ADOPT A VILLAGE

A Global Crisis

The world is seriously afflicted due to severe abuses against cows, against villages & against Mother Earth. In the last few decades, this spiralling trend has continued unabated at an alarming rate causing unprecedented atrocities to cows, destroying the traditional village lifestyle of millions and shamelessly raping Mother Earth of her natural resources causing ecological disasters which have the potential to fully annihilate the whole human race. Unless we act NOW, there is little hope for the future.

Nursery, Forest & Seed Bank

ADOPT A VILLAGE will train and encourage villagers how to keep their natural seeds and to start a nursery. We will help restore natural forests which will be useful for fuel, shelter and water preservation.

Small Scale Industry

ADOPT A VILLAGE will encourage the villagers to weave their own cloth by using the traditional handloom. Other activities such as pottery, masonry, construction and similar artisan will also be supported.

Village Technologies

Traditional village technologies such as natural water lifting devices, jaggery making units, oil ghani, stone grinding of wheat flour, de-husking of rice, making of flat rice and others will be introduced to the villagers.

Spiritual Practices

ADOPT A VILLAGE will teach the art of mantra meditation, Yoga and general spiritual practices which are in keeping with the universal Vedic teachings. Each village will have an asrama & place of worship.

Health Care

The villagers will be given information about natural medicines and natural herbs. Wherever possible, a small Nature Cure Unit will be established.

Cows

In most countries of the world, cows are being mercilessly butchered in organized government supported slaughterhouses or even in clandestine horror factories orchestrated by unscrupulous people. Modern day “factory farming” treats the cows as mere machines and injects them with all kinds of dangerous fluids and chemicals to increase their milk production. Once their production goes below the expected level, they are disposed of in a most cruel manner, the horrors of which are known to only a few. In India alone, the number of pure breed cows has decreased from 120 to only 33 within the last few decades. In India, 200,000 cows are slaughtered DAILY!

Villages

The Industrial Revolution started a few hundred years ago in Europe has succeeded in gradually shifting entire nations from their normal agrarian based lifestyle to today’s ever increasing urban based living. This trend continues at an ever alarming rate with a country like India expected to have 50% of its population living in towns and cities by year 2020. Due to the onslaught of modernistic propaganda to increase national economic development, villagers are being allured to factory work in the cities or at times are forced to sell their land to greedy industrialists.

Our villages & villagers are quickly disappearing!

Mother Earth

Just a few years ago, the United Nations declared that the results of ecological disasters had already reached a “point of no return”. The trend has continued to swell at an ever increasing & alarming rate as highlighted with the 2010 BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, a humongous disaster which has caused unknown ecological dire consequences of a dimension possibly yet unparalleled in the istory of mankind. In their frenzy and madness for unrestricted economic growth, most governments around the world are rapidly depleting their natural resources by allowing dangerous and unwise policies aimed at rapid exploitation of our natural resources.

Mother Earth’s burden increases every single day!

The Stakeholders

ISKCON DAIVA VARNASRAMA MINISTRY (IDVM) is the National Ministry of ISKCON India established in the year 2009 to help promote rural development in the villages. The National Secretariat of IDVM is located at ISKCON Mayapur, Cakra Bldg, Room 137. His Holiness Bhakti Raghava Swami serves as the Minister.

SAHYADRI SRI KRISHNA BALARAMA KSETRA (SSKBK) is a pilot project located in the District of Udupi, South Karnataka and serves as the main rural base for the Ministry. Yearly Varnasrama College courses are offered free of charge.

Goshala In Each Village

ADOPT A VILLAGE will teach villagers the importance of “ahimsa milk” by protecting cows for life and keeping a common goshala where various cow products can be made and distributed. Enhanced milk production will allow for milk distribution as well.

Holistic Farming In Each Village

The villagers will be taught simple methods of composting and organic farming using natural pesticides and natural fertilizers. This will help increase local production of more nutritious food.

Open Wells In Each Village

ADOPT A VILLAGE will help provide each village with as many wells as possible. It is found that some villages have well, but one well for the entire village. In addition to being provided with wells, the villagers will also receive education on watershed management so that rain water is properly captured and preserved.

Training & Education In Each Village

The villagers will be taught simple methods of composting and organic farming using natural pesticides and natural fertilizers. This will help increase local production of more nutritious food.

X