With the change of guard in the Environment Ministry, the Centre is likely to open the doors for the Genetically Modified (GM) crops in the country. The Government is gearing up to file an affidavit in the Supreme Court supporting field trials of GM crops on a conditional basis. The affidavit, sources said, will be in response to the apex court’s notice on a PIl against the GM crops.
Environment Minister Veerappa Moily’s predecessor Jayanthi Natarajan had put the field trials on hold in view of the pending PIl in the Supreme Court. Natarajan’s predecessor Jairam Ramesh did not ban such moves but had made it mandatory for state governments to give their consent for such trials. Since most State governments had opposed GM food, no field trials have been conducted in the country since 2009.
In 2009, Ramesh had also announced an indefinite moratorium on Bt Brinjal.
As things stand, more than 53 applications for field trials of GM crops are pending before the MoEF’s Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC).
The PIl in Supreme Court had been filed by anti-GM crops activist Aruna Rodrigues, who demanded that the field trials be put on hold till an independent and effective regulatory system is put in place.
Sources reminded that the PMO as well as the Ministry of Agriculture had been trying hard to submit such an affidavit earlier, but were unable to do so because of resistance from Natarajan. It is, in fact, speculated that her opposition to field trials may be one of the reasons for her having been shown the door last week. “Now, Moily is likely to clear the decks for allowing the field trials in the country,” said the sources adding the new minister is expected to take a decision on the vexed issue soon.
The fate of companies as Bayer Bioscience, Mahyco, Monsanto India and Hyderabad-based Directorate of Oilseeds Research amongst others continues to hang in balance. Though they had received permission from the GEAC in March this year to conduct field trials for genetically modified rice, wheat, maize and castor, nothing could materialise in view of the matter in the Supreme Court.