NEWS FROM INDIA
1.Manmohan blaming NGOs for Bt brinjal moratorium criticised
2.Seeds of discontent
3.Rajasthan starts field test of much-criticised GM mustard

NOTE: According to the trade policy analyst Devinder Sharma, there are now 77 NGOs in India under official investigation. In a witch-hunt reminiscent, Devinder says, of the period of the Emergency in India: "All dissent voices are being muffled." 

EXTRACT: Campaigners say that nearly 74 GM crops are in the pipeline and field trials for many are in progress. Farmers fear that the proposed BRAI Bill will vest too much power in the three-member authority, and the Ministry of Science and Technology which is the promoter will also be the regulator of GM crops. The Bill assumes that all GM crops are proven safe and there is no mention of detailed evaluation or safety assessments. It bypasses the citizens' right to information and there is no proposal for independent bio-safety testing. (item 2)
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1.Manmohan blaming NGOs for Bt brinjal moratorium criticised
The Hindu, 28 February 2012
http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article2943368.ece

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.

In a statement, Mr. Radhakrishnan said the issue was not one of NGOs or foreign funding; that was merely a ruse that the Prime Minister had seized upon to cover his and his government's unwillingness to listen to the people.

The more troubling aspect of Dr. Singh's stand was that he seemed to have made up his mind on pushing agricultural biotechnology and ignoring the genuine scientific concerns, with or without the consent of the people.

In the recent past, the same approach was apparent in the issues involving the Jaitapur and Kudankulam nuclear plants and FDI in retail.

In all these cases, transnational corporations, with enormous clout, stood to make tremendous profits, he said.

The Bt brinjal moratorium decision was taken by the then Minister for Environment and Forests, who clearly detailed the rationale to the nation, Mr. Radhakrishnan said.

According to him it was a deep irony that Dr. Singh was resurrecting the "foreign hand" ruse from the 1970s and the Emergency era while being at the forefront of inviting foreign investment and allowing the U.S government and multinational companies to push policy changes.
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2.Seeds of discontent
Meena Menon
The Hindu, 2 March 2012
http://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/agriculture/article2953426.ece

*Criticism of the proposed BRAI Bill mounts, with farmers fearing that it will not augur well for indigenous crops

As the only farmer not growing genetically modified crops in Makari village, Nagappa's seven-acre field stands alone. "I grow local millets, vegetables and cotton," he says rather proudly. But Nagappa, from Haveri district in Karnataka was not immune to market pressures. A few years earlier he tried out Bt Cotton like everyone else and noticed the yields going down every year. Three years ago he stopped all that and started growing non hybrid varieties of local crops. His farm is a biodiversity marvel with several indigenous varieties including 22 types of millets, and in all 49 different variations of crops.

Fifty-one-year-old Nagappa holds pride of place in Sahaja Samrudha Organic Producer Company Ltd, which for the last 10 years has been promoting organic farming using local varieties of crops in Karnataka. Krishna Prasad of Sahaja, which calls itself India's first organic producers company, says the group does crop improvement for farmers and also released six farmer bred varieties in the market. The organization works in 20 districts and supplies products to a network of 18 organic shops in the country.

Farmers have identified rare varieties of rice, for instance Rajamudi which was the favourite rice of the Mysore Maharajas and other types such as Navara which is good for the nerves and even rice suitable for pregnant women. There are more than 100,000 rice varieties in the country which have been subsumed by the aggressive marketing of hybrids.

One farmer grows over 20 varieties of brinjal and the Soliga tribe specializes in coloured maize. Ghani Khan from Mandya district grows ‘Tippu' mangoes in his 250-year-old orchard which includes a variety of ‘sweet-less' mangoes. Ghani's farm, which is much written about, is declared a heritage site and he has resisted the temptation to sell it off to the brick kilns that abound in his area.

Sahaja has also launched India's first farmer owned seed brand Akkadi and 16 farmers' groups are involved in its activities. It was not only farmers' produce which was on display at the recent Seed festival in Mumbai, but also grave concern over the proposed Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of India (BRAI) Bill, 2011 which if passed will create a single window clearing house for genetically modified (GM) crops in the country.

