The third article below, 'India's Barefoot Reporters' is particularly interesting in that it points to the tragic gulf between what is being experienced, and in this case recorded, at the grassroots, and the world of the government-corporate nexus where data is fiddled and Bt cotton is claimed as a panacea.

"Farmers have suffered heavy losses on account of cultivation of approved varieties of Bt cotton, for which the seed company is liable to pay compensation. Without addressing this, how can GEAC give approval for commercial cultivation of six new varieties of Bt cotton?" - farmer leader and executive chairman of Bharat Krishak Samaj Krishan Bir Chaudhary (item 1)

"Bt cotton has failed to deliver the promises. There is no logic in extending the approval period." - Dr Suman Sahai of Gene Campaign (item 1)

"One of their most significant films, 'Why Are Warangal Farmers Angry with BT Cotton?' exposed the unhappy experiences of farmers in Andhra Pradesh who had experimented with Bt cotton... Tracking the experiences of half a dozen farmers over the months between planting and harvesting, the women recorded their despair as the crop failed to live up to hyped promises." (item 3)

For more on the manipulation of data meantioned at the end of the second item see: Greenpeace exposes Government-Monsanto nexus to cheat Indian farmers
http://www.greenpeace.org/india_en/news/details?item_id=771071

1.New GEAC approvals irritate Bt cotton critics
2.GEAC defers final decision on extending Bt cotton approval
3.India's Barefoot Reporters
------

1.New GEAC approvals irritate Bt cotton critics
by Ashok B. Sharma
Financial Express, 6 Mar 2005
http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=84553

NEW DELHI, MARCH 6: Though GEAC deferred extending approval period for several varieties, it has cleared for commercial cultivation six new Bt cotton hybrids in north India. These are: MRC-6301 and MRC-6304 developed by Mahyco, RCH-134 and RCH-138 developed by Rasi Seed and Ankur-651 and Ankur-2534 developed by Ankur Seed.

The GEAC also allowed large-scale field trials for eight varieties of Bt cotton hybrid - two each of Rasi Seeds and Nuziveedu Seeds, and four of Mahyco.

Out of the four varieties of Mahyco's Bt cotton, two varieties have double Bt genes stacked.

The GEAC action was criticised by farmer leader and the executive chairman of Bharat Krishak Samaj Krishan Bir Chaudhary. "Farmers have suffered heavy losses on account of cultivation of approved varieties of Bt cotton, for which the seed company is liable to pay compensation. Without addressing this, how can GEAC give approval for commercial cultivation of six new varieties of Bt cotton?," he said.

Dr Vandana Shiva of Navdanya and Dr Krishan Bir Chaudhary of Bharat Krishak Samaj, along with several other NGOs met the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and demanded withdrawal of Bt cotton from cultivation.

Dr Devendra Sharma said: "It is a scientific fraud to impose Bt cotton on farmers." Dr Suman Sahai of Gene Campaign said: "Bt cotton has failed to deliver the promises. There is no logic in extending the approval period."
------

2.GEAC defers final decision on extending Bt cotton approval
Ashok B. Sharma
Financial Express, 6 March 2005
http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=84544

NEW DELHI, MARCH 6: Debate over the success or failure of India's Bt cotton gains steam, with the regulatory authority last Friday deferring its decision extending the approval period for three varieties of Mahyco's Bt cotton.

Mahyco's 3 Bt cotton hybrids - Mech-162 Bt, Mech-12 Bt and Mech-184 Bt ”” were cleared for commercial cultivation since March 2002. As the approval period was for three years, it's due for a review of the performance for subsequent extension of the approval or otherwise.

The Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) had the performance of these 3 varieties on its agenda, but the discussion was inconclusive. The final decision will be taken at the next GEAC meeting on April 13.

Battlelines are drawn between those who claim Bt cotton performance as a success and those who claim it is a failure. Monsanto India, which has conducted a study for 2004 season through IMRB has claimed that Bt cotton yields have increased 58% on a countrywide basis and by 46% in Andhra Pradesh.

Farmer's incomes have risen 60% across the country, and by 42% in Andhra Pradesh. Cost on pesticide use has been reduced by 50% on a countrywide basis and by 65% in Andhra Pradesh. The IMRB study said that gross earning of farmers on a countrywide basis is Rs 5,977 per acre and Rs 3,923 per acre in Andhra Pradesh.

Several organisations have contested the study conducted on behalf of Monsanto (I), saying farmers have incurred huge losses on account of Bt cotton. The Centre for Sustainable Agriculture (CSA) which did an independent study aided by a team of scientists says that Bt cotton cultivation has placed the farmers in Medak and Warangal districts in AP at huge losses.

Promises of higher yields, income and reduction in pesticide use have been belied. CSA has already presented the findings to GEAC. NGOs like Greenpeace India, Deccan Development Society, Sarvodaya Youth Organisation and some farmers' bodies are busy finalising their studies. What has added fuel to the fire is a study by an expert team deputed by the Andhra Pradesh commissioner and director of agriculture. This has shown "poor yields of Bt cotton" in Warangal, and losses for farmers. Based on this report, the district joint director of agriculture has written to Mahyco Monsanto India, asking the company to shell out Rs 2,48,85,630 as compensation for farmers.

The total compensation has been worked out at the rate of Rs 1,469.25 per acre. As per the MoU between the company and the AP government, compensation should be paid on account of damages done to farmers. Mahyco Monsanto Biotech managing director Dr MK Sharma admitted to receiving the letter. He, however, said: "We have appealed before the state agriculture commissioner to reconsider the decision."

Divya Raghunandan of Greenpeace India is not content with the compensation package sought by the Warangal district authority. She said: "The compensation of Rs 1,469.25 per acre is too low. It does not cover even the cost of seeds which is Rs 1,600 per acre."

The district authority has manipulated the yield figures to save the company from paying more, she added.
------

3.India's Barefoot Reporters
By Ammu Joseph, Women's eNews. March 7, 2005
http://www.alternet.org/mediaculture/21425/

[excerpts]

Ten years after the U.N. recognized that women's participation in media was a critical area of concern, trailblazers in rural India are telling storiesfrom the margins of society.

In 1995 the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action affirmed the importance of media for women's empowerment. In 1997, women from 75 villages in and around Pastapur decided they needed their own media to express themselves, facilitate dialogue across rural communities, document and analyze local events and issues and convey information and ideas to the outside world.

They may not have heard of the Beijing Platform, but they obviously understood its logic. They were convinced that access to and control over media would help them and their communities.

A decade ago, these women faced multiple jeopardy as poor, illiterate, rural women from Dalit communities (former "outcastes") making a meager living from farming in a semi-arid region. They had little access to the media even as viewers and listeners. Nearly 5,000 of them were, however, members of the sanghams, or village-level women's collectives, associated with the Deccan Development Society, a 20-year-old grassroots organization based in Pastapur and Hyderabad that works with socially- and economically-disadvantaged rural communities.

Seven women completed a 10-month video training course created specially for them. They have since gone on to make over 100 films which draw, for subject matter, on their lives and concerns: food, work, social and cultural life.

One of their most significant films, Why Are Warangal Farmers Angry with BT Cotton? exposed the unhappy experiences of farmers in Andhra Pradesh who had experimented with BT cotton a genetically modified variety promoted by an international conglomerate. Tracking the experiences of half a dozen farmers over the months between planting and harvesting, the women recorded their despair as the crop failed to live up to hyped promises. In a remarkable final sequence, angry farmers swore on film that they would never touch BT again.

In 2001 they established an independent, rural, women's media collective, the DDS Community Media Trust, to help produce and promote their work.