Animal agriculture, even on a small scale, is economically non-viable for most farmers. Many of them, if they were not given subsidies (monetary or in kind), would not be able to continue farming. As well, the environmental cost of raising animals is huge, and in no way sustainable. Jeeva Bhavana’s primary objective is to educate the Indian public of the true environmental costs of animal-based agriculture, and to provide farmers with viable and sustainable plant-based alternatives. Concurrently, organic, and better yet veganic farming must replace conventional chemical farming to ensure human and environmental health.

Likewise, using education and outreach, Jeeva Bhavana actively promotes consuming plants (grains, seeds, pulses, vegetables, fruits, etc) and plant-based foods for our entire population as the very best way to achieve and maintain optimal health and well-being, and to ward off a host of debilitating and deadly chronic diseases (not to mention zoonotic diseases like Covid-19 that emerge from not respecting species distancing) that are currently plaguing us nationally and internationally. Instigating and promoting the shift toward plant-based diets will ensure that demand follows supply, and prompt a positive feedback loop for farmers, encouraging other farmers to follow suit.

The decline of animal agriculture will free up a tremendous amount of land. Jeeva Bhavana proposes to help implement programmes aimed at rewilding and reforestation (with an accent on food forests) in order to restore and rejuvenate soils, increase biodiversity, act as a carbon-sink and, in the case of food forests, create food sovereignty especially in communities that are the most vulnerable to famine and malnutrition. This greening of India will coincide with programmes aimed at creating sustainable and pollution- and toxin-free environments.

It is our firm belief that a healthy and vibrant India can only come to fruition when animals are no longer bred into existence only to be enslaved, exploited and slaughtered. Therefore Jeeva Bhavana partners with groups that do active outreach to educate and promote animal liberation: the right of animals not to be considered as property and the right to live their lives without human interference. 

We at Jeeva Bhavana believe that as we “do unto” animals, so shall we “do unto” our fellow human-beings. Health, dignity and security: we maintain that these inalienable rights must be shared by all individuals – animals and humans alike – to achieve a healthy, dignified and safe land for future generations. These ideals can only be achieved when we replace competition with cooperation, consumerism with service, fear with trust, and discrimination with tolerance and acceptance of the myriad differences that instead of separating us, should make us celebrate the diversity of nature and of culture.