The problems with the current proposal of the regulatory system starts with the conflicting interest in which ministry is tabling the Bill, the ministry of science and technology that also has the mandate to promote GM crops in the country. The Bill also proposes to have an appellate tribunal that is the sole forum for redressal. This is a scary situation in which the promoter himself becomes the regulator, prosecutor and the judge. This is the recipe for a corrupt autocratic system.

That’s a reminder: biotech can increase crop yield dramatically, and fight food inflation. Farmers are ready for reform, research is peaking. Now, government has to be smart and quick. What hyper-imaginative critics of farm biotechnology call Frankenstein food, or Frankenfood, is now the handiest solution to India’s runaway food inflation. The debate on genetically modified food no longer runs along the monster or messiah lines: it clearly is a viable solution, but a lot will depend on where we go from here and how we leverage the technology.

Global agriculture biotechnology major Monsanto Company has set for itself a target of three years by which it hopes to obtain the Indian Government’s approval for introducing genetically modified corn, Dr Robb Fraley, Chief Technology Officer, told a group of media teams visiting Farm Progress Show at Decatur, Illinois. [...] ”We will comply with regulatory requirements, but it must be transparent and stable,”he said. Elaborating the point, he referred to Brazil where in the last three years unsteady policies of yore have given way to steady and transparent ones, which have led to approval of many new products.

Global agriculture biotechnology major Monsanto Company has set for itself a target of three years by which it hopes to obtain the Indian Government’s approval for introducing genetically modified corn, Dr Robb Fraley, Chief Technology Officer, told a group of media teams visiting Farm Progress Show at Decatur, Illinois. [...] ”We will comply with regulatory requirements, but it must be transparent and stable,”he said. Elaborating the point, he referred to Brazil where in the last three years unsteady policies of yore have given way to steady and transparent ones, which have led to approval of many new products.

The Times of India reruns a three-year-old story on Bt Cotton without any updates as paid news. It is described as a consumer connect initiative. Why did Mahyco Monsanto Biotech get this extolling story republished? The trigger seems to be the bad press it has got recently. On August 28, 2011, the Times of India attempted to present ” old wine in a new bottle” in its own style. A full page story ”Reaping gold through Bt Cotton” appeared in its Sunday edition just when the media was busy celebrating end of Anna Hazare’s fast.

Brinjal is not used for Indian systems of medicine and no one should prevent it from becoming the world’s first commercially available genetically modified food, scientists said. [...] ”One of the objections to genetically modified brinjal is based on the claim that it would tamper with the vegetable that is used for medicinal purposes. After a three-month study, I’ve found that raw brinjal is not used in any system of medicine [...] said Prof Kameswara Rao of the Foundation of Biotechnology Awareness and Education.

The idea of BT Brinjal and genetically modified crops must be sounding delicious to the government, but it is not finding many takers in the farmlands and households. This is what Greenpeace, the NGO fighting against the introduction of genetically modified crops, claims. In a unique protest against BT Brinjal, Greenpeace, along with chefs of hotel Le Méridien, cooked 342 kg of organic brinjal bharta on Tuesday at Dilli Haat, making it a world record. Some bharta was also dispatched to Prime Minister’s house with a letter of protest.

Hundreds of people holding signs and wearing pins and stickers -- some saying, ”Hey GMOs, stop trying to get in my plants” -- gathered on the lawn of the Boulder County Courthouse on Tuesday to support banning genetically modified crops on open space land. Boulder County is in the process of crafting a management plan for the 18,000 acres of cropland overseen by the open space department, which will include a policy on whether to allow genetically modified crops. A nine-member volunteer advisory panel has been meeting since February to craft a set of recommendations.

A civil society group Friday urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to withdraw the Biotechnology Regularity Authority of India bill, saying it lowers the bar for safety assessments for Genetically Modified crops. The ’Alliance for Safe Food’ in a two-page letter urged the prime minister not to allow tabling of the bill in parliament as it was drafted without consulting the common people.

Over the last few months, there has been a pile-up of more than 100 applications seeking regulatory approvals to conduct field-trials of genetically-modified crops. The Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee had, in June, directed industry applicants to get a No Objection Certificate from respective State Governments before undertaking open field trials.