As the monsoon plays truant, the tragic face of our agrarian distress, suicide by farmers, is likely to manifest again in several parts of the country.

New Delhi The Centre has sought details from the Maharashtra government about reasons for cancelling the licence of private seed firm Mahyco to sell Bt cotton seeds in the state.

The Union Agriculture Ministry has also asked Mahyco to submit its views, a senior government official said. On August 8, the state government had issued an order cancelling the licence of Maharashtra Hybrid Seeds Company (Mahyco) to sell Bt cotton seeds with immediate effect, following various complaints against the company for creating artificial shortage and charging higher prices.

Almost eight months after a probe was instituted into the use of Monsanto Bt gene in desi Bt cotton variety, passing it off as an original event, there is no word yet on when the report is likely t

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Agriculture has come down heavily against the use of genetically modified (GM) crops in the country.

New Delhi Maharashtra has banned the sale and distribution of the genetically modified cotton seeds of Maharashtra Hybrid Seeds Company (Mahyco) with immediate effect on charges of supplying inferior quality seeds, a senior state government official said on Thursday.

“Mahyco has not received any official communication from the Maharashtra government about the cancellation of its license to sell Bt cotton seeds in the state,” the company said in a statement. “Mahyco has complied with all the guidelines set by the state agriculture department and has always provided required information to the agriculture department....We will address the concerns raised by the authority once we have received the official communication from the department,” the statement added.

‘Probe how Bt brinjal seed was allowed to be commercialised’

In a major setback to the proponents of genetically modified technology in farm crops, the Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture on Thursday asked the government to stop all field trials and sought a bar on GM food crops (such as Bt. brinjal). The committee report, tabled in the Lok Sabha, demanded a “thorough probe” into how permission was given to commercialise Bt. brinjal seed when all evaluation tests were not carried out.