The Odisha Nari Samaj (ONS), a federation of 54 tribal women’s organisations, on Friday urged Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to reject the Centre’s proposal of taking up Bt brinjal and genetically modified (GM) crops’ cultivations and, on the other hand, encourage native varieties of crops through organic farming techniques in the State.
In a letter to the Chief Minister, ONS spokesperson Karmi Besra informed that his Tamil Nadu counterpart J Jayalalithaa has already rejected Union Forest and Environment Minister Veerappa Moily’s proposal to take up a field trial of the GM crops and Bt brinjal in the country. Mentioning that the State has over 350 varieties of native brinjals, Besra apprehended that if the GM crop cultivation is undertaken, the native brinjals would be extinct soon.
THREAD executive director G John, who spearheads the agitation against growing of Bt brinjal in county, said, “It is high time we spent our energy in supporting the nature. The women leaders should express their feelings before the appropriate authorities to take steps to thwart the efforts against nature.” Notably, Odisha has banned Bt brinjal cultivation proposal earlier.