-The Business Standard   Prime Minister Manmohan Singh can be assertive when he chooses to. He has certainly imposed his will on the government to push the case for the controversial genetically-modified (GM) food crops. Documents reviewed by Business Standard show, for almost two years, Singh and his office have been the moving force behind the decision to go ahead with field trials of GM crops, including food crops, without awaiting regulatory reforms...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Recent government's decision to allow field trials of genetically modified (GM) food crops has come under severe attack of a parliamentary committee which criticized the environment minister M Veerappa Moily for giving his nod to this effect. The panel suggested that any test should not be undertaken till the Centre puts in place all regulatory, monitoring, oversight and surveillance structure. Referring to the recent decision of Moily...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Taking a major step forward to scientifically assess 'risk' and 'safety' aspects of transgenic crops, the government's top regulator - Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) - on Friday revalidated 10 varieties of GM crops including wheat, rice, maize and cotton and allowed multi-national seed companies to go for "confined field trials" of these varieties. The companies like Monsanto, Mahyco and BASF whose applications got revalidation...

-Financial Chronicle India's independence in 1947 had the great Bengal famine as its backdrop. During the Bengal famine of 1942-43, over three million children, women and men died of starvation. India's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, therefore, said in 1947, "Everything else can wait; but not agriculture". This commitment led to the initiation of several programmes in the field of agriculture, such as extension of irrigation facilities, establishment of seed corporations,...

-The Hindu     I have not approved such trials: Union Minister Bangalore: Confronted by farmers on the issue of permission given for field trials of genetically modified (GM) crops, Union Minister for Environment and Forests M. Veerappa Moily on Tuesday said that "he only examined the file concerned and returned it without approving any such trials." Mr. Moily was reacting to farmers associated with the Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha (KRRS) and South Indian Co-ordination...