Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar told the Lok Sabha yesterday that the use of high quality hybrid cotton seeds had helped farmers make big gains due to reduced use of pesticides. At a time when India is passing through an agrarian crisis, this statement could have come as a glimmer of hope, except that Pawar’s own ministry seemed to think that the reverse was happening. According to the agriculture ministry’s reports, ICAR findings as recently as January 2012 proved that Bt cotton production in the last five years had declined whereas use of insecticide and pesticides had increased. Activists said the information given by Pawar was misleading.