India Divided: Diversity and democracy under attack - Softcover

"Praise for Vandana Shiva: "Shiva has devoted her life to fighting for the rights of the ordinary people of India....Her fierce intellect and her disarmingly friendly, accessible manner have made her a valuble advocate for people all over the developing world."

"A leading thinker who has eloquently blended her views on the environment, agriculture, spirituality, and women's right into a powerful philosophy."

"Vandana Shiva is a burst of Creative Energy and Intellectual power."

"One of the world's most prominent radical scientists."

Beginning with an analysis of the history of the birth agonies of India as a sovereign state, Shiva lays the blame for the clash of Islamic and Hindu fundamentalism squarely at the feet of colonial powers--from the British strategy of "divide and rule" that partitioned Pakistan from India and created the artificial conflict between Islam and Hinduism that is wracking the subcontinent today. Shiva explains that there was never a conflict between Hinduism and Islam in India before British rule. In fact, the very work Hindu is a geographical indentifier and includes all of the variety of religions practiced in India.. The conflict between India and Pakistan was engineered by the British to divert the non-partisan peaceful sovereignty movement that threatened the British financial stake in India. This same artificial division is being exploited today by the U.S. global war on terror and the multinationals behind the World Bank and the WTO. In the second section of India on Fire Shiva offers a critical analysis of the effects of globalization on India's food supply, water and ancient cultural traditions. Shiva asserts that the potential market for multinationals in India is huge, but to establish a foothold they must manipulate local politics and thousand year old agricultural models. The same methods of conflict and commoditization used by the British are being employed again to undermine national sovereignty and is placing the population at the risk of starvation. The third section offers Shiva's proposal for a solution to these threats to the ancient and diverse cultures of India and Pakistan. She advocates a political ideology called Earth Democracy, one that incorporates a reverence forthe rights of every citizen to unfettered access to natural resources. Shiva insists that a return to geographical politics will help to re-establish the organic harmony of the religions and ethnicities of the Asian sub-continent.

Bringing together historical, philosophical and scientific thought, this volume from physicist turned environmental, human rights and anti-globalisation activist Dr. Vandana Shiva investigates the crises of war, fundamentalism, mass famine and economic enslavement wreaking havoc in India today. Beginning with an analysis of India's birth as a sovereign state, Shiva explains that the religious conflict between Islam and Hinduism in India was in fact engineered by the British as part of their colonial strategy of "divide and rule". She turns a similar critical eye on the effect of multinationals' manipulation of local politics and agricultural models in order to serve their own needs, which has undermined national sovereignty and placed the population at risk of starvation. Also offering a solution to these threats, INDIA ON FIRE is a bold treatise on the fate of the Indian nation.