I.                 Questions asked by the parliamentary panel Bt Cotton: failed promises! New Delhi: A parliamentary panel has called for an in-depth probe into the agriculture ministry’s role in the government’s decision to approve the commercial release of Bt Cotton in the country in 2002. According to the parliamentary standing committee on agriculture, the department of agriculture has not discharged its mandated responsibility in a professional manner as far as the introduction of trans genic agricultural crops in India are concerned. “It has to be found... 

Monsanto and the arrogance of failure: 3 Case Studies!   I: Monsanto in Andhra Pradesh… Dwindling production, rising costs, new diseases: ten years after genetically-modified cotton was introduced in India with high hopes of boosting the economy, farmers are deeply disappointed with its results and wondering if it was all worth it. Ten years after its debut, genetically modified cotton is a huge disappointment.  Plants are vulnerable to new diseases, yields are far lower than expected. The Andhra Pradesh state government recently announced that the 2011 harvest was much lower than... 

Monsanto’s secret field trials of GM maize exposed: by none else than Bihar CM Nitish Kumar Delhi, Patna: The Bihar CM Nitish Kumar to his amazement discovered that even as he was formulating his position against field trials on Bt maize in a few districts in Bihar, the Monsanto trials were already under way even before Monsanto received a permission. In a letter to the union environment minister, Nitish Kumar complained that soon after he made his opposition to the Bt trials public, GM maize sowed beforehand in a farm in Samastipur was destroyed in a “hurried” manner on Monday after... 

Nitish’s ‘No’ to Monsanto: a bold stance to be proud of! Patna, New Delhi: according to latest reports, Bihar CM Nitish Kumar has refused to allow field trials of genetically modified Bt maize in Bihar. The CM informed members of the house that he received a phone call from the Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar’s suggesting that he reconsider his decision, Pawar’s argument being that such refusal will dampen the enthusiasm of agricultural researchers. Nitish’s reply to this was verbatim ‘I told the agriculture minister that I have no objection to scientific experiments...