Campaigners say that nearly 74 GM crops are in the pipeline and field trials for many are in progress. Farmers fear that the proposed BRAI Bill will vest too much power in the three-member authority, and the Ministry of Science and Technology which is the promoter will also be the regulator of GM crops. The Bill assumes that all GM crops are proven safe and there is no mention of detailed evaluation or safety assessments. It bypasses the citizens' right to information and there is no proposal for independent bio-safety testing.

A Greenpeace critique on the BRAI Bill says that it does not give any power to state governments to reject the introduction of GM crops including experimental releases through field trials, especially since agriculture is a state subject. When the Centre was planning to introduce Bt Brinjal several state governments had opposed it. The Greenpeace report says that there is no provision for long term independent assessment of impact of GM crops or a need assessment report explaining why the specific GM crop is required.

Even worse is the fact that the Bill says that the provision of the Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005 would not apply to confidential commercial information submitted under the provisions of the proposed Bill. Only that information which is in the public interest and does not harm any person will be disclosed. It also curtails public participation and proposes a grievance redressal mechanism which is a duplication of the National Green Tribunal. The polluter pays principle has not been adhered to, says Greenpeace and the liability and punitive measures also need to be enhanced and fixed properly.

After Bt Cotton was released 10 years ago with no debate in the country, there was an outcry over the introduction of Bt Brinjal which has been put under indefinite moratorium in 2010. The proposed BRAI Bill fails to take into account the need for safeguarding health, making adequate risk assessments, involving public debate and participation and the right to information, adds Greenpeace. Nationwide a campaign has been launched to oppose the Bill which will put India's biodiversity wealth at risk and farmers like Nagappa extremely vulnerable to an onslaught of GM crops. The lessons from Bt Cotton still have to be learnt.
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3.Rajasthan starts field test of much-criticised GM mustard
Sowmya Sivakumar
DNA, 2 March 2012 
http://daily.bhaskar.com/article/RAJ-JPR-rajasthan-starts-field-test-of-much-criticised-gm-mustard-2930220.html

Jaipur: The Rajasthan government has opened the floodgates for testing genetically modified (GM) mustard by permitting field trials in the state for the current rabi season (2011-12). This is the first time the state government has issued a no-objection certificate (NoC) for testing a GM food crop, after a change in the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) norms giving states the first power of approval or refusal.

“The crop is nearing harvest,” confirmed sources at the Directorate of Rapeseed Mustard Research, Bharatpur, coordinating the trials being conducted by the Centre for Genetic Manipulation of Crop Plants (CGMCP), Delhi University.

Since the change in approval guidelines in July 2011, only Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat have issued NoCs to biotech firms to conduct GM crop trials while Bihar, Karnataka and Chhattisgarh are among those who have refused any field trials of GM crops.

The GEAC had given CGMCP permission for bio safety research level – 1 (BRL 1) trials of transgenic mustard (Brassica juncea) containing bar, barnase and barstar genes in its meeting held in September 2011, in six locations, including Bharatpur, Sriganganagar and Alwar, but subject to the NoC from the state.

Field trials of GM mustard have taken place in Rajasthan earlier too but these were directly approved by the (GEAC) and did not need the state’s NoC. A slew of GM food crops now await the state government’s nod for this year. Both principal secretary agriculture and commissioner, Directorate of Agriculture, government of Rajasthan were not available for comments on the issue.

“Field trials of GM crops themselves pose a danger, as it is a living and irretrievable technology and cross-pollination in crops like mustard are very high. On top of this, India has repeatedly shown inability to stringently monitor introduction of this technology as per the norms. In this light, it becomes relevant to know on what scientific basis or information has the Rajasthan government decided to issue NoC,” said Kavitha Kuruganti, national convenor, Alliance for Sustainable and Holistic Agriculture (ASHA).

“It has been our long standing demand that there shouldn’t be any open release of GM crop as there is already evidence of danger to biodiversity. States have to necessarily do a need analysis and make it public before approving such trials,” said Rajesh Krishnan, Sustainable Agriculture Manager, Greenpeace Foundation.