BIJA VIDYAPEETH International College for Sustainable Living

The Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology, founded by Dr. Vandana Shiva, has started the Bija Vidyapeeth--an international college on Education for Earth Democracy.

Sustainable Living is an art perfected by communities the world over living in harmony with the earth, her various manifestations and her creatures. Sustainable Living nurtures the universe - a delicate web of interdependence of a myriad life forms and species through mutual cooperation and the symbiotic functioning of democracy.

Globalisation of the monoculture mindset is destroying this art through fragmentation of identities, with competition replacing compassion and uniformity driving out diversity.

The Bija Vidyapeeth is an attempt to restore the art of Sustainable Living through an experiment in International Living, where people of all cultures live, cook, eat and learn together the inestimable value of diversity and organic living from one another.

The Bija Vidyapeeth is based on the Navdanya Biodiversity Conservation and Agroecology Farm. Nestling in the foothills of the Himalayas and the Sivaliks, spread over 8 acres and about 10 miles from Dehradun, in the newly formed Himalayan state of Uttaranchal the farm brings alive the diversity of plant life essential to survival in the region. The Navdanya farm has conserved over 300 varieties of rice and diverse varieties of pulses, millet, amaranth and vegetables.

The Bija Vidyapeeth offers a unique insight into the tenets of sustainability and deep democracy through interactions with the foremost intellectuals of our times and communities whose survival is intrinsically linked to sustainability in an ambience that reinvigorates our vital link with nature, promotes contemplation and enquiry and dynamic action.

In order to enhance the quality of interaction amongst participants, we are limiting their number. For each course, the first 25 people to register will be enrolled.

The courses are as follows:

Lessons in Sustainable Living: Learning from the South
October 1-21, 2001
Faculty: Dr. Vandana Shiva, Mr. Mohammed Idris, Dr. Tewolde Egziabher, Mr. Rajendar Singh

Mechanistic science and industrial technologies of the North have been promoted as superior forms of knowledge, and have been exported to the South for many decades in the name of development.

With three intellectual leaders of the South, who changed the equation and image of the Third World from recipients of aid to givers of biodiversity, knowledge and deep democracy based on community strength, the participants will spend the first week at the Navdanya Biodiversity Conservation and Agroecology Farm, examining issues of the value of indigenous knowledge, Third World freedom and dignity through biodiversity conservation as an alternate, sustainable systems of existence. Cooking and eating organic food at the farm will enable participants to holistically imbibe the experience of organic living.

The second week will be a week of exploration and learning the concepts of Jaiv Panchayat - Living Democracy with Himalayan communities that are the backbone of the Movement. Agastyamuni, the abode of the sage Agastya, has achieved distinction in contemporary times as the first community to challenge the WTO patent regime through community action. Places visited will include Gupt Kashi, Kund, Narayan Kothi and Triyugi Narayan.

The travel in the Himalayas will be along the sacred Ganges to villages where deep democracy has been reactivated through the Jaiv Panchayat to bring Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam - the concept of the Earth Family - to reality. The participants will work with the communities in preparing Community Biodiversity Registers that record people's knowledge about biodiversity, a knowledge that stems out of the close interweaving of nature and spirituality that shapes the conservation-based culture and the sustainable economy of the people.

Thereafter, participants will travel to Rajasthan, the exotic desert land of India, where water literally means life. Rajasthan is a repository of ancient knowledge of the relationship between ecology and water conservation, and of water conservation and indigenous knowledge of sustainable water conservation and utilisation based on true community participation. The participants will explore this wisdom and knowledge with Rajendar Singh of the Tarun Bharat Sangh which has succeeded in bringing dead rivers to life with active participation of the community.

Gandhi and Globalisation
December 9-28, 2001
Faculty: Sh. Satish Kumar, Sh. Ramachandra Gandhi, Sh. N. Radhakrishnan, Sh. Sidha Raj Dadda, Sh. Thakurdas Bang, Dr. Rajiv Vohra, Ms. Radha Bhatt, Dr. Vandana Shiva

Governments and international organisations around the world are pushing for `free' market globalisation and a capitalist economic model, creating unjust, unecological and unsustainable world order. Mahatma Gandhi presented an alternative: a model of decentralised, human scale land-based craft oriented and spiritually sensitive economics. The course aims at exploring and understanding the relevance of the Gandhian model in contemporary times.

The participants will spend the early part of the course at the Navdanya Biodiversity and Agro-ecology farm living and learning in close association with eminent Gandhians such as Radha Bhatt (women leader of the Chipko movement), Dr. Rammohan Gandhi (philosopher), Sidha Raj Dadda and Satish Kumar (Director, Schumacher College). Vandana Shiva will share her experiences on the concept of Satyagraha and ahimsa in the present context of globalisation and destructive technologies like genetic engineering, with particular focus on the meaning and relevance of direct action as a tool for campaigns.

In the second part of the course, the participants will meet with senior Gandhians in Delhi, visit Rajghat, Gandhi Smarak Nidhi and other places associated with Gandhi.

The third part of the course will be spent visiting Sewagram, where Gandhi developed some of his most brilliant strategies for dealing with globalisation of an unfair regime and emerged as the moral leader who India's Freedom Struggle with the purpose of equity, social justice, respect for all life and the courage to fight for these ideals. Sh. Thakurdas Bang, veteran Gandhian leader, will be faculty at Sewagram.

Holistic Science
January 9-29, 2002
Faculty: Dr. Brian Goodwin, Dr. Santosh Satya, Dr. Vandana Shiva, Mr. S.K. Das, indigenous healers and ayurved doctors

During the 20th century, biology made great progress in identifying the components of living systems, from genes to ecological communities. But there were few guidelines on how to reconstruct the coherent wholes that characterise the essence of living beings. Reductionist biology has two major consequences - one on the science itself, and the other on indigenous science and knowledge systems. In a purely scientific context, some basic principles about complex adaptive systems and the emergent order they display have been arising within the sciences of complexity, which reveal a dynamic of the living state that is, paradoxically, both ordered and unpredictable. This has significant implications for attempts to control and manipulate life through biotechnology and management, and points to an emergent science of qualities.

Reductionist science also sees living beings as ends in themselves rather than as part of a complex, shifting ecological community, co-producing with nature. The technologies and knowledge systems built through such co-production are devalued by reductionism and treated as archaic. However, these systems provide the cutting edge for new growth even in the reductionist system.

The course will describe and explore the new life sciences and the lessons for responsible action that arise from them. The first five days will be spent in Delhi with Brian Goodwin in the morning. The afternoons will be given over to activities such as meditation, recycling paper, music, learning about using space ecologically, that help foster awareness of the ecological basis of our life.

Participants will then travel to Dehradun to the Navdanya Biodiversity Conservation and Agroecology Farm where Brian will continue the dialogue while students learn about sustainable agro-systems and the value of diversity - both for sustainable food systems and for holistic health. The participants will travel in the Himalayas, to meet and learn traditional concepts of holistic health and healing from indigenous healers and practitioners of ayurveda.

The course includes a stop at the Shivanand Yoga Ashram while returning to Delhi.

Sustainable Cities
March 3-23, 2002
Faculty: Herbert Girardet, S.K. Das, A.G.K. Menon, Kathy Goldsmith

Accelerating global urbanisation has brought with it the crises of poverty, ethnic and racial violence, crime, homelessness and environmental degradation. Today, few cities are actually able to provide their citizens with even the most basic amenities. Besides this, globalisation is creating the phenomenon of "global cities"--cities that are geared towards attracting foreign investment, even when this comes into conflict with the need to alleviate poverty and protect the environment. With the rapid growth of the urban poor and the lack of a viable infrastructure to protect the interests of the people and of nature, newer, more people-oriented models of development are needed.

This course, conducted by Herbert Girardet, will consist of three sections. The first will provide an overview of urbanisation today and how it links to human migrations and current global environmental impacts. After this, participants will visit villages in and around Dehradun to gain a clear understanding of the realities of village life in India today and of urban-rural migration and its causes. The third section will be taught by both Herbert Girardet and Kathy Goldsmith. Participants will travel to Delhi to study its history, its current growth, and its environmental and social problems.

As a special addition, this course will include classes in nature painting taught by Barbara Girardet.

COURSE FEE: USD 1000 or £ 750 for 21 days including accommodation, tuition, course material, and field trips.
Registrations and advance deposits (50% of the course fees) should be made at least 6 weeks in advance of the course.
While registering, please give us full details of your address, including email address, telephone and fax numbers, the details of the organisation you work for (if any), and a short note on your particular interest.
Deposits should be made through either Bank Drafts or International Money Order in favour of Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology (Bija Vidyapeeth), and should specify the name of the applicant and the course being applied for on the reverse.

BURSARIES AND SCHOLARSHIPS FOR ALL COURSES: A limited number of scholarships are available for students and individuals in exceptional cases. Applications for financial assistance should be made two months before the course.

For more information on all courses, write to
Coordinator, BIJA VIDYAPEETH.
Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology
A-60 Hauz Khas, New Delhi,
India
Tel: 91-6968077, 91-6853772
Fax: 91-6856795
Email: bijavidyapeeth@hotmail.com, vshiva@vsnl.com
Website: vshiva.net