Hectic lobbying for Bt brinjal on

In a memorandum to the prime minister, scientists and industry-backed pro-GM lobby on Monday suggested lifting the moratorium on genetically modified bt brinjal and allowing the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee under the environment ministry to take the final call on GM crops till the new biotech authority is in place.

The anti-GM activists, on the one hand, went hammer and tongs against the proposed Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of India, which they claim would facilitate the smooth entry and proliferation of GM crops, including food crops, in India without checks and balances and compromising farmers’ interests.

Activists of Greenpeace staged a demonstration outside Parliament when the BRAI bill was to be introduced in the Lok Sabha on August 17. Ultimately, the bill was not introduced on that day.  Greenpeace is planning a massive demonstration in the capital on Tuesday in which the anti-GM activists plan to cook the world’s biggest GM-free “baingan bharta” (a traditional Indian brinjal dish) to mark its opposition to Bt brinjal and other GM crops.

Bangalore-based Foundation for Biotechnology Awareness and Education has appealed to the Prime Minister not to be swayed by the “propaganda of vested groups” and reverse the moratorium on Bt brinjal imposed by former union environment minister Jairam Ramesh.