Soil, not oil, holds the future for humanity.

Seed is not just the source of life. It is the very foundation of our being.

When it comes to owning the seed for collecting royalties, the GMO companies say, 'it's mine.' But when it comes to contamination, cross-pollination, health problems, the response is we're not liable.

We are either going to have a future where women lead the way to make peace with the Earth or we are not going to have a human future at all.

The spinning wheel became the symbol of Indian independence. So we always say, "if the spinning wheel was the symbol of our first independence, then the seed is the symbol of our second independence."

Patriarchy is based on appropriating rights and leaving responsibility to others.

The first issue that compelled me was a very strange split between India being highly development scientifically (we were the third biggest scientific manpower in the world then) and yet at the same time struggling with amazing poverty. The linear equation that says that modern science equals progress and the reduction of poverty did not apply to India. It wasn't working.