahabalipuram beach and the Vedagireeswarar temple at Thirukalukundram.

NEWS FROM SUKKANKOLLAI

•  Mr. Yoji Kamata, chairperson for Atelier for development and the future, visited our Head Office at Chennai, the field office at Chenglepet and our organic experimental farm at Sukkankollai on 6 th December 2006. He was appraised about the farm activities. He expressed his appreciation for the efforts made by CIKS towards conserving the different traditional paddy varieties. He observed keenly the different kinds of medicinal plants in our demo herbal garden. He also visited the Kaliyapettai village, one of our project area and interacted with the farmers.

•  Our Chennai staff along with their families visited Sukkankollai farm on 23 rd December 2006 to update themselves with the field activities. On the way, they also visited Vedanthangal bird sanctuary and Malaivaiyavur temple.

•  Nearly 16 members from VORTEX organization, Chennai visited our Sukkankollai farm on 25 th December 2006 . Mr.Kannan and Ms.Hema of VORTEX coordinated this visit. Most of them were mechanical engineers. They observed with interest the working principle of the various farm implements and the activities taken up in our farm. They also gave some suggestions to simplify the winnower, a farm implement. They also had discussion with our field staff.

•  Dr. Kerry Cochrane, Course Coordinator, Charles Sturt University , Australia , along with his daughter visited our field office at Chenglepet and our experimental farm at Sukkankollai on 8th January 2007 . He was appraised about the activities of our organization and organic farming techniques practiced in our farm. He showed interest in learning about the various methods of composting.

CIKS AT INDIA ORGANIC 2006

The International Competence Centre for Organic Agriculture (ICCOA) conducted the “India organic 2006” – Trade Fair, Organic Food Festival and Congress, between 9th and 12th of November in Palace ground, Bangalore . Nearly 150 participants including certification agencies, Government agricultural departments, NGOs and retail shop dealers took part in this fair. The trade fair mainly focused on exhibits of diversified organic agricultural produce like cereals, pulses, fruits and value added products. CIKS jointly with Grama Mooligai Company Limited, Bangalore participated in this fair and exhibited its publications. S. Sivakumar, S. Stalin, P. Kalidoss and V. Suresh from CIKS participated in the organic fair. As apart of this fair, Organic Congress was held between 10th and 12th of November. Seminars on various topics related to organic farming were conducted in the congress. K. Vijayalakshmi attended some of the sessions of the congress.

FRIENDS OF CIKS AT SUKKANKOLLAI

On 2nd December 2006, some of the friends of CIKS, who had expressed interest to visit the experimental farm of CIKS at Sukkankollai, were taken there. They were appraised about the various activities taken up in the farm. They also had an opportunity to look at some of the traditional varieties conserved by CIKS, the model kitchen garden, working of various farm machineries and equipments, the green house, composting area and herbal garden. On the way back, they also visited the Vedanthangal bird sanctuary.

REPORT FROM PASUMAI VIGADAN

On 9 th November 2006, Mr. Baluthennavan, a reporter of “ Pasumai vigadan ”- a special edition on Agriculture, visited the CIKS field office at Chengalpet. He was there to gather information on various aspects of organic farming. He was appraised about the various activities of the organization. He visited the experimental farm at Sukkankollai to get to know about the various activities carried out in the farm. He also visited the fields of some of the farmers in our network in Chithravadi village and had discussions with them.

COMPAS PARTNERS MEETING IN POLAND

An International meeting of all the partners of the COMPAS programme was held at Lezajsk in Southern Poland between 17 th and 30 th September, 2006. The meeting was attended by all the COMPAS partners from Asia, Africa, Latin America and Europe. A. V. Balasubramanian and K. Vijayalakshmi attended the meeting on behalf of CIKS. From India, Professor T. T. Ranganathan of Gandhigram Rural University, Tamilnadu and Dr. S. Arivudainambi of the Entomology Department, Agricultural College, Annamalai University, Chidambaram, Tamil Nadu were present as special invitees.

