REGENERATIVE | Human-Ecoweb Integration

Bharat Mansata on Earthcare Books, Bhaskar Save, and Natural Farming (3 of 3)

Bharat Mansata talks about his journey in natural farming. He describes what inspired him and his wife to open their ecology-focused independent bookstore (Earthcare Books), his mentor, Bhaskar Save, the natural farming movement, Vanvadi, and the ecologically disastrous ‘Green’ revolution.

Bharat Mansata talks about what inspired him and his wife, Vineeta, to open up their unique ecology-focused independent bookstore in Kolkata, India, called Earthcare Books (https://earthcarebooks.com/). One of the men who inspired Bharat early on was Masanobu Fukuoka, author of The One-Straw Revolution, a visionary, whose farming philosophy resonates around the world. In 1988, Mr. Fukuoka visited Earthcare Books after receiving the prestigious Deshikottam Award bestowed by Visva-Bharati University at Shantiniketan, founded by Rabindranath Tagore. Bharat also speaks about his deep involvement in the permaculture movement in India and meeting his mentor, Bhaskar Save, whose work on natural farming inspired Bharat’s entitled The Vision of Natural Farming, which has been reprinted five times. In 1989, Bharat brought out a publication called Ecological Vision, with a focus on ecological agriculture and an announcement for a national gathering on natural farming and natural living. A few years later, in 1994, Bharat and a few others began a project called Vanvadi, “a lush, collectively regenerated bio-diverse forest of 65 acres on gently undulating land.… [which] now has over 80,000 trees, 90% tree cover, more than 120 traditionally useful plant species, over 50 forest food species.” (https://vanvadi.in/). Bharat explains how after World War II the armaments industry pushed their nitrogen-based surplus products as chemical fertilizers onto the farmers of the world, beginning a war on nature. A war that has intensified and that has wreaked havoc on our food systems and ecologies.

author Kakoli Mitra (she) is the founder of the Śramani Institute, working to realize the interconnected wellbeing of humans and ecologies. She integrates her expertise in (Euro reductionist) science and law, grassroots changemaking, and Indigenous ways of being into her work.
author_affiliation South Asia | Maharashtra
residence United States
organizational Earthcare Books