States say no, GM trials hit hurdle

With many states saying no to genetically modified (GM) crops, making the biotechnology industry hit a roadblock, the country's biotechnology regulator has decided to convince them about its benefits. Chetan Chauhan reports.

Updated on: Apr 15, 2012, 23:31:20 IST

Hindustan Times | By Chetan Chauhan, New Delhi

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With many states saying no to genetically modified (GM) crops, making the biotechnology industry hit a roadblock, the country's biotechnology regulator has decided to convince them about its benefits.

The latest in the list of states, which have refused to allow field trials of GM crops, is the Congress-ruled Rajasthan.

“No trials of GM crops should be conducted in the state until a final decision is taken in this matter,” said an order issued by the state government. “The government, after considering its various aspects, has decided to wait until a national consensus is evolved.”

Most of the bigger states in India, including Bihar, Chattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal, have refused to give a no-objection certificate for field trials.

Now, bio-technology companies have not been left with many viable options to conduct field trials for GM crops, such as tomato, cabbage and maize. The only ones left are Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh.

In wake of this development, bio-tech regulator Genetically Engineered Appraisal Committee (GEAC) has decided to write to state governments about the importance of GM crops and the need to consider every case, instead of imposing a blanket ban.

The committee said the trials are conducted in a secure place, and there is minimal possibility of contamination. Also, it has professed willingness to let state government officials monitor the trials.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chetan Chauhan
Chetan Chauhan is the National Affairs Editor looking into all aspects of news and features from across India. A Chevening scholar with over three decades of experience in reporting and news management, Chetan has extensively covered all important aspects of the social sector, political economy, environment and climate change nationally and internationally. He did a journalism course at the Reuters Institute of Journalism in Oxford and Digital Media training at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He started as a reporter with The Statesman in 1996 and joined the Hindustan Times in 2000 in the metro bureau covering environment, crime and Delhi politics. He covered hot local news, from the Jessica Lal murder case to the rebellion of Delhi Congress MLAs against then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, to the replacement of toxic vehicle fuel with cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG) in the national capital. Some of his stories on air pollution became part of the Supreme Court’s landmark MC Mehta versus Government of India case in the National Capital Region (NCR), forcing the government to take corrective measures. As part of the national political bureau since 2004, he covered important central sectors such as environment, education, social justice, labour, rural development, water resources, renewable energy, agriculture, broadcasting and the Planning Commission for more than a decade producing several exclusive and investigative breaking stories. His specialisation is the environment, having covered at least a dozen United Nations global conferences on climate change, biodiversity and wildlife including climate summits in Paris, Copenhagen and Bali. He also covered India’s two five-year plans ---11th and 12th and reported on drafting and execution of right based laws such as Right to Education, Right to Information and rural job guarantee law, MG-NREGA, now being introduced in new format as VG-RAM-G Act. He has in-depth knowledge of social sector issues. He was one of the first to report on tigers vanishing from Sariska and Panna wildlife reserves in 2004 and 2008, respectively, leading to the setting up of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the introduction of stringent penal provisions for poaching. He has written extensively on the rising human-animal conflict in India and the degradation of India’s biodiversity hotspots because of mining and other activities. Since 2004, Chetan has covered Parliament comprehensively and participated in training on the nuanced coverage of Parliament proceedings. He has travelled extensively across India to cover national and provincial elections since 1998, especially in the Hindi heartland states, considered India’s road to power. He writes a regular column for Hindustan Times, Ecostani, on important national politics, economy, Himalayan ecology and environmental issues. His other responsibilities include providing inputs for edits and edit page articles for the publication, apart from managing news flow from across India.Read More

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