During the meeting the partners exchanged experiences as well as completed and finalized the text for two books that are being produced as an outcome of this phase of the project – one pertaining to – “Learning endogenous development” and the other representing the experiences of the project based on endogenous development in various regions. The delegates also visited organic farms in that area and met groups of farmers with whom ETC Netherlands has been working on sustainable agriculture during the past five years. A part of the meeting was also spent for preparing inputs for the international conference that was being hosted by COMPAS partners in Geneva , Switzerland during the first week of October.

COMPAS ASIAN MEETING ON TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE

On 3 rd , 4 th and 5 th July 2006, a meeting on traditional knowledge systems of Asia and their current relevance was organized jointly by CIKS and FRLHT as part of the COMPAS programme. The meeting was hosted by the National Institute for Advanced Studies (NIAS) at Bangalore and the participants included delegates from India, Sri Lanka and a couple of representatives from the COMPAS International Coordination in the Netherlands. The inaugural address was delivered by Professor Srikantan of NIAS and the keynote address was delivered in the valedictory session by Dr. P. M. Bhargava, Vice Chairman, Knowledge Commission, Government of India. The meeting was attended by A. V. Balasubramanian, Subhashini Sridhar, Kritika and K. Vijayalakshmi from CIKS.

VISITOR FROM FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS

CATERINA BATELLO, Agricultural Officer, Plant Production and Plant Protection Division from FAO, Rome, visited us on 19th July 2006. She visited our head office at Chennai , our field office at Chengalpattu and our Sukkankollai farm. Ms.Batello expressed her appreciation for our seed conservation work in particular. She also visited one of our HIVOS project villages, Kaliyapettai, inspecting organic paddy and vegetable fields and interacting with local farmers.

Workshop at Trichy

A follow up of the rice chain workshop held at Bangkok in 2005 was organized by Earthnet Foundation, Thailand between 1st and 4th of March 2006. The meeting was hosted by Kudumbam, an NGO based in Trichy. Mr. Michael Commons and Mr. Vitoon Panyakul from Earthnet Foundation conducted the workshop. Totally there were 11 participants for this workshop from Kudumbam, CIKS, AFPRO and ISURA Development. The workshop mainly concentrated on the Internal Control System such as Farm Monitoring, Farm Approval and Data Management. Subhashini Sridhar and Kalidass participated in this workshop. On 5th March, Mr. Michael and Mr. Vitoon visited our farm at Sukkankollai. The next day they visited us at Chennai Head Office. They were appraised about the various activities of CIKS.

A training programme on Internal Control System (ICS) and small holder group certification was held between 1st – 3rd February 2006 in Alwaye, Kerala. This was organized by Indian Organic Certification Agency (INDOCERT), Alwaye. There were about 34 participants from various parts of the country. R. Sridevi from CIKS attended this meeting. During the first two days the participants were given training on various aspects of the internal control system and certification procedure. The third day, the participants went on a visit to the INDOCERT Office at Alwaye, Spices Board at Cochin and visited farms in Thodupuzha where an ICS has been implemented.

Meeting on Marketing of Organic Produce - Problems and Prospects

The Centre for Indian Knowledge Systems organized a meeting on 6th February 2006 to discuss issues on “The Marketing of Organic Produce – Problems and Prospects” with support from the Ford Foundation. The venue of the meeting was ‘The Conference Centre’, Chennai. There were about 38 participants for the meeting from Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh. Mr. K. Rajaraman, IAS, Commissioner In-Charge, Civil Supplies and Consumer Protection, Government of Tamil Nadu was the chief guest. Dr. Vasanth Saberwal, Programme Officer, Ford Foundation was also present for the meeting. The participants for the meeting included diverse groups of people viz.,

The inaugural session of the meeting started with the welcome speech by Dr. K. Vijayalakshmi, Research Director followed by the opening remarks and briefing on the purpose of the meeting by Mr. A.V. Balasubramanian, Director, CIKS. Next was the release of an audiovisual on Organic Rice Cultivation produced by the Centre for Indian Knowledge Systems by the chief guest Mr. K. Rajaraman, IAS. The first copy of the film in English and Tamil was received by Dr. Vanaja Ramprasad of Green Foundation and Mr. V.C. Nadarajan of CCD respectively. This was followed by the chief guest address on “The Role of Government in Strengthening Organic Markets”
This was followed by sessions on Organic Products – The Consumers View Point, Organic Products Marketing – Problems and Prospects and Organic Products Certification. Each session was followed by a brainstorming discussion.

