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even started damaging the chromosomes which will affect generations to come. Pesticides have been found in the milk of lactating mothers, affecting the health of the children and are cause of concern. The use of pesticides is deliberate violence (Sankalpi Himsa) which is considered most heinous in Jainism and is totally forbidden. In developed nations there is now growing preference for organic food which is free from use of chemical fertilisers and pesticides. Such foods are sold at much higher prices as 'Health foods' and yet preferred. Jains should have taken lead in production and publicity of organic foods but no such effort is there and even monks are given the food involving deliberate violence.
Redemption:
The deteriorating situation can be reversed and corrected. Redemption is not difficult. The polluting and damaging agricultural practices can be easily replaced by forestry practices, using Taungya system of tree planting in which agricultural crops are also raised along with tree planting till such time the trees mature to provide edible products. The mixed polyculture forests will provide all the necessities and will be everlasting if managed properly and scientifically. In forestry there are no recurring input costs as in agriculture. Huge subsidies are required to sustain agriculture which is not at all economically viable and in spite of being highly subsidised suicides in farmers are increasing. There is no violence of any sort involved in forest based life style. There is lot of violence in every agricultural practice from ploughing to manuring, watering and much more in use of pesticides. Forests conserve soil and moisture most efficiently; every tree is a dam more efficient and cheaper than any concrete one. There is no soil erosion and every drop of water is conserved in situ at the very place it falls. It has been experimentally established that infiltration of rain water in good forest area is up to 99% and very little water goes as run-off. Water is available in water sources, rivers, streams, lakes, wells and tanks all the year round from underground sources which get fully recharged. Forests do not need any pesticides as there is natural balance of pests and predators in mixed forests. In forest based life style there is automatic control on population without any coercion or artificial measures. In an experiment on wolves in Germany the procreation was slowed and accelerated according to the availability of natural food from forests.
The average annual yield of edible seeds and nuts alone will be around 2 tonnes per hectare. In addition edible flowers, fruits, leaves and tubers are also available. Besides this forests provide host of products, timber, fuel, fodder, medicine, fibres and chemical for domestic and industrial uses. The world average annual yield from agriculture is about 1.25 tonnes per hectare and that too at the mercy of nature, its vagaries in form of excess or deficient rainfall, storms, epidemics of pests may destroy the crops partially and even wipe out totally. The nutrition from forest seeds etc. is superior to that from grains from agriculture. My project 'Human Nutrition from Forest Seeds' was sanctioned by Department of Science and Technology and Ms Sneh Sharma has done PhD on it. In the first phase of this project the nutritional status of forest seeds was determined and it has been
