Yesterday was a day of many firsts for the sustainable agriculture team and Greenpeace India as a whole. For the first time we had a proper public hearing, where a survey of stake holders were conducted and a public hearing organised. Around 500 people participated in the public hearing and what we should remember is also these are among the poorest of the poor of our country.They came there because they believed that there voice needs to be heard when the country is on its way to decide the biggest of the agricultural policies,the one on fertilisers.They all came on their own, and if you ask me that is our biggest victory.And it happened because of days of mobilisation that Gopi and Kissan Adhikar Abhiyan accross 120 villages of Wardha.

Yesterday we held our 3rd public hearing, among a series of 4, at Sewagram Ashram, next to the hut where Mahatma Gandhi lived and fought for our freedom. Hundreds gathered there to fight for freedom from government agriculture policies which are corporate driven and promotes intensive agriculture.

A clouded sky and sporadic drizzles in the day break had all of us in tension. Rain is a luxury in this part of the world that a farmer cannot afford to lose.Though the untimely rain caught all of us unawares we decided that even if 10 farmers turn up we will conduct the hearing. And slowly they started trickling in and by the time the hearing started the registration book showed close to 500 registrations.

The member of parliament from Wardha graced the occassion and seeing the mood of the crowd promised to take up their views to the parliament and the cabinet.

Gopi, our sustainable agriculture campaigner, spoke in Hindi about greenpeace and our sustainable agriculture campaign and why we were there, the rest is in the press release. What is not there is about Samir Nazareth who came visiting and helped us do a photo-op in front of bapu kuti, where Gandhiji lived and worked.

For the first time we did a non-violent direct action at a place where the father of non-violent direct action lived. Never had we been so close to what Gandhi believed in and did.

With one more public hearing left the news has reached where it has to. The industries advisor in the Planning commission in charge of Agriculture has promised Gopi that once all the hearings are over she would arrange for a presentation of our recommendations on subsidies to the whole of planning commission.

In the meanwhile, Parliamentary standing committee on agriculture has taken up fertiliser policy as one the things to be discussed and promised us a hearing thanks to the lobbying with some good friends in CPI[M]. The Chair of the committee is from the party.

Read the full press release