The sudden rise in the demand for BT cotton seeds has left the district agricultural department in a fix. The department is finding it difficult to meet the growing demand for BT cotton seeds in the district. [...] Sources from the agricultural department said cotton is one of the major commercial crops in the region. The farmers who had sown cotton reaped a good profit last year.

The ongoing debate over the commercial release of genetically-modified crop Bt Brinjal in the country, heated up once again in a recent meeting of the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee. [...] From among those who attended, only Dr P M Bhargava, founder of Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, opposed any kind of release of Bt Brinjal, while Prof. M S Swaminathan, noted agricultural scientist, and others were keen to discuss further.

The moratorium imposed on Bt brinjal last year is likely to continue, despite the expert committee, set up by the environment ministry, favouring ”limited release” of the crop. Environment minister Jairam Ramesh yesterday made it clear [...] ”There is no such thing as limited release” [...] Majority of the 16-member Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee [...] favoured limited release of the genetically modified variety under strict monitoring. [...] Dr Pushp Bhargava, a GEAC member, however said, there were no recommendations by the committee. Limited release was just an opinion. ”People who had vested interest only favoured partial release,” she said.

As India gets ready to unleash a vast number of genetically modified (GM) food crops, politicians have joined activists in opposing engineered crops. This is snowballing into a volatile political issue with states refusing to let the Centre have the final say in the matter. A number of chief ministers have objected to field tests of GM crops being conducted in their backyard, while some have declared that their states will be GM-free, citing health and environmental concerns. The political standoff comes against the worrying backdrop of slipshod regulation.

After moratorium on BT Brinjal, the environment ministry will review all existing field trials of the genetically modified crops in India for safety and the protocols of safety adopted by trial agencies. A committee is being set up on directions of the Supreme Court, which wanted the government to constitute a panel to advise it on safety aspects of GM crop field trials. Several field trails of GM recrops including rice, tomato, brinjal and cotton are going on in different parts of the country.

foreign multinationals now dominate industries, such as the cotton industry, including dominating the key inputs that are needed for cotton. In the case of cotton, in particular, the genetically modified Bt cottonseed has been promoted so effectively in India that it now dominates the entire sector, and between its cost, quality and availability, has an enormous impact on farmer costs and profits and yields to the point that it’s landing them in enormous debt.

Representatives of five organizations and networks made a strong presentation to the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee in its 109th meeting here today demanding that all field trials of GMOs in the country be suspended immediately, given the intrinsic uncontrollable nature of GM technology in addition to the amply-demonstrated incapability of our regulatory system to address issues of biosafety and beyond when it comes to GMOs.

The Department of Biotechnology is playing venture capitalist to private companies to push agri research. [...] All these goodies come from the Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Programme, or Birap, a special partnership created by DBT with ABLE, the representative organisation of the biotech industry, and the public sector Biotech Consortium India Ltd (BCIL). With a kitty of Rs 350 crore to disburse during the 11th Plan, DBT says it expects to promote ”innovation, pre-proof-of-concept research and accelerated technology and product development” in the areas of agriculture, health and energy.

No decision was taken at the first meeting of experts that deliberated on issues relating to the moratorium on the commercial release of Genetically Modified Bt Brinjal. [...] Noted agriculture scientist M.S. Swaminathan, however, recused himself from the meeting. He told The Hindu that being a member of a Parliamentary Committee that was looking into the issue of Genetically Engineered Crops and Genetically Modified Organisms, he would not participate in any such deliberations.

Seven of the 16 members expert panel to examine new safety standards for BT Brinial, on which moratorium was imposed in February 2010, had a role to play in giving approval to India's first genetically modified food crop BT Brinjal. The panel has national advisory council member Madhav Gadgil, PM Bhargava, an independent GM expert,G Padmanabhan, Emeritus professor at Indian Institute of Sciences, Bangalore, and Bala Prasad, chief executive officer of National Medicinal Plants Board as members.