The revised draft Seeds Bill 2019, which the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare placed in the public domain recently for suggestions and comments, seems to be a watered down version of a draft prepared about nine years ago by the then United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government. Among other things, …
A welcome stepM S Swaminathan i am happy that at last the Lok Sabha has passed the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights Bill. This is a major step in incorporating the ethics and equity provisions of the convention on biological diversity in a sui generis system of varietal …
A UN commission has agreed on setting up, for the first time, global principles for assessing the safety of genetically modified (GM) foods. The Codex Alimentarius Commission, a division of the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), has agreed that the safety of food derived …
New regulations regarding producing and using genetically modified ( gm ) farm products have been introduced in China. Under the new rules, companies will require government approval for conducting research and experiments on gm products. A committee has been set up to assess the safety of such experiments. Sellers of …
"In the virtual world, we virtually promise everything but deliver virtually nothing." this caption from one of the cartoons exhibited at the Indian Science Congress 2001 sums up the outcome of the massive jamboree, held in Delhi from January 3 to 7. The prime minister promised food for all, the …
"Children in India remain malnourished while foodgrains rot in our granaries. The key to this is proper management of our granaries.' V Ramalingaswami National Research Professor "There's a big gap between scientific research and application. We have crude facts of science, locked up in laboratories and research institutes, but we …
The session raised a whole range of problems. When it came to discussing solutions, time ran out. Peter Raven of the Missouri Botanical Garden in the us made some relevant observa-tions: "Food security has increased, but many people in the world still go hungry.' He said extinction rate of species …
The recent flooding of untested and unlabelled genetically engineered foods, such as soybean oil, potato chips and milk in the markets and also food received from some international organisations for victims of the Orissa cyclone has caused widespread panic in farmers. Reflecting the concerns, a tribunal
the Madhya Pradesh police has filed a case against the traders who distributed chemically-treated bajra seeds (pearl millet) to farmers in the Morena district of Madhya Pradesh. At least 80 peacocks had recently died in Maharajpura and Sitapur villages of Morena, after eating these contaminated seeds. According to officials, viscera …
the trouble with biotechnology is not that it is irretrievably sinister, but that its controllers have one ruthless and overriding motive in mind - profit. Existing global intellectual property rights (ipr) rules may as well have been ghost written by biotechnology and pharmaceutical mncs. And now, another diplomatic victory was …
Indigenous technology to produce biofertiliser and protein-rich animal feed from maize waste has shown promising results with a Secunderabad-based company succeeding in marketing products based on the technology. Developed by the Thapar Corporate Research and Development Centre in Patiala, Punjab, the biofertiliser called "Suryamin' was marketed by Pratistha Industries Limited …
The introduction of high-yielding varieties of seeds and the increase in cropping intensity has resulted in a significant rise in the extent of phosphorus removal by crops. Fertiliser phosphorus is, therefore, important in order to meet the crop requirements at various stages of growth. Though maintenance of a high level …
Monsanto, the agribusiness multinational, has ultimately agreed not to market sterile seeds. The introduction of sterile seeds is a contentious issue that was threatening to jeopardise the rights and livelihood of millions of farmers globally. This commitment came in a letter from Monsanto chairman Robert Shapiro to president of Rockefeller …
A seeder, which can simultaneous sow and provide manure to the crops, has been developed. The machine, put together by the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, has two ground wheels, two skids and a swinging type handle. With the help of three people 0.5 to 0.75 ha of land can be …
An Iowa, USA, seed merchant has legally challenged the US Patent and Trademark Office, saying it erred in granting patents on modifications to plants such as corn, soyabeans and cotton. The federal court has set October 1999 as the date for hearing the petition. The court's action indicates that the …
researchers based in the us and Panama claim that the tropical rainforests' rich diversity can be traced to a scarcity of seeds and to the process through which young plants fill in gaps as older, mature trees die. Their observations, based on a15-year study of over 300,000 trees may finally …
The Supreme Court has issued notice to the Union government on a public interest litigation challenging the permission given for field trials of Monsanto's genetically modified Bollgard cotton in India and seeking a stay on all ongoing field trials. The rules for the manufacture, use, import, export and storage of …
the possibilities are beyond measure. From providing cures to health menaces with no cure at present, such as aids , to attaining global food security. Biotechnology has given humanity a faint taste of god-like power, symbolised in Dolly, the first cloned animal. It is the ultimate key to unlock mysteries …
Africa is being targeted by multinational corporations desperate for a market to sell genetically-engineered products which have been registered elsewhere. Liz Hosken of the uk- based environmental group Gaia Foundation said Africa is a
THE winding road from Hardwar, the base of the Garhwal Himalaya, leads towards Chamba, a comparatively large village (often confused with the better known Chamba of Himachal Pradesh). Ten kilometres off Chamba lies the village Nagni, whose claim to fame is the relatively shy farmer Vijay Jardhari, founder of the …
