The government of Odisha has approved the Biotechnology Policy 2024 to create a flourishing ecosystem for the biotech industry. This will further promote higher education, research & infrastructure development in the sector and strengthen the supportive ecosystem for innovation, incubation, investment, income & impact to build enterprises. Association of Biotechnology …
chhattisgarh became the first state to actively initiate action against biosafety violations in trials of genetically modified Bt rice in India. Besides ordering an enquiry into the matter, the agriculture minister took matters into his hands. Media reports in November showed seed company Mahyco (Maharashtra Hybrid Seeds Company) was conducting …
IN this past month, farmer associations in Haryana and Tamil Nadu have located and burnt field trials for genetically modified Bt rice. In Chhattisgarh the state government has stopped similar trials happening under its nose. It is all too easy to deride these actions as the handiwork of some misinformed …
While passing an interim order staying field trials of genetically modified (gm) crops, the Supreme Court had observed on September 22, that the proceedings of the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (geac)
biofuel promise: Scientists have completed the first genome sequence of the black cottonwood, a tall and fast-growing poplar tree. Researchers have identified more than 45,000 protein-coding genes. These genes could be specifically selected through traditional plant breeding to efficiently produce the kind of cellulose needed to make biofuel production cost-effective …
the Supreme Court of India, for the first time, on September 22, 2006, issued an interim verdict banning all field trials of genetically modified (gm) crops in the country and slammed its regulatory mechanism. This means that the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (geac)
Do you think biotech will dominate the rice research agenda for India? Biotech will get its due, but in the Indian situation water and natural resource management is more important. We have to learn from the previous green revolution's negative impacts and work for sustainable rice farming now. Is India …
I was the wrong person for the right story at the wrong time. But I didn't realise this when I got off at Rajahmundry station (location: East Godavari district, Andhra Pradesh). I called up Venkat Rao, who owns a plant nursery in nearby Kadiyam mandal. Over a laboured conversation featuring …
Following the us government's announcement that an illegal and untested genetically modified strain had contaminated its conventional long-grain rice, the European Commission has stopped its import. While Japan has suspended imports, the 25-nation European Union has placed strict limits saying the grain will not be allowed unless it is certified …
tomato production may receive a major boost if the field trials for a transgenic variety developed by a team of scientists at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (iari) are successful. The new variety is resistant to the leaf curl disease, which cuts down tomato production by as much as 65 …
scientists at the Directorate of Oilseed Research (dor), Hyderabad, have developed the world's first microbial insecticide in solid form. According to D M Hegde, project director, dor, "The product is made from Bacillus thuringiensis (bt) bacteria of the kurstaki strain isolated from Mahboobnagar and Nalgonda districts in Andhra Pradesh.' Knock …
the Sri Lankan government gazetted regulations for the import of genetically modified (gm) food on August 3, 2006, making labelling and pre-import approvals mandatory. The rules will be enforced from January 1, 2007. This is a marked change from the government's earlier plan to ban gm food completely. The ban …
On July 27, a group of Greenpeace activists entered a field of genetically engineered maize in southern France and carved a giant "crop circle' with an "X' in the field. The action, taken to mark the field as a contamination zone, was in response to a ruling by a French …
Has only faulty diffusion of information held back the gains of Bt technology? Bt-cotton is a powerful illustration of the benefits offered by modern science to reduce rural poverty, improve food security, and protect the environment. But it requires proper management. In China, it's sad to see this technology die …
five million farmers in China accepted Bt cotton since 1994. We have heard no end of how biotechnology can help small and marginal farmers earn better. International development agencies, such as the un Development Program, have put their multilateral weight behid biotechnologies. Agrobusiness giants and thier public relations agencies have …
In the 1980s, worried parents and medical researchers in the us alleged that mercury in vaccines was responsible for the growing number of autism cases among children in the country. The issue was debated in medical circles, wheels moved in many western countries, but developing countries still don’t have a …
it seems times have changed. Information technology is out and agriculture is in. The thrust on agriculture is now enshrined in the draft of the Indo- us Knowledge initiative on Agricultural Research & Education, which is the agenda for us President George Bush when he comes to India in March …
This article examines the divergent political responses to unplanned exposure to genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in the Global South. Although scientific and domestic political considerations have some relevance to explaining different positions among developing countries, trade considerations appear to be a principal driver of GMO policy. This consideration is strikingly …
Indian consumers will soon have the privilege of knowing whether their food contains genetically modified (gm) ingredients. Sources at the Union ministry of health and family welfare recently said that the current rules under the relevant legislation would be amended to put the new proposals into force. Earlier, the Central …