Participation in Group Monitoring Workshop

The Department of Science and Technology, Delhi had organized a Group Monitory Workshop at Dehradun between 17th and 19th of January this year. The meeting was hosted by HESCO, a NGO working on mountain areas of Dehradun. Dr.S.S.Sandhu, IAS presided over the meeting and gave a guest lecture on “Importance of science and applications”. Dr. V. C. Goyal, Secretary, Science & Society Division mentioned about the success of DST initiatives in several fields such as water management, rural engineering, agriculture and allied sectors. During this meeting, projects under different schemes such as STARD, STAWS and WS were evaluated by the DST team and a group of experts from various organizations such as Development Alternatives-Delhi; IIT-Delhi; Soil, Water Conservation Training Centre-Dehradun etc. More than 50 projects were presented by participants and had good interactive sessions. A field visit was organized to a village where watermill was utilized to generate electricity for home consumption. More than 50 members from different parts of India such as Kerala, Karnataka, Andhrapradesh, Maharashtra, Jammu, Himachalpradesh participated in this meeting. Subhashini Sridhar from CIKS participated in this meeting and presented about “Testing and Propagation of methods based on Vrkshayurveda for the cultivation of selected vegetables”

SCIENTIFIC BASIS OF INDIAN SYSTEMS OF MEDICINE

by A. V. Balasubramanian, Centre for Indian Knowledge Systems, No: 30, Gandhi Mandapam Road, Kotturpuram, Chennai 600 085 Email: info@ciks.org, ciks@vsnl.com

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SOCIAL ORGANISATION OF KNOWLEDGE IN INDIA: FOLK AND CLASSICAL TRADITIONS

by A. V. Balasubramanian, Centre for Indian Knowledge Systems, No: 30, Gandhi Mandapam Road, Kotturpuram, Chennai 600 085 Email: info@ciks.org, ciks@vsnl.com (Text of presentation made at the national seminar on - "Indian Knowledge Systems" held at the Indian Institute of Advanced Studies, Shimla, 27-29 September, 2003.

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ORGANIC WORLD CONGRESS AT ADELAIDE

The Organic World Congress (OWC) was held by IFOAM at Adelaide, Australia from 20th to 27th September. More than 1000 participants from 72 countries across the world participated in this congress. The OWC was inaugurated on 20th September and held for three days. An organic exhibition was also inaugurated on the same day. K. Vijayalakshmi and S. Arumugasamy from CIKS participated in the World Congress and presented two technical papers. The general assembly of IFOAM took place between 25th and 27th. As a member of the international task force, K. Vijayalakshmi had been involved in rewriting the principles of organic agriculture for the last two years. She presented the final draft of the principles of organic agriculture in the general assembly. After several hours of discussion, the revised principles of organic agriculture were taken up for voting. After obtaining acceptance from majority of the members, they were finally adopted as the new principles of organic agriculture. On the way back, they visited Singapore for a couple of days.
http://www.ifoam.org/about_ifoam/principles/index.html

RICE CHAIN WORKSHOP

A workshop on 'Organising the Organic Fairtrade Rice Chain, Building Grassroots Competency' was held in Thailand between 8 - 25 June 2005.

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TRADITIONAL INDIAN AGRICULTURE AND NATURAL RESOURCES MANAGEMENT : CURRENT RELEVANCE AND FUTURE POTENTIAL

A presentation made by A.V.Balasubramanian of CIKS during the seminars -"Research for National Resurgence" organised by Bharathaaya Vichara Kendram at Kochi in 2003.

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ORGANIC FARMING FESTIVAL

CIKS organized an organic farmers' meet at Chengalpet. Over a 1000 farmers participated .

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CIKS AND TSUNAMI RELIEF

CIKS has been involved in Tsunami relief operations in the Sirkazhi block .

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CIKS IN THE NEWS

A selection of articles in the press which feature our centre and our work.

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