Environmentalist and author Mark Lynas now says GM crops are the answer to global food security. Vandana Shiva disagrees.
Mark Lynas, Vandana Shiva

Dismissing Parliamentary panel's suggestion to halt all field trials of genetically modified (GM) crops, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar has said the government can't take “luxurious decision of banning” them as such kind of farm research is important for ensuring food security.

In August, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Agriculture, headed by Basudeb Acharia, had recommended to the government to stop all open-field trials of transgenic crops until it develops a better system of monitoring and oversight.

The second Indian Biodiversity Congress (IBC 2012) held at Bangalore earlier this month has called for a ban on field trials of Genetically Modified (GM) crops in India and a 10-year moratorium on Bt food crops.

The three-day event, which witnessed a large turnout of scientists, conservationists, environmentalists, civil society groups and local communities from across the country, stressed the need to bring the regulation of biotechnological processes and products under the purview of the Biodiversity Act. For the purpose, the Department of Biotechnology should be brought within the Ministry of Environment and Forests, it suggested.

ICAR “shielding errant officials” by delaying the report

In a damning indictment of the way some Bt cotton varieties were developed and commercialised in the country, a committee headed by Prof. S.K. Sopory, Vice-Chancellor of JNU, found that indigenous Bikaneri Nerma (BN) Bt cotton variety was contaminated by a gene patented by Monsanto.

Having found lapses in the “BNLA106 event”, the committee has held as “invalid” the data obtained from bio-safety studies and field trials with BNBt as these were conducted with material that contained Monsanto’s “MON531 event”.

Meet Parliamentarians and govt, seek removal of all hindrances in path of technological advancement of farming

A consortium of some farmers organisation from Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu have urged the government to remove all hindrances in the path of technological advancement of Indian farming and let the farmers make their own choice of choosing high-yielding seeds like genetically modified (GM) ones. The farmers leaders who have been camping in Delhi for the last few days met Parliamentarians and government officials to allow use of high-yielding varieties of seed to improve their per hectare production which could also include use of GM seeds.

19 commodities are to be covered by the new labelling rule

India might not have started growing genetically modified (GM) food crops, but it does import food products that contain GM ingredients. Consumers who buy them have no way of knowing what they contain. Recently, the department of consumer affairs, under the Union food and consumer affairs ministry, decided to take a corrective measure to help consumers make an informed choice. It mandated that all packaged food products containing GM ingredients should carry a GM label from January 1, 2013.

Scientists fear that Kenya's recent banning of the import of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) may be a significant blow to progress on biotechnology research and development in the country.