The remarkable success of the transgenic Bt cotton – which carries an alien insect-killer gene borrowed from soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis or Bt – and the pace at which it has spread in India are unparalleled in the world. [...] Besides, it has denied farmers their legitimate right to retain and use self-produced seeds. [...] The blame lies with the way in which this technology has been deployed to produce only Bt hybrids and the virtual mono-propping of these hybrids in the absence of equally valuable alternatives.

RAJASTHAN is in the eye of a storm over its policy on genetically manipulated crops. Questions are being raised over how a junior official in the department of agriculture gave permission for field trials of GM mustard even before the regulator had approved these, and how these are being conducted without the knowledge of the State Biotechnology Coordination Committee, which is mandated to monitor the trials. But there are red faces in Jaipur Mantralaya over another issue: the delay in notifying the government’s decision to ban GM field trials that was taken over a month ago.

Bharatiya Kisan Sangh alleged that global seeds major Monsanto was secretly running a signature campaign in rural Gujarat, where it is asking farmers to sign a letter to Prime Minister favouring introduction of genetically modified food crops. The apex body of farmers further alleged the US-based firm had hired local youth in villages who get farmers to sign the letter. It asked the Gujarat Government to ban Monsanto for indulging in ”anti-farmer” activities. Monsanto has denied charges levelled by BKS.

Joshi, the founder of Shetkari Sanghatana, along with Association of Bt-Led Enterprise, an organization backed by companies making Bt seeds including US-based Monsanto, slammed the farm activists who opposed its use at a press conference here on Tuesday. He accused Kishore Tiwari of Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti of serving vested interests, hinting towards the chemical pesticides industry. [COMMENT GENET: the world's main pesticide producers are all members of the Special Interest Group on Agribiotechnology of ABLE!]

Australian scientists have genetically modified bananas so the fruit is not only full of vitamins but also rich with iron. They are now sharing the technology with Indian scientists and farmers to help address widespread anaemia in the country, which can lead to death during childbirth. The Queensland University of Technology signed an agreement with India’s department of biotechnology to invest in a four-year project to develop the iron-rich bananas.

Global environmental pressure group Greenpeace has urged West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to stall the proposed Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of India Bill, 2011 in parliament. Greenpeace India claimed West Bengal Mamata Banerjee has assured a group of youths, representing various colleges in the city, that she will never allow Genetically Modified crops in the state. The youths who called on her at her residence Monday reminded the Chief Minister about the impending danger that the food, farming and environment of the state faces from the Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of India bill

Story of debt-ridden Vidarbha farmers in one of the India’s richest state, Maharashtra, has been told many times. The burdening figure of quarter of a million farmers buried in the region’s ’cotton-field graveyard’ since 1995 tells how an agriculturally productive region can turn into a death-trap just because of the government’s ill-conceived policies and inaction. But, capturing a disaster spread over almost two decades of time wrap is not easy.

Chaos prevailed in cotton trade on Monday after the Government banned raw cotton exports with immediate effect, catching shippers, industry and growers by surprise. In a notification issued, surprisingly early in the morning, the Directorate General of Foreign Trade said even exports of cotton for which registration certificates have been issued will not be allowed. The ban follows registration of over 12.5 million bales (of 170 kg each) of cotton for exports. A Government statement in the evening said the ban was imposed due to higher than anticipated exports and fears of a tendency to hoard cotton in bonded warehouses abroad.

Taking strong exception to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s remarks against NGOs who opposed genetically modified crops and nuclear power plants, a group of eminent citizens said that it was a “highly inappropriate misrepresentation of facts.” In a strongly-worded letter to him, the group led by the former Supreme Court Judge, V.R. Krishna Iyer, and including the former Chairman of the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board, A. Gopalakrishnan, said it was the government and not NGOs which were working against the interests of the country.

Activists opposing trials on genetically modified crops have demanded that the State government ensure no clandestine trials are conducted in the State. [...] Gayathri V of SAGE Karnataka said the NGO had launched a statewide campaign to build pressure on the government to oppose the Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of India Bill and the Seed Bill and attempts by corporate groups to deprive the State government of its right to decide on the relevance of technology.