India: Judges slam flawed bill to fast-track GM

Briefing from the Leaf Initiative, India

To fast track the commercialization of GM crops, in 2009 a proposed Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of India (BRAI) bill was introduced into the Indian Parliament. This deeply flawed bill provides a single window clearance for GM crops. It overrules the RTI (Right to information) Act 2005. It also has a major conflict of interest, as the promoter department of biotechnology (the Ministry for Science and technology) will become the regulators of GM crops.

The bill has been termed as “unconstitutional”, “unethical”, “unscientific”, “self-contradictory”, and “not people-oriented”(1).

The pressure to pass this bill is huge and it has been introduced once again in the winter session of Parliament (started 22 November 2012). Back in 2011 the LEAF Initiative (a citizens’ initiative on issues relation to Livelihood, Environment, Agriculture and Food) received ‘Statements of Concern’ from 10 retired Supreme Court Judges emphasizing the flaws in this Bill. With such a flawed bill being introduced once again it is imperative that the opinion of these Supreme Court judges be spread. These statements dated back to 2011 have been signed and authored by the respective judges.

Supreme Court Judges' statements emphasizing the flaws in the BRAI bill:

This information was supplied by www.leaf-initiative.org. The Leaf Initiative is a citizens’ initiative on issues relation to Livelihood, Environment, Agriculture and Food.

Read the critique of the BRAI bill by Greenpeace: http://www.greenpeace.org/india/Global/india/report/brai%20%20critique.pdf

Reference:

http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/article2752711.ece?homepage=true

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India: Judges slam flawed bill to fast-track GM

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