This is the first interview in a series called “INSPIRATIONAL NARRATIVES” Project. The final product will be a collection of interviews with WEA’s women environmental leaders. Each month in our newsletter we will feature excerpts of one woman’s “inspirational narrative.” This month, WEA staff member Rachael Knight  interviewed Arshinder Kaur, working to spread organic farming throughout her state of Punjab in India.

Arshinder Kaur has worked on the academic level to the grassroots to enhance her community’s understanding of environmental sustainability. She has organized and coordinated schools with Navdanya on themes of ‘Organic food & Culture’, Gandhi and Non Violence, Soil as a living system, Water democracy and Third International Conference on Water and Women 2005. Arshinder has developed resource materials and worked with students and farmers throughout India to incorporate sustainable techniques and alternatives. Arshinder has also developed a system for the standardization of several traditional plants in the Indian system of medicine - Neem, Diospyrus, Careya arborea, Cucumber and Trichosanthes. She has also developed a flora field guide as a tool for the conservation and protection of Harike Wetland, a RAMSAR site, in Punjab, India.

Presently, Arshinder is working on the biodiversity, traditional rights of people in Madhya Pradesh, India and the impacts of exploration work on the immediate communities. She is also focusing on raising funds for the protection and trying to execute conservation methods there of for the gradually decreasing population of peacocks and turtles all over in the northern states of India.

What problem(s) are you confronting in your work?

At the moment what I am working for is the promotion of organic agriculture in my state. The great need is at the moment is to make the people aware of safe ways of farming. The stage we have reached is that our rivers are so polluted that if we don’t take any steps to change the situation I don’t know where we will reach. If we continue this way, with the industrial agriculture, we do not have a very bright future. The idea is that we have to take steps now to look for a brighter future. So that the moment what I am doing is working to move farmers from industrial agriculture to organic farming.  So far we have 128 farmers who will be certified as organic farmers at the end of this month. A lot of work is required to bring the farmers back from the 40 years of slavery they have had to pesticides, chemicals and industrial agriculture. They have had a lot of economic benefit from this - because the yields were so high.  The idea is to first understand the needs of the farmer and second to bring back the diversity and the crops that we have lost.  I am trying to insure that organic standards are actually executed in the field. Personally, I reach out to a lot of farmers.  I have prepared a package of practices for the farmers for organic farming and I have prepared a lot of standards and operational procedures to help them know what they need to do to comply with organic standards.

What are your greatest challenges? What have been some successes?  
My greatest challenge is that there is always a lack of finance, as far as organic farming is concerned – because we are not able to show the farmer a cheery outlook in this sense. They ask, “What will I do when my yield falls down when I change to organic methods?” The farmers come back to me showing me the economics of the organic vs. chemical agriculture. Trying to convince them for the environment does not make sense. In our culture we have a saying that you cannot praise the almighty until your stomach is filled. So if that person is himself hungry, how can they focus on the environment? But one thing is, in our culture, we have a morning prayer, which has an epilogue. This epilogue says: “Air, water and earth,  of these are we made – air, like the guru’s word, gives a breath of life to the babe born to the great mother earth, sired by the waters, the day and night are nurses be, that waters in our infancy. In their laps we play, the world is our playground, our acts, right and wrong, at thy court shall come to judgment.” We have strong religious organization in the state, so one of the factors by which you motivate the farmers here is this particular epilogue. 

Convincing people - as a woman - is the second challenge. This is a very patriarchic society, so women going to the farmers and explaining to them that they should turn towards organic is also one of the major challenges that I face. Then the third problem is how to actually rehabilitate the farmers, day by day. Once you get addicted to something, you have to break the addiction. Sometimes I simply hold my head in my hands,  that I have been working so hard, after having met the farmer, getting the farmer convinced, and then I get a report that farmer has used [chemicals] on his farm. [Individuals paid by the chemical companies] are issuing statements that organic farming is not profitable, that if we change to organic, “How will we provide for the nation?” But looking at the extent of the cancer, kidney diseases and liver diseases, can we always afford to eliminate ourselves as we provide for the nation?

What I am doing now is yet an on-going process of organic farming; the successes will come in the future. So far, around 74 farmers of the 200 farmers we worked with starting last year have been brought into the second year of conversion. That is definitely a good step ahead, one very bright thing. I am looking forward to the final process of the state model farm, where I have been trying to implement organic standards for the past one and a half years now. It has been a constant, coordinated effort to bring a state farm up to the international organic standards.   

