Kavitha, Meeting a delegation of Alliance for Sustainable & Holistic Agriculture (ASHA) on the issue of GM mustard, Bihar Chief Minister Sh Nitish Kumar assured the group of his active intervention on this matter of urgent concern. He promised that he would write to the Prime Minister on the subject explaining why GM mustard should not be approved by the Centre. “Bt cotton experience in India has clearly shown that Genetic Modification is a failed technology. Then why should this technology be now cleared for Mustard, a food crop?”, he asked. He further elaborated and said that GM technology in Cotton was introduced to protect it from Bollworm but the pest is now resistant to Bt toxin, and farmers are using large amounts of chemical pesticides on Bt cotton. “We are promoting organic farming in the state of Bihar and GM cultivation will not be allowed here”, he said.
