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Coalition of farmers, others organise pan-India protests to make GM companies Quit India
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Thursday, 11 August, 2011, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
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Irum Khan, Mumbai
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With the indication given by the government to introduce the long-pending Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of India (BRAI) Bill in the monsoon session of Parliament, the pro and anti GM (genetically-modified) food lobbies in the country have woken up to push forward their case with greater intensity.
After the campaign by the ABLE-AG (The Association of Biotech Led Enterprise) asking the government to speed up clearance of the BRAI Bill, it’s now the turn of Greenpeace, an independent campaigning organisation, to oppose the Bill on the grounds of hazardous environmental implications.
Greenpeace has claimed that public fears around the GM crops have heightened due to the proposal for the BRAI Bill.
It said that the earlier leaked versions of the Bill in the media, shows that it eases down the approval process and even overrides the Right to Information Act to create a centralised single-window clearance system for the GM crops.
Calling the BRAI Bill a ploy by the government to circumvent the current visible opposition to the GM crops in the country, it organised a country-wide campaign, in protest of biotech crop.
As part of the Alliance for Sustainable and Holistic Agriculture (ASHA), the Greenpeace India called for observing August 9, 2011, as the national day of action against corporate control of food and farming.
The coalition selected August 9, as the day signified the anniversary of Quit India movement, and projected “Monsanto Quit India” at the India Gate, New Delhi, highlighting the national opposition to multi-national seed companies like Monsanto.
According to Kapil Mishra, agriculture campaigner for Greenpeace India, “There is a visible public opposition to genetically-modified crops and companies like Monsanto which are trying to take control of our agriculture and food through such risky technologies. The instance of urban citizens joining this struggle against GM crops and multinational seed companies is a significant achievement for this movement, which has largely been a rural farmers’ issue. This is visible from the fact that besides thousands of farmers across the country, urban citizens from more than 12 cities across the country joined this national day of action.”
The gathered people took a pledge to fight against any such legislation that would subjugate the food and farming of the country to multinational seed companies like Monsanto.
“We were also joined by scores of Delhiites observing a candle light vigil and taking a pledge to protect the food safety and sovereignty of the country,” a source from Greenpeace informed.
According to him, the technology would not only contaminate local varieties but would be environmentally and economically harmful to the country, as a trade setback is likely with the coming of the GM.
“Trials are being carried out on Bt maize and Bt paddy, which are herbicide tolerant, and use glyphosate technology which is fatal for other crops,” said the source.
GM crops have been in a controversy ever since the introduction of Bt cotton, the only GM crop commercially cultivated in India, owing to their impacts on health, environment and socioeconomic fabric of this country. Bt brinjal, the first food crop to have reached the commercialisation stage, was put under an indefinite moratorium last year due to the above concerns being raised by farmers, consumers, sections of the scientific community and civil society groups.
Meanwhile, wing commander (Retd) Jasbir Chadda, the general secretary of URJA, the confederation of Resident Welfare Associations of Delhi, who joined the candle light vigil, said, “Genetically-modified food is simply not acceptable to us,” said. He further states, “One fails to understand why our government is on the side of the corporates that are promoting these technologies for their own benefit. Delhiites will join any people’s movement to ensure safety of our food from dangerous technologies like genetic modification.”
Greenpeace said that while Bt brinjal is still under moratorium, the government has been giving permissions for numerous open air experiments of various GM crops which are feared to contaminate the regular crops around the trial location and thereby the food supply.
Earlier ABLE had put its case saying that the United Nations (UN) WHO, Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO), EFSA (European Food Safety Authority), Royal Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Sciences, French Academy of Medicine, British Medical Association, 25 Nobel laureates (including Norman Borlaug) all have concluded that biotech crops are as safe as conventional crops. Around 59 countries have granted regulatory approvals for biotech crops for import for food and feed use and for release into the environment since 1996 including the US, Japan, Canada, Mexico, Australia, South Korea, the Philippines, New Zealand, the European Union, Brazil and China.
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