India Goes Slow on GM Food Crops
India has done it again. Just when the world felt that this ancient country was making too many compromises with America’s corporate leaders and allowing American interests rampant entry into India’s markets and agriculture, its Environment Ministry has blocked commercial cultivation of the world’s first genetically engineered eggplant (brinjal). The ban is a tribute to a vibrant democracy which can sometimes force even die-hard pro-American governments to bow to the wishes of the people.
(Article written for publication by Third World Resurgence)
For years, Monsanto – and its Indian subsidiary, Mahyco – have tried to make inroads into India’s vast agriculture by poaching its seeds and replacing them with their own. Though some of India’s publicly funded laboratories are also busy with the creation of genetically engineered (transgenic) crops, the speed with which Monsanto sought to introduce its proprietary GM seeds (cotton, brinjal) was simply astonishing. Read the rest of this entry »
How Monsanto Usually Takes Charge
Much of the present revolt against the Government’s move to introduce genetically engineered brinjal would have been muted if a) the work had been carried out by our own agricultural scientists, and b) if Monsanto had not been in the background of the effort, like a sinister ghost.
The green revolution which was set in motion in 1966 was engineered outside the country. It was implemented within by the then agricultural establishment without a thought to its environmental consequences. With genetically modified crops we have a repeat, with one crucial difference. This time the technology comes with private ownership as part of its baggage and naturally, a demand for royalty and fees. Read the rest of this entry »
How the Government of Goa Stole Land for the Thivim Cricket Stadium
The Government of Goa has today become the single biggest thief of private and comunidade properties in the State.
A recent case is the acquisition of land for the International Cricket Stadium, a pet project of Dayanand Narvekar and the Goa Cricket Association, to be located at Thivim. The acquisition involved two classes of land. The first was a bunch of paddy fields just outside Mapusa town. Though the sales and services report of the enquiry officer (land acquisition) indicated that the compensation to be paid to the farmers would have to be in the region of nearly Rs.6 crores, the department on its own decided internally to reduce the amount to less than Rs.1 crore. This is wholesale misappropriation of property from ordinary people who are unable to fight back. Read the rest of this entry »
The Gujarat Consultation on Bt Brinjal
I attended the Gujarat consultation. Here is a brief note I wrote the same evening:
The J.B. Auditorium belonging to the Ahmedabad Management Association has 500 fixed seats. There are two additional halls with video displays, each of 100 seats each. The third consultation saw 600 people in the main hall and the two video rooms full. Outside the auditorium more than 200 farmers, students, anti-GM activists held forth with placards and banners, shouting slogans against Bt brinjal. The Gujarat consultation therefore had more than 1,000 participants.
The astonishing attendance at the consultation owes largely to the efforts of a mass mobilization carried out by Kapil Shah of Jatan, Devender Sharma (who camped in the city for three days), and several civil society organizations. Streets and kiosks in the city had anti-GM posters put up by Greenpeace activists. Read the rest of this entry »