Union Minister for Rural Development Jairam Ramesh on Sunday said no NGO influenced his decision to put a moratorium on Bt Brinjal, a statement that comes against the backdrop of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh raising questions about the role of foreign funded NGOs in blocking use of genetic engineering.

Dr. Singh has said some NGOs based in the United States and Scandinavian countries were not “fully appreciative” of the development challenges that India faced.