By Ashok Kumar

Vandana Shiva, the Dehra Dun girl, who started her campaign for environment protection and human rights with the Chipko Movement in her native Uttaranchal, has come a long way to be rightly selected for the prestigious Sydney Peace Prize. The announcement was made on Monday by the Sydney University.

The Indian Sub-continent Times grabbed the opportunity to be the first to interview Vandana Shiva in New Delhi over phone.

Here are the excerpts from the interview:

The IST: Namaskar Vandana Ji, and congratulations on being selected for the Sydney Peace Prize. How do you feel about it?

V.S. Thank you, I am humbled by the announcement and the award will certainly give a boost to my drive to work hard for the environment protection and work with more vigour.

The IST: How and where did you begin your campaign for environment protection?

V.S.  My father was a Forest Conservator in Dehra Dun. I participated in the Chipko Movement started by Mr. Sunderlal Bahuguna and Sarlaji in the 1970s against the felling of trees to set up stone quarries. I was just a volunteer and I was still a student doing PhD in Canada. I would come from Canada frequently to support the movement. Sunderlalji and Sarlaji were more like family members and very close to my parents.

The IST: What hurdles did you face and how did you overcome?

V.S. The Environment Ministry asked me to carry out a survey on the stone quarries in the Dehra Dun and I faced a strong opposition from the Quarry owners and people associated with it. They pressurised me against conducting the survey. The Quarry owners were exploiting labour. But I persisted with the survey and the Government ordered closure of the Quarries. Slowly, one after the other, all Quarries closed down.  

The IST: For a lay man’s understanding how you do connect Human Rights with Environment Protection?

V.S: Of course they are connected. The life is provided by the Earth and Article 21 of the Constitution provides Right to life. People are being displaced for mining or setting up big industries. They are losing their livelihood and forced into deprivation of food and other necessities. Like in Jharkhand, the tribals have been displaced for the Bauxite mining. The mining was going against the Article 21.

The IST: You have quoted Mahatma Gandhi in your book Earth Democracy: The Earth doesn’t belong to Man but Man belongs to the Earth. But there are boundaries ….How you plan to realise the dream of earth democracy?

V.S.  This is not a dream but a reality. We have to work for a cleaner environment while protecting the rights of human beings, looking after their needs.

 The IST: What’s your view on India’s stand on Copenhagen summit?

V.S: The Government of India was never clear then and even after the Copenhagen Accord as to what they should do about the reduction in emissions.

 The IST: How can the partnership of industrial development and environment protection work?

V.S: Of course, they can work together. The Industrial development should not be at the cost of the local people rather it should be for their benefit, without displacing them. It (the Government) should go by the wishes of the people. Before setting up an industry, the people of the area should be asked

The IST: You have been a crusader for the empowerment of women. What is your view about the 33 per cent reservation for women in parliament? Do you believe quantity can replace quality?

V.S: I am not into the party politics but it is no use having the numbers if there is no real empowerment of women as we fear the women coming to the parliament would be the daughters or the wives of wealthy business houses or dynastic political families. So, this would not be the real quality empowerment.  

The IST: Thank you Vandana Ji.

V.S: Thank you; see you in Sydney in November.

 Earlier,  A Sydney University media release said Dr. Vandana Shiva is  being feted for her “courageous leadership of movements for social justice – the empowerment of women in developing countries, advocacy of the human rights of small farming communities and for her scientific analysis of environmental sustainability.”

“Vandana Shiva’s work highlights the fundamental connection between human rights and the protection of the environment,” said Mary Kostakidis, Chair of the Sydney Peace Foundation.

“Governments worldwide seek her counsel on sustainable development. She offers solutions to some of the most critical problems posed by the effects of globalisation and climate change on the poorest and most populous nations. Her voice is an essential one as we consider pressing decisions facing the global community.”

Speaking from Delhi, Dr. Shiva said “I am honoured and humbled to be chosen to receive the Sydney Peace Prize. It will add new strength to my work in making peace with Mother Earth. The protection of biodiversity, support for women in agriculture and for all subsistence farmers are human rights issues which Iwill address in Sydney.”

Professor Stuart Rees, Director of the Sydney Peace Foundation, described Dr Shiva as an exciting choice for the award.

“Many communities are threatened by the consequences of global warming, yet in Australia the movement to address this issue has gone to sleep. Vandana’s presence in Sydney in November should wake them up,” said Professor Rees.

Praising Dr Shiva’s last book, Soil Not Oil, which identifies ecologically sound and socially just ways to protect the planet, Professor Rees remarked, “We should not need the pollution from a massive oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico to remind us of Vandana’s leadership and wisdom.”

Dr. Shiva will give the City of Sydney Peace Prize Lecture in the Concert Hall of the Sydney Opera House on November 3rd. She will receive the 2010 Sydney Peace Prize on the evening of November 4th and will be the guest of 1,500 high school children in a traditional peace festival welcome held at Cabramatta High School on November 5th.

Born on November  5, 1952 in Dehradun to a father who was the conservator of forests and a farmer mother with a love for nature. She was educated at St Mary’s School in Nainital, and at the Convent of Jesus and Mary, Dehradun. Shiva was trained as a gymnast and after receiving her B.Sc. in Physics, she pursued a M.A. in the Philosophy of Science at the University of Guelph (Ontario, Canada). In 1979, she completed and received her Ph.D. at the University of Western Ontario. Her thesis was titled “Hidden Variables and Non-locality in Quantum Theory“. She later went on to interdisciplinary research in science, technology and environmental policy, at the Indian Institute of Science and the Indian Institute of Management in Bangalore.

Vandana Shiva has fought for changes in the practice and paradigms of agriculture and food. Intellectual property rights, biodiversity, biotechnology, bioethics, genetic engineering are among the fields where Shiva has contributed intellectually and through activist campaigns. She has assisted grassroots organizations of the Green movement in Africa, Asia, Latin America, Ireland, Switzerland and Austria with campaigns against genetic engineering. In 1982, she founded the Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology, which led to the creation of Navdanya. Her book, “Staying Alive” helped redefine perceptions of third world women. Shiva has also served as an adviser to governments in India and abroad as well as non governmental organisations, including the International Forum on Globalisation, the Women’s Environment & Development Organization and the Third World Network. Vandana Shiva participated in the Stock Exchange of Visions project in 2007. She is a councillor of the World Future Council.

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