CACP’s chairman on why Indian agriculture is trapped in a cycle of mediocre growth and low productivity.

Genetically Modified (GM) seeds are the need of the hour to bolster farm production in the face of rising demand, and a way to match productivity of countries such as China and Vietnam, according to food scientists and experts here. With GM crops seen with suspicion by most, the scientists said there is an inherent lack of awareness about its advantages among people.

Emphasising the need to adopt technical know-how, Dr N. Sesikiran, director, National Institute of Nutrition, said, “Nature has evolved by continuous genetic modification.

‘Spread of the Bt gene could make brinjal a problematic weed'

An independent enquiry has revealed that the cultivation of genetically engineered (GE, also called genetically modified, or GM) Bt brinjal poses risks to the environment and possibly to human health. The occurrence of wild, weedy and also cultivated relatives presents a likelihood that the GE Bt gene will spread to these relatives but, so far, this has largely been overlooked in the risk assessments for GE Bt brinjal, it says.

As Greenpeace completes 10 years in India, it chalks up its successes and faces some flak. Kunal Majumder looks at both sides of the story

The prime minister’s recent comments to the journal Science on the foreign funding of Indian NGOs and the deportation of a German national, Sonntag Reiner Hermann, has generated much heat, with newspaper reports feeding further analysis and comment.

The Coalition for a GM-Free India has expressed “outrage” at Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's statement that foreign-funded NGOs were the reason for the moratorium on Bt brinjal.

“It is a clear attempt to undermine and disrespect the exercise of democratic rights by the citizens of this country regarding critical issues that concern one and all,” Sridhar Radhakrishnan, convenor of the coalition has said.

The Foundation for Biotechnology and Awareness (FBA) has urged the government to lift the moratorium on Bt brinjal and accept the recommendations of the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) which recommended its commercial release in 2009.

FBA, which consists of leading biotechnologists, also demanded that permission from state governments for field testing of biotech plants approved by the regulator should be withdrawn immediately. It also strongly opposed legal action being taken against the use of indigenous germplasm to develop indigenous biotech crops.