Three states which account for 60 per cent of brinjal production in the country have clearly told the Centre that they were not keen on introducing the genetically-modified version (Bt brinjal) in their fields. ”After West Bengal and Bihar, it is now Orissa Agriculture Minister who has written me a letter that they were opposed to the Bt brinjal,” Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said at the Editors’ Conference on social sector issues, here today.

The Centre will take a decision on the mode of introduction of Bt brinjal in the country by February this year, hoping to reach a consensus by then. The Union environment ministry will also come out with a status report based on the public hearings on Bt brinjal by that time. The controversial Bt brinjal was cleared by the country’s bio-technology regulator last year for commercial cultivation.

Scientists and farmers came out with suggestions on various aspects of the issue and submitted their written plea to the minister. Most of them were against cultivation of the genetically modified (GM) crop. Some scientists opined that there is nothing wrong in it but the government should be more cautious. While Ramesh was listening to the views, protestors took to the streets with posters and placards saying ’BT brinjal go back’. Towards the end of the discussion, the minister himself came out and pacified the protectors who were demonstrating on the road.

Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh will from Wednesday hold a series of public meetings across the country on the controversial Bt brinjal which was cleared by the country’s bio-technology regulator last year for its commercial cultivation.

Addressing the media on Thursday, [noted biotechnologist and Padma awardee Pushp Bhargava] said allowing multinationals like the US-based Monsanto to sell its GM seeds would be the ”greatest tragedy in the history of Independent India because it will make India subservient to US interests”. Comparing Monsanto with the British East India Company, the Padma awardee said he, along with several other scientists of international repute, had decided to fight against seed companies’ imperialist designs to control India’s agriculture.

There’s a new player in the fight against Bt brinjal, a village panchayat in Kerala that is seeking to preserve a traditional variety of eggplant. As part of the plans of the village-level elected legislative body, around 8,000 households in the Mararikulam North gram panchayat in the coastal district of Alappuzha in Kerala will now grow the Marari variety, a slender green brinjal that has long been grown in this part of the world.

Dr. Ajay Parida, Executive Director, M.S. Swami Nathan Research foundation (MSSRF) called for setting up an autonomous National Biotechnology Regulatory Authority in the country for regulating the research and clearance to genetically modified plants and animal products. [...] Before releasing a transgenic product to public, environment impact study or clinical trails should be under taken, said Dr. Parida.

A month away from the first public consultation on Bt brinjal, at least six state governments have now openly started talking against the Centre’s decision to release the first genetically modified food crop to farmers and have decided against implementing it. The state governments that have openly spoken against the Centre’s decision are Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Kerala, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Orissa.

A month away from the first public consultation on Bt brinjal, at least six state governments have now openly started talking against the Centre’s decision to release the first genetically modified food crop to farmers and have decided against implementing it. The state governments that have openly spoken against the Centre’s decision are Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Kerala, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Orissa.

A month away from the first public consultation on Bt brinjal, at least six state governments have now openly started talking against the Centre’s decision to release the first genetically modified food crop to farmers and have decided against implementing it. The state governments that have openly spoken against the Centre’s decision are Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Kerala, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Orissa.