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Prajateerpu's
Origins
Released on India's Republic Day 1999, Vision 2020
sets out the future of Andhra Pradesh as envisioned
by the Government
of Andhra Pradesh (GoAP), a future in which poverty
is eradicated. Vision
2020 seeks to transform all areas of social and
economic life in Andhra Pradesh. It aims to build human
resources, to focus on high-potential sectors as the
engines of growth, and to transform governance throughout
the state. The government's poverty-reduction strategy
is intimately linked with the delivery of this comprehensive
vision.
Fundamental and profound transformations of the food
system are proposed in Vision 2020, yet there has been
little or no involvement of small farmers and rural
people in shaping this policy scenario. Local and state-level
partners expressed considerable concerns about the possible
impacts of Vision 2020 on agricultural biodiversity,
the security of rural people's livelihoods and the very
fabric of local food systems and economies. About three
quarters of the state's recorded population of 70 million
work in agriculture, and 80 percent of the farming population
is made up of small and marginal farmers. It was in
this context that a range of concerned individuals in
India and the UK began to explore mechanisms of encouraging
an informed public debate on the choice of policy futures
for food and farming in Andhra Pradesh.
Extensive discussions between this group of potential
collaborators brought the following organizations together
in what subsequently became known as the Prajateerpu
process: the Andhra Pradesh Coalition in Defence of
Diversity (Andhra PradeshCDD), the University of Hyderabad,
the All-India National Biodiversity Strategy and Action
Plan (NBSAP), and the UK-based International Institute
for Environment and Development (lIED) and the Institute
of Development Studies (IDS).
Despite their geographical distance and cultural differences,
this core group of co-operative inquirers shared three
sets of values and goals.
- a commitment to holistic, inclusive and democratic
ways of knowing and acting in the world, recognizing
the possibility of transformative action through critical
research.
- the acquisition of knowledge - and the process of
coming to know - should also serve democracy and the
practical goals of social and ecological justice.
- the participatory processes used should allow the
democratic scrutiny of both 'facts' and values, bringing
together critical analysis with an empathy for the
insights and wisdom that can come from lived experience.
The researchers were conscious that their initiative
was being undertaken as a rapid and somewhat top-down
response to a vision that was already being implemented
by the Government of Andhra Pradesh. However, they believed
that the Prajateerpu process could potentially create
a safe space for people directly affected by Vision
2020, enabling participants from marginalized communities
to further develop their own political space, and to
mobilize themselves and others to bring about change
independently of the Prajateerpu organizers.
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