Office Refurbished

 The newly-painted Gandhi Centre in Tirvandrum was a hive of activity when we arrived.  In the grounds there was a marquee with an exhibition of Gandhi's life, to be opened by the ex-maharajah of Travancore. The Maharajah told us he remembered Gandhi visiting his home in 1935, because he insisted on sitting on the carpet in the palace, for the floor, he said,was good enough for the Maharajah's subjects so it was good enough for him!

 There was also an exhibition of Khadi (cloth spun and woven locally, first sponsored by Gandhi as a protest against cheap British goods which were ruining the peasant economy back in the 20s and 30s) and village industries, and a sale of goods, including clothes, soap, furniture, mats, pottery, handbags, coconut cola (very cheap and non-toxic rival to the American invention) and toys, made in workshops founded and supported by the Gandhi Trust.  These were displayed in stalls round the outside of the building and there were plenty of interested customers.

 We found that much had been done since we were there last year. The old Gandhi Museum had been closed (a new one is being planned) and the office is being refurbished to host residential educational courses and conferences to bring in extra income for the Trust.  

International Peace Conference

In the newly refurbished main hall, delegates from 19 countries and many walks of life including professors, doctors, nuns, priests, representatives from the UN, various NGO's, the maharajah, the chairman of the Centre of Global Non-violence, the Keralan Government and universities, were gathering for the start of a three day international conference on the Gandhian alternative to terrorism and war. There was a message from the President and Vice-President of India, and, unlike the average British meeting, we began with blessings from a nun, the Maharajah, an invocation sung by the choir and finished with prayers from the doctor from the Honolulu peace centre, from an Islamic leader, and a Japanese Buddhist. 

Visiting the Farms

 A few days later Ajith and Appu took us to see farms and workshops. We visited Venniyoor, but some farmers had gone to market in Trivandrum with the best quality vegetables, such as cucumbers, peppers, ginger and beans, hoping they would be good enough for export. They sell the poorer quality vegetables in the local market at much lower prices.

KGSN is running a government-sponsored pilot course in organic farming for 12 women and 3 men there.  Also in Venniyoor we visited a 2-acre model farm where they are experimenting with new crops, such as a kind of red chicory which commands a very good price.  Rice prices have fallen and free trade regulations make it increasingly important to develop other crops which can compete in world markets.  

In Chowara, where there are 6 women's self-help groups, we visited a new one, where women were spinning coir (coconut fibre), on what looked like a converted bicycle wheel, and weaving it into mats.  One of the other groups makes soap and another bakes (in a different members' house each day).

It was interesting to read in the newspapers, people's concerns about the dangers of globalisation and the spread of GM cash crops.  They expressed many of the same fears as we have in Britain.  But the threat to the countless millions of small-holders in India is far greater than anywhere else, for the new cash crops will deprive them of their often very precious water supplies, and if they lose their land there are no great industrial complexes in the cities for them to work in and no social security to fall back on.

We were enormously impressed by what Ajith (the Secretary) and his colleagues, such as Appu, and the office workers, women who have worked at the centre for over 20 years, are prepared to do for the Trust for wages far below the going rate.  But they all feel that trying to carry on the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi, will lead to the greater happiness and prosperity of the people and the preservation of the land from over-exploitation and degeneration.

AVI is providing £6500 to help cover refurbish KGSN's office and extend the organic balanced farming project to three more villages in Kerala.