India's Soils: Science - Policy - Practice: TS Channesh, Centre for Public Understanding of Science

February 26-28, 2017
Organised by -
DST Centre for Policy Research, IIT Delhi
Revitalising Rainfed Areas (RRA) Network,
Watershed Support Services and Activities Network (WASSAN), Shiv Nadar University
The conference, designed as a “trialogue” between scientists, policy makers and practitioners brought together three powerful actors in soil health management in India. Conference deliberations came up with a coherent and shared understanding of the public policy problem, and its relationship to scientific research questions, and practices of using, tending, and conserving soils.
Several presentations during the conference showed successful examples of farms and farming agro-ecosystems (~40,000 farmers) where inclusion of the 3M’s enhanced soil productivity, improved fertiliser - use efficiency, reduced costs significantly and resulted in higher net returns. The food produced was healthy and nutritious and ecological services were provided, including carbon sequestration and reduced use of non-renewable energy sources. Many of these experiences have been validated by scientists from the SAUs and ICAR and endorsed by international agencies such as FAO.
ABOUT THE ABOVE PRESENTATION:
TS Channesh, Centre for Public Understanding of Science, Bangalore
urged the delegates to think about soilsbeyond chemistry. He explained how in a small span of time, modern inquiry into soil changed the perception of soil as a plant-driven sink into a fertilizer treadmill. German chemist, Justus von Liebig, who is considered to be the father of chemical agriculture, had confessed that he had “sinned against the wisdom of Creator” when he realised that the N-P-K approach was a mistake, the yield from which could not
be sustained. But this confession, explained Channesh, was ignored by modern soil
scientists and policy makers. Among the pure sciences, physics, followed by
chemistry, dominated over a long period of time, and biology got prominence only
by the second half of the 20th century-this may have contributed to the lack of a
biological approach in the soil sciences.
Regarding the soil health card scheme, he lamented that from the 1980s till date,
over 12-14 crore soil test samples were analysed by the government. But the data
was not saved and secured for further analysis, which was a huge opportunity lost. In
most cases the soil test was done only because the report was mandatory to get a
subsidy loan. He also highlighted the difference in academic and public views about
the soil. For instance, many a times, land use decisions are revenue decisions when it
is a fact that 33% of cultivated soils are degraded. The soil scientist’s role became
limited to fertilizer recommendation and they were not consulted for policy making.
For him, soil science must be recognized as responsible, accountable professional
science amidst other practitioners of science and engineering for the proper
management and use of our soil resources. Also, the learning processes in soil
science need to changed. In his view soil scientists need to be made more
responsible and accountable for the soil health of the region.