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1.Greenpeace protest field trials of genetically modified brinjal
2.ICAR for terminator tech to contain weeds
3.The tragedy in India's cotton
4.BKU Rally in Delhi
5.The Marie Antoinettes of Maharashtra

EXTRACTS: In the middle of India, the world's second most populous country, over 4,000 farmers in the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra state have committed suicide in the past four years - more than 1,000 in 2006 alone. Even now, the deaths continue, often several a day. (item 3)

The plight of Indian farmers who opted for genetically modified seeds as transgenic cotton (Bt. cotton) in the country and its failure, is not hidden from any one. (item 4)

Meanwhile, a seed industry lobby has just advanced claims of stunning success for the Vidharbha farmer with Bt cotton... that was the same year in which the State government's own survey declared that over three fourths of farm households there were in distress. Of course, the State survey studied 17.64 lakh farm households or millions of people. The industry’s "sample" was less than 350 farmers in the region. (item 5)

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1.Greenpeace protest field trials of genetically modified brinjal
ANI, September 17 2007
http://www.agbios.com/main.php?action=ShowNewsItem&id=8812

Scores of Greenpeace activists took out a demonstration here today to spread awareness about the potential dangers of allowing field trials of genetically modified brinjals.

They blamed the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), along with American multinational Monsanto Mahyco, of attempting to force-feed its genetically "unsafe" brinjals in contravention with a Supreme Court's order.

"We are here trying to tell ICAR that they are force feeding genetically unsafe brinjals to common people. We are here to ask them whether they are going to be in contravention of the Supreme Court orders which says the brinjals will not be introduced in the field here," said Jai Krishna, a Greenpeace activist.

Krishna further said that they have written letters to the ICAR pointing out that "they (ICAR) are going to be in contravention (with the apex court)," and added that the environmental watchdog has not received any reply as yet.

"It is up to the ICAR to clarify whether they are going to be for the people swearing allegiance or for the seek operation for which they are doing field trails in all their institutes," he said.

Monsanto-Mahyco is a US multinational agricultural firm whose genetically modified cotton and, now, brinjal seeds, have been given commercial approval by the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee of India.

The genes coding for the insecticide crystal proteins are actually introduced into the plant, enabling it to produce the protein continuously, and so protect itself against attacks from insect pests.

However, the farming community in India, backed by the voluntary bodies wants extensive research and proof of its harmlessness to humans and the eco system in general before they allow these varieties to take root in India.

India has allowed commercial cultivation of genetically modified cotton since 2002.

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2.ICAR for terminator tech to contain weeds
ASHOK B SHARMA
Financial Express , September 17 2007
http://www.financialexpress.com/news/ICAR-for-terminator-tech-to-contain-weeds/217869/

New Delhi, Sept 17 The apex agri science body in the country has come out in favour of deployment of terminator technology for control of weeds.

Delivering the special address at the International Conference on Agricultural Biotechnology, in Delhi on Monday, the director-general of Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), Mangla Rai said: 'Even the controversial terminator technology can be deployed to control dangerous weeds. We should initiate a debate on this issue and conduct necessary research.'

The conference was organized by the apex industry body, FICCI in collaboration with the department of biotechnology, ICAR and co-sponsored by USDA and seed multinational Monsanto and its Indian partner Mahyco.

Terminator technology has been criticised by farmers and NGOs as the seeds turn sterile after first generation and can impact other crops in the vicinity.

Rai said that acceleration of farm economy can be achieved through transgenic technology. Rice plants can be developed to produce less methane and the productivity of wheat can be enhanced. 'The expectations from transgenic technology is high, while the present achievements are not to that level. This is why there is widespread criticism,' he said.

He, however, favoured risk-based assessments before release of transgenic crops. He said under US-India Knowledge Initiative development of transgenic crops and bio-fuel programme would be taken up.

Rai informed that 16 transgenic crops with 7 traits, were being developed by the public sector research institutes in the country.

The Argentina deputy secretary for agriculture policy and food, Fernando Nebbia said that transgenic technology was no longer a frontier science in his country. 'We are well into it, ' he said and added that 18 million hectare was under transgenic crops in Argentina.

He said that his country was undergoing a bio-diesel revolution as opposed to bio-ethanol use in Brazil.

Meanwhile Greenpeace India has criticized Bt brinjal’s field trials in the campuses of the public sector research institutes as violation of the apex court order. The Genetic Engineering Approval Committee had recently approved field trials of Bt brinjal.

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3.The tragedy in India's cotton: Surely there is a better way
Delta Farm Press, 17 September 2007 [shortened]
http://www.gmfreeireland.org/news/index.php

Nearly 9,000 miles away, in a place almost no one has ever heard of, and probably couldn't locate on a map, an ongoing tragedy, born of poverty and desperation, is taking place.

Unlike the widespread media and WTO attention focused on another little-known nation, Burkina Faso, and claims its cotton farmers are being ruined by U.S. government farm subsidies, this far more tragic story of farmer misfortune has had scant attention by the mainstream media.

In the middle of India, the world's second most populous country, over 4,000 farmers in the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra state have committed suicide in the past four years - more than 1,000 in 2006 alone. Even now, the deaths continue, often several a day.

A great number of the dead were cotton farmers, many who drank fatal doses of pesticide.

They were driven to take their lives, we are told, because of crop failures (made worse by ongoing drought), declining world cotton prices and inability to compete in the global market, huge debts related to the boring of wells and the higher costs of GMO seeds (now widely used), and the failure of India's government to make good on promises of relief.

In this case, huge debt is a relative term - most of the dead farmers owed less than $1,000 to money lenders. Even the largest debts were less than $10,000.

America's Public Broadcasting System recently showed a documentary, 'The Dying Fields,' focusing on the farmer suicides, and noting the irony that, while India, led by Maharashtra state, is enjoying a soaring economic boom, two-thirds of its rural area population remains impoverished.

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4.BKU Rally in Delhi
Indian Coordination Committee of Farmers' Movement
New Delhi, India, 12th September 2007

To,
Shri Manmohan Singh
Honourable Prime Minister
Government of India,
New Delhi

Memorandum from Indian farmers for a 'livelihood support' and a 'pro farmer policy' to deal with the current agrarian crisis [EXTRACTS ONLY]

Dear Sir,

On 15th August 2006, from the ramparts of the Red Fort you had timely acknowledged the deepening agrarian crisis and increasing farmers' suicide in India. You had said, "I see that our farmers in many parts are in a crisis, not managing to eke out a decent living from their land”¦ The agricultural crisis that is forcing them to take the desperate step of committing suicide needs to be resolved". Even though our economy is booming and our stock exchange sensex is skyrocketing yet more than 65% of our population who eke out their livelihood from farms and farm related activities are in deep distress. Several of the government reports speak loudly about the pathetic condition of rural community, e.g. National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganised Sector (NCEUS) said about 836 million people (77%) live on below Rs 20 per day.

The epidemic of farmers' suicide is the real barometer of the stress under which Indian agriculture and Indian farmers have been put by globalization and liberalization of agriculture. Across the country farmers are taking the desperate step of ending their life because of the new pressures building upon them as a result of globalization and corporate takeover leading to spread of capital-intensive agriculture. Heavy indebtedness due to unfriendly and anti farmers lending policies of our financial system has remained one of the main reasons behind farmers' committing suicide.

But surprisingly, the government policy level response and actions continue to be insensitive to this reality and all efforts are being made to hide the real reasons for agrarian crisis and offer corporatization of agriculture as the solution for the agrarian distress...

*Ban Commercial release of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs): The plight of Indian farmers who opted for genetically modified seeds as transgenic cotton (Bt. cotton) in the country and its failure, is not hidden from any one. The approach of UPA government towards the GMOs is a cause of concern of our farmers. On one hand the use of such technologies has proven in failure and on the other hand it has lead to a monopoly of providers of GMOs. This goes against the recommendations of the National Commission on Farmers. The bias of the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) in favour of biotech industries is evident from the manner in which serious environmental, human and animal health issues are being ignored. Working in tandem with the companies, the GEAC is turning India into a dumping ground for untested and risky GM crops and food. We also demand a complete ban on commercial release of all GM crops and foods in the country.

We are therefore hoping that you will immediately take notice of our demands and take necessary actions.

