Offshoring Indian Agriculture: Is India Becoming a GMO Trash Can?
NOVANEWS
By Colin Todhunter
Asia-Pacific Research
The regulatory system for GMOs (genetically modified organisms) in India is in tatters. So said the Coalition for a GMFree India (CGMFI) in 2017 after media reports about the illegal cultivation of GM soybean in the country.
In India, five high-level reports have already advised against the adoption of GM crops:
1. The ‘Jairam Ramesh Report’, imposing an indefinite moratorium on Bt Brinjal [Feb 2010];
2. The ‘Sopory Committee Report’ [August 2012];
3. The ‘Parliamentary Standing Committee’ [PSC] Report on GM crops [August 2012];
4. The ‘Technical Expert Committee [TEC] Final Report’ [June-July 2013]; and
5. The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Science & Technology, Environment and Forests [August 2017].
Given the issues surr...