What India can learn from the Philippines, which set up a Biotech Program Office in 2000 to promote the responsible use of agri-biotechnology to sustain food security. With Prakash Javadekar taking charge of the environment ministry from the inert Harsh Vardhan, and hopes kindling of genetically-engineered brinjal and mustard being …
In a significant ruling, the High Court on Friday dismissed a petition by Mahyco Monsanto and others seeking to quash criminal proceedings against them, University of Agriculture Sciences (UAS), Dharwad, and others who have been booked for bio-piracy while developing Bt brinjal. The National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) and Bangalore-based Karnataka …
An expert committee has termed sound all scientific findings concerning the country’s first genetically modified (GM) crop — Bt Brinjal — and is now preparing its review report on those for forwarding it to the agriculture ministry, officials said yesterday. On receipt of the experts’ report, the National Technical Committee …
Do you think only ‘Monsanto’ (or any multinational seed company) has the capacity to develop transgenic crops? The answer is a clear ‘no’. Indian scientists, working with public sector research institutions and universities, too have developed many genetically engineered varieties which, in fact, could not move beyond lab or ‘restricted’ …
The vegetable accounts for the largest use of insecticides. Not many know that brinjal, a commonly used vegetable, accounts for the highest use of insecticides among all the vegetables in the country. This is mainly because farmers have no option but to spray insecticides on a weekly basis 15 to …
A chargesheet has been filed against Maharashtra Hybrid Seeds Company (Mahyco), a subsidiary of Monsanto, the US agri business firm, for violating the bio-piracy laws in developing Bt Brinjal variety by using genes of local brinjal varieties without prior permission, according to Balakrishna Pasupati, chairman of National Biodiversity Authority. Pasupathi …
This paper describes the series of events which took place in India from the development of Bt brinjal to its initial approval by the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC)a to the declaration of a moratorium on it by the Minister of Environment & Forests and events thereafter. It discusses the …
PANJIM: The Goa government has sought help from the Indian Council for Agricultural Research to help preserve the state germplasm as well as further research and develop it to get higher yield. Director of ICAR, Dr Narendra Singh too said that the local germplasm of the state especially when it …
Discard Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of India Bill, say NGOs The Coalition for GM Free India; Centre for Sustainable Agriculture, Hyderabad; and Alliance for Sustainable and Holistic Agriculture have called upon the Union government to enact a comprehensive National Biosafety Protection Law to address the risks posed by genetic engineering. In …
But they are likely to affect higher-level species such as birds, says ornithologist The long-term environmental impacts of Genetically Modified Organisms need intensive study, but they are very likely to have impacts on higher-level species such as birds. Dr. P.A. Azeez, director of the Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and …
A Parliamentary panel Thursday recommended a thorough probe into the controversy surrounding the approval given to Bt Brinjal and its subsequent withdrawal, saying it had found indications that the industry, a minister and the regulator for genetically engineered substances had colluded to push it in India. The Genetic Engineering Approval …
A recent international conference on climate change and sustainable agriculture in New Delhi brought forth the shocking realisation that there are no conclusive studies in India on the prospective impact of climate change on the agriculture sector including livestock and fisheries. Much of the country's understanding comes from global data …
The activists opposing the commercialization of Bt brinjal have asserted that Bt brinjal would seriously affect the use of brinjal in the Alternative and Complementary Systems of Medicine (ACSM) in India, through ‘loss of synergy’. The then Minister for Environment and Forests (MoEF), Government of India (GoI), repeatedly echoed this …
The opposition to BT brinjal has partly arisen because some Solanum species are widely used in Indian medicine. According to Prof. C Kamswara Rao of the Foundation of Biotechnology Awareness and Education (FBAE), Bangalore, he clarifies in a recent book that brinjal is not a medicinal plant; rather, Solanum medicines …
When the researchers and agriculturists across the country are having heated debates on introducing BT brinjal in the country, they have forgotten to protect the desi Brinjal variety ‘Sunde Badane’, which is grown only in few places. ‘Sunde badane’ a variety of brinjal found near Biligiri Bhavan at Biligirirangana betta. …
M.J. PRABU Priced at Rs. 500 a piece, two traps are sufficient for an acre Simple technology: David Raja Beula, Assistant Director of Horticulture demonstrating the use of wireless trap to farmers.
NEW DELHI, 15 SEPT: Though opinion is divided on the risks and benefits associated with genetically modified (GM) crops, human health concerns over pesticide use can be addressed by these crops, according to agriculture ministry officials. Sources said the damage caused by pests to the production of brinjal in Andhra …
Samudra Gupta Kashyap Farmers in Assam, especially those in districts close to the state capital, have found a new and safer method of pest control. The State Bio-Control Laboratory (SBCL) of the state agriculture department has isolated two exotic species of farmer-friendly insect bio-agents and have begun sharing these with …
More testing has to be done on the new variety of brinjal and on any vegetable that may be in the process of being genetically modified.OVER three decades ago I was asked, as were other District Magistrates and Deputy Commissioners in the country, to help the agricultural officers in our …
JAJPUR: An increased production of brinjals in Jajpur district has spelt doom to its farmers as the high output had brought down their prices. Besides, there is no cold storage for preservation of brinjal and no industry for its biproducts. Brinjal is much sought after vegetable during marriage season. Farmers …
In days of yore, the Mararikulam brinjal was much favoured by the royal families of Travancore and Amabalapuzha in Kerala. Slender, long and green, this variety has been grown in Mararikulam on the Kerala coast for centuries. The village would supply its choicest brinjals to royalty. So, even as the …