S/d
Mahender Singh Tikait, President, Bhartiya Kissan Union, India
Ajmer Singh Lakhowal, State President, BKU Punjab,
BKU-UP, Tamilnadu, Maharashtra, Uttranchal, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi.
Yudhvir Singh, Spokesman, Indian Coordination Committee of Farmers Movements

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5.The Marie Antoinettes of Maharashtra
P. Sainath
The Hindu, September 15 2007 [extract]
http://www.hindu.com/2007/09/15/stories/2007091555451200.htm

The remarks of Shankersinh Vaghela and Vilasrao Deshmukh on Maharashtra farmers capture the elite mindset. Those doing badly are in trouble because of their own laziness. Killing themselves in large numbers only proves how lazy they are

In the good old days, a Minister or Governor getting out of something he had said simply denied it. "I was misquoted." Or it was "a total fabrication." Television complicates things. Cures for foot-in-the mouth-disease get messy when you’ve goofed up on camera. The ruling etiquette now is: "My words were taken out of context." Only, we are seldom told what that "context" is.

And so it was in Maharashtra this week. First, Union Textiles Minister Shankersinh Vaghela appeared to be fighting the coming Gujarat elections in Maharashtra. That too, at a meeting of the Cotton Brokers Association in Akola district. He extolled the farmers of his home State and batted for Gujarati pride. Which is fine. His own people, both farmers and non-farmers, are very hard-working. But then he added that the problem with farmers in Maharashtra was that they "just sit around and don’t go to their farms." He wanted them to learn about hard work from his own State. "You must emulate the farmers of Gujarat. Come there and see for yourselves," he said.

That these homilies were delivered in Vidharbha - a region seeing countless farm suicides - was bad enough. But there was more to follow. The guardian of the destinies of 100 million people in Maharashtra took the mike and rubbed it in. "There is some truth in what he has hinted - we must keep it in mind," said Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh.

And then - in a shot at humour - "Our farmers here, too, are "innovative." They sprinkle water on cotton, add stones to it, to increase the weight of their yield when they bring it to market." And still more: "A farmer here is also innovative in increasing his cotton sowing area on paper, to seek government aid. Vidharbha farmers don’t lag behind in innovation."

The Chief Minister has since said his words were taken out of context. Which sort of obliges him to explain - what was the context? Did he say such things at all, in any context? His response to a channel that carried his speech: "Nothing was said in Akola that was insulting to the farmers. Using specific parts of the speech, the opposition is now making a mountain out of a molehill. The speech has been used in such a way that it appears to be insulting the farmers. Being a farmer myself I know of the hardships faced by them. Implementing programmes for their benefit is primary for me." Which "specific parts"? Obviously, the Chief Minister said things he would like to distance himself from. But it is very difficult to do that when those "specific parts" are on camera and are repeatedly being telecast. The subsequent exercise seems to result more in damage expansion than damage control.

The fallout has been most damaging. It was barely a month ago that Mr. Deshmukh’s own party in the State gave in a report to its Central leadership, slamming his failures on the farm front. In Vidharbha region, his own party workers see this speech as a blunder that will cost them dearly. And party leaders in Delhi seem quite annoyed.

Meanwhile, a seed industry lobby has just advanced claims of stunning success for the Vidharbha farmer with Bt cotton. Yet this presents the leaders with a dilemma. The timing of the industry’s claims is odd. It comes when the State is struggling to polish its image on the Vidharbha front. The claim is that the farmer in the region actually earned thousands of crores of rupees more last year. For one thing: how did "lazy" farmers end up doing so well? For another, that was the same year in which the State government’s own survey declared that over three fourths of farm households there were in distress. Of course, the State survey studied 17.64 lakh farm households or millions of people. The industry’s "sample" was less than 350 farmers in the region.

More vital, though, is how the whole drama captures the elite mindset. Those doing badly are in trouble because of their own laziness. If they were hard-working, there would be no problem. Killing themselves in large numbers only proves how lazy they are. Most top leaders of the State have not visited a single distressed farm household of their own accord through all this period of crisis. The same leaders always have time for Bollywood functions. Maharashtra’s top bosses met families of suicide victims - most reluctantly - for the first time in 2006. That’s because they had to tag along with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on his trip to Vidharbha last year.

It’s curious how Maharashtra, with its "lazy" farmers, led the country for three or more decades in cotton and sugar production before running into trouble. READ ON AT http://www.hindu.com/2007/09/15/stories/2007091555451200.htm