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Vibha Sharma
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, May 24
As more states join the anti-genetically modified (GM) mustard grouping, activists wonder why Prime Minister Narendra Modi is “not hearing” their concerns and also of the states ruled by his party despite the “promise” he made in the 2014 election manifesto.
After Bihar and Kerala, West Bengal has decided not to allow the cultivation of GM mustard seeds in the state, warning the Centre of “devastating consequences” it could have on farmers. On Friday, the Kerala Assembly had passed a resolution, asking the Centre to cancel permission for production and cultivation of GM seeds for commercial purposes.
With this, five states, which also includes Tamil Nadu and Delhi, have joined the “growing group”, says Kavitha Kuruganthi of the Alliance for Sustainable and Holistic Agriculture (ASHA).
“It is not clear why the PM is not hearing the BJP-ruled states despite the BJP’s 2014 manifesto promising that the party would take no decision without full scientific data on its long-term effects on soil, production and biological impact on consumers,” she says.
“If the Environment Ministry allows commercial cultivation of GM mustard, the PM would be going back on his promise and that too as he celebrates three years of his government,” she says, reminding him of similar concerns shown by BJP-ruled states—Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh—which disallowed field trials of genetically-engineered crops.
Apart from anti-GM activists, RSS affiliate, Swadeshi Jagran Manch, has also urged the Prime Minister not to introduce “unscientific, toxic and anti-biodiversity GM mustard in haste” as it would “prove detrimental to public health”.
However, with the Environment Ministry website re-posting a set of frequently asked questions (FAQs), activists apprehensively sense it as a positive indication for GM mustard.
Kavitha says late environment minister Anil Madhav Dave, in his last meeting with the activists, had promised them to raise their concerns at the “right platform, which he probably also did in his meeting with the Prime Minister a day before he passed away”.
The present incumbent is Science and Technology Minister Harsh Vardhan, who said he needed to study issues relating to GM mustard before taking a decision on its commercial use on which the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) gave an approval on May 11.
“We hope that since he (Harsh Vardhan) is a doctor he may understand what chronic toxicity is all about. However, the fact that his own ministry (Science and Technology) spent crores funding GM mustard, any decision he takes as Environment Minister will be a conflict of interest.”
Meanwhile, a Parliamentary Standing committee headed by Renuka Chowdhury, which asked the Centre to hold the final nod to what could be India’s first GM food crop, is holding a meeting with the GEAC members, who, the activists, including the SJM, have accused of “aggressively” pushing for GM mustard.
BJP manifesto on GM foods
“No genetically-modified seed will be allowed for cultivation without full scientific data on its long-term effects on soil, production and biological impact on consumers. All food and food products produced with genetically-modified seeds will be branded as ‘GM Food’.”
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