September 01, 2016 11:43 PM

Patna: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today said he will write to Prime Minister Narendra Modi against commercial cultivation of genetically modified (GM) mustard.

"I will write to the Prime Minister urging him not to allow the cultivation of GM mustard which is not good for the environment as well as mankind," he said after meeting a national level delegation of farmers from Alliance for Sustainable and Holistic Agriculture (ASHA) in Patna.

The delegation sought a ban on GM mustard farming. The Chief Minister told the delegation that Bihar has been promoting organic farming on a large-scale.

September 01, 2016 12:00 AM

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.

September 01, 2016 12:00 AM

Kavitha, Delegation of organic farmers from Haryana, Punjab and Rajasthan meets Union Agriculture Minister and appeals for immediate hold on release of GM Mustard

Under the aegis of Organic Farmers’ Association of India (OFAI) a delegation today (September 1, 2016) called upon the Union Minister of Agriculture, Sh Radha Mohan Singh and presented him with bottles of cold pressed oil of their own organic mustard along with a note that if he wishes to be able to use it in future too then his government must immediately put on hold the approval of GM mustard.

September 01, 2016 12:00 AM

Kavitha, DELHI CM KEJRIWAL GETS A UNIQUE GIFT FROM CITIZENS FIGHTING GM MUSTARD: CITIZENS URGE HIM TO ACT PROACTIVELY TO STOP GM MUSTARD FROM INVADING THEIR FOOD

New Delhi, Braving heavy downpour, a group of citizens landed at Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal’s office today, urging him to proactively intervene in the matter of GM mustard which the Government of India’s regulators are considering for approval. If approved, this would be the first time that a Genetically Modified food crop would have been allowed for commercial cultivation in India. This GM mustard has been created with 3 bacterial genes inserted unnaturally and there is controversy around its safety and its very need. The citizens’ group gifted Kejriwal with non-toxic organic mustard oil, to gently point out that if he does not intervene in the matter now along with other key political leaders and state governments, this could be his last chance to consume non-GM, safe mustard oil. The citizens pointed out that consumers’ right to informed choices will be infringed upon if GM mustard is approved by the Centre.

August 28, 2016 04:57 PM

Rosamma Thomas | TNN

JAIPUR: Field trials of GM mustard are complete and an application from Delhi University's Centre for Genetic Manipulation of Crop Plants is pending before the government. If approved, GM mustard will become the first genetically modified food crop to be grown commercially in the country.

Rajasthan is the country's top mustard producing state. In 2010-11, of the 48,38,258 hectares under mustard cultivation in the country, 24,84,307 was in Rajasthan. Over 40% of the total mustard produced in India comes from Rajasthan.

August 26, 2016 12:56 AM

NEW DELHI, However, multiple clearances are still required

Genetically-modified (GM) mustard may have moved closer to being cleared for commercial cultivation in India after a key committee, tasked with assessing all the available evidence so far on the plant’s suitability for Indian soil and risks posed to health and ecology, is learnt to have given a favourable assessment on the tests done so far on GM mustard. However there are multiple approvals still required for any likely clearance.

Multiple sources told The Hindu that a document — called a safety document — detailing the sub-committee’s findings as well as the data it had perused in assessing DMH-11, the genetically modified (GM) mustard hybrid developed by researchers at the Delhi University, would be made available online for public comments next week.

August 26, 2016 12:27 AM

Expert committee could recommend it as soon as September

Nitin Sethi | New Delhi

The green nod for commercially cultivating genetically-modified (GM) mustard has reached the penultimate stage, with a technical sub-committee of the Union environment ministry giving a positive report on it. The nod from the statutory Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) of the government could come as soon as September.

If the GEAC does recommend the cultivation of the first GM food crop to be grown in the country in the September meeting, as sources said was likely, it would require only a political approval from the environment minister for the crop to be commercially released.

August 25, 2016 12:54 PM

KumKum Dasgupta, The Central Information Commission, which was set up under the Right to Information Act in 2005, did not mince words on Tuesday when it directed the ministry of environment, forest and climate change to reveal safety data regarding trials of genetically modified (GM) mustard without further delay, noting that “any attempt to postpone or delay the disclosure will block the public discussion” on the controversial issue.

In his order, information commissioner M Sridhar Acharyulu said that the information sought is of “high public importance, concerning public health, and it should have been in (the) public domain”.

August 22, 2016 07:00 AM

TNN | Bhubaneswar: Farmer representatives on Sunday urged the state government to write to the Centre against approval of genetically modified (GM) mustard crop in the country.

Speaking at a state-level meeting on the ill-effects of GM crop on health and environment, co-convener of Coalition for GM-free India Kavitha Kuruganti said the state government had acted proactively against bt brinjal in 2009-10 by expressing its concern to the Centre. "We want immediate intervention of the state government in the case of GM mustard as the Centre would take a decision on this soon," she added.

August 16, 2016 01:33 PM

CHENNAI, Citizen groups and unions representing farmers have urged Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa to write to the Centre against approving genetically modified (GM) mustard in India. The GM mustard is like a Trojan horse waiting to attack, they said.

The Government of India plans to approve GM mustard (three different types) developed by the Delhi University. The application for approval is at an advanced stage of processing by the Indian regulators.

August 16, 2016 09:09 AM

CIC says any attempt to delay the disclosure will block public debate on the controversial issue

New Delhi: The Central Information Commission (CIC) has directed the environment ministry to reveal safety data regarding trials of genetically modified (GM) mustard without further delay, noting that “any attempt to postpone or delay the disclosure will block the public discussion” on the controversial issue.

August 14, 2016 12:00 AM

NEW DELHI, The Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) has once again been pulled up for withholding information from the public by the Central Information Commission (CIC). The CIC has further issued a show cause notice against two public information officers with the Ministry for violating Right to Information.

The Commission, on Friday, once again took up the case against the GEAC, which falls under the aegis of the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change and called the committee out for making ‘excuses’ and being ‘unreasonable’.

June 20, 2016 12:00 PM

Over 37 million bees have been found dead in Canada after GMO corn was planted recently in the local area. According to local beekeeper, Dave Schuit, since the GMO corn was planted close to his farm he lost over 37 million bees as a direct result.