What has led you to devote her life to this?  What has been the impetus to engage in this work?

My father was one of the greatest sources of inspiration to me: he had the highest number of blood donations in the state.  My father had the highest number of blood donations because he had a rare blood type, O negative.  My father had acute kidney failure; what happens is that the lead in whatever you eat gets channeled through the kidneys, and this created his illness. My father had a kidney transplant. I used to think that if I can’t become a healer, let me be that kind of person who can prevent these kinds of diseases. So these thoughts led me to go to the study of the environment. My family very much supported me to do this work.  Our society says that we “should “ become a professional – a doctor or an engineer, something of that sort that gives you money and personal security, but I had this motivation from my father that whatever you do, you do it with a conviction. You need to have a passion for whatever you do. The most important thing is to give 100% commitment to do whatever you have to do.

What keeps you motivated in times of struggle?

There are defiantly moments when I think, “Why do I have to live in such difficult situations, trying to do this work?” But Satish Kumar, a Jain monk, says: “I am like the bacteria in the intestine. Bacteria are microscopic but the kind of work that they do is so gigantic in nature.” This statement got fixed in my mind, and reminds me that whatever kind of work you do 1) be convinced of it and 2) whatever small act you do, remind yourself that it will have a big impact in the future.  You are rich in this, and once you assimilate that feeling of richness, then there is no thought of changing your position. One of our gurus says, “If you want to play the game of love, then keep your head on your palm and come to me.” This means that if you want to achieve something, then you have to keep your ego aside and a lot of so-called rational thinking also. It is only then that you can achieve your goals.

What has been missing for you in terms of community/collaboration? How can WEA best help you?

The answer is that I need to know about more agencies that would fund this kind of without lots of complications in adhering to the conditions of the funding. For example, one of the requirements of some loans in my area is that you must be an accredited organization that has existed for three years.  But what can one woman working alone do to start up an organization for three years without funding? So you definitely do need finances, and the situation is not always very rosy, so we do have to be realistic on that ground.

As I am located here, I am in a better position to be able to help and recognize those women who do have the urge to do something. I need to extend out my arm, to say yes; I should give out my hands in order that they hold my fingers and are able to rise up and say, “With this help I will be able to go forward.” I would have to go out and do the knocking for them. The network of women leaders is there, I learned something from Women’s Earth Alliance. Now it is my responsibility. However, now I need the physical and financial support from the network to be able to bring other women along. As activists, we need constant pushing from the back, as support; it is important that we always get a positive appreciation of support, someone saying, “Keep pursuing your work!” The external motivation that comes from a network is a very big factor in keeping you moving ahead on your path. For example, if you have learned something new and I don’t know about it, then you can pass me the information and I can also learn it.

What are your plans for the future?

My plan for the future is to focus on organic farming. If I have 500 farmers then I want to bring at least 1000 farmers. The most important is to make the farmers sustainable themselves. If we bring them under the organic fold, we will be able to save our water resources. Because water is the life line. My two greatest aims would be to 1) bring the maximum number of farmers under organic farming and 2) work to conserve the water resources and increase the diversity in nature. These would lead to improved soil quality and decrease the prevalence of disease.

Do you have any advice for other similarly situated women?

I would say that if any woman is pursuing this goal of improving the environment, the most important thing is to find the most effective way that you can to do it.  An ant can do more work than an elephant can do. And the ant biting the elephant can initiate the elephant to go on a rampage, or find food, etc.  What I am trying to say is one should not have the fear that you are a woman, that is the most important thing. If you are persisting on your path with an honest and an open attitude, then there is nobody who can say “stop” to you because you definitely will go ahead. But one should not simply be ambitious in the sense of “I want to get a name or political fame in doing this work.” Because the cause is the most important thing. You must be persistent about any task that you do, and honest about whatever you are doing.

Whatever you are doing that has importance, do it with 100% of your efforts, have open eyes and ears, and be aware of what is happening. Find the people who believe in your work. It’s a slow pace of growth; whatever you are trying to produce from your objectives comes at a slow pace. So it definitely takes time to make the people aware, but once the recognition starts there is no stopping it. I would reemphasize that if you have the drive, keep up your drive, irrespective of the hurdles that will definitely come. The most important things is to believe in yourself, and if you believe in yourself then the entire world, the entire universe, will come up to help you. Definitely there are hindrances, but you need to believe in yourself and the work you are doing.