An escalation in the Bt brinjal controversy forced Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to rein in some of his erring col- leagues and warned them to speak in one voice on the crucial issue of biotechnol- ogy, which was required to increase agricultural pro- ductivity and ensure food security.
WITH state governments, the Planning Commission and two agricultural universities tasked to conduct research on Bt brinjal cautioning the Centre against immediate commercial release of the GM crop, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is expected to take a middle-of-theroad approach.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has stepped in to make it clear that Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh will not have the last word on the introduction of Bt Brinjal or any GM (genetically modified) food.
S.Elango , Director of Public Health (right), having a word with S.S.Vasan, head of Public Health, Oxitec Limited, U.K., at the Asian Biosafety Training meeting in Madurai on Monday. Madama Bouare , African scientist (centre), is in the picture.
Gurgaon: Even as the controversy surrounding genetically modified Bt brinjal refuses to die down, it has now come to light that farmers in and around Gurgaon are using alcohol to increase the yield of brinjal crop.
The controversy around Bt brinjal has served at least one good purpose. The government has fast-tracked the process of setting up a biotechnology regulator. A regulatory authority is to be set up under an Act of Parliament. A longstanding proposal that has been gathering dust in the Department of Biotechnology has seen the light of day.
