At a time when there are serious concerns about genetically modified (GM) food, another plant breeding technology has evolved which could help create crops with more nutritive value and better pest resistance. And it does this minus the side-effects of GM crops which have come in for some flak. Last month, a new variety of maize—Vivek QPM 9—was commercially released from Vivekananda Parvatiya Krishi Anusandhan Sansthan (VPKAS), Almora, that uses what is called marker assisted breeding (MAB).

Farmers of Vempavur village, in Perambalur district, in Tamil Nadu have decided to increase the acreage under genetically modified Bt cotton (both Bollgard and Bollgard II varieties) next season indicating the increased popularity of the seed among the state’s farmers. Of the 2.85 lakh acres of Bt cotton planted in Tamil Nadu in 2007, 29% up from 2.2 lakh acres in 2006, 92,000 acres are in Perambalur district. In the season beginning July-August, 2008, ”if we get enough quantity of the Bollgard II seeds we will plant only cotton in our entire land”, N Venkatachalam and S Kamaraj leading cotton cultivators in the region told FE.

The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to examine a decision of the ministry of environment and forests, facilitating smooth entry of processed foods containing genetically-modified organisms (GMOs) to India by exempting them from existing regulatory mechanism. A PIL filed by Vandana Shiva alleged that the exemption given in the August 23, 2007 notification would permit genetically-engineered foods, known to have have serious health hazards, unregulated entry into India without they being subjected to checks or control.

India has the potential to become a major producer of transgenic rice and several genetically modified (GM) or engineered vegetables by 2010, according to a research report by Rabo India Finance Ltd on the Indian agri-biotech sector. It has emerged as one of the leading destinations for investment in biotechnology in the recent years. It is also emerging as an important destination for both biomarkers and validation services, the report said.

A variety of corn with extra protein developed by scientists in Uttarakhand may be the first of a series of designer crops that India plans to develop without genetic modification involving alien genes. Scientists at the Vivekananda Paravtiya Krishi Anusandhan Sansthan in Almora last week announced that a variety of corn they had produced through a combination of modern biology and traditional breeding had a protein quality that approached that of milk.

India is working on a ”national crop designing strategy” to improve nutrition, yield and insect resistance levels of a wide range of key crops. It plans to do this not through the use of genetically modified, or GM crops, but by identifying the right parents for future generations of the crop. Over the next four months, a committee headed by Deepak Pental, a geneticist and vice-chancellor, University of Delhi, will prepare a report on this, which will also identify experts who can create better crops. This will be done by picking parents with the required genetic make up, a process called marker assisted selection (or MAS).

Notwithstanding the ongoing controversies related to Bt cotton and Bt brinjal, the government is all set to embrace another genetically modified technology which generated considerable heat in the US and Canada during the last decade. Known as ”herbicide tolerance”, the technology actually offers a package to the farmer — a broad spectrum pesticide that can kill allmost all types of weeds and a GM crop that can withstand that pesticide. The net result is an increase in productivity.

Ethical, social and environmental concerns relating to the application of biotechnology in several areas need to be recognized, addressed and regulated adequately by law, said the Padma Bhushan awardee and former director of the Hyderabad-based Centre for Cellular Molecular Biology (CCMB), Pushpa M Bhargava. Delivering his public lecture at the 95th Indian Science Congress here in Visakhapatnam, Bhargava said, ”biotechnology is being applied in at least 32 areas. In some areas it has created wonders, but there are genuine concerns which need to be addressed.”

Renowned Indian scientist M.S.Swaminathan has stressed the need to ”harmonise organic farming and the new genetics” to ensure that agricultural productivity does not compromise ecological sustainability. Addressing a seminar in Chennai, southern India, a couple of days ago, Dr.Swaminathan, hailed as the father of India’s green revolution, affirmed that while biotechnology had a vital role to play in helping India and the world achieve food security.

Globally, the battle over biotechnology is largely a contest of metropolitan middle classes engaged in proxy wars on the terrain of relatively poor farmers. Ironically, opposition to biotechnology in India has been largely an urban phenomenon, a creature of media and various websites. Opponents are backed by international NGOs and aid projects brokered through claims of indigenous authenticity. Reciprocally, middle-class proponents occupied positions within the state and formal-sector firms and organizations. Farmers were largely absent, though everyone speaks in their name.