A handful of Jarawa tribesmen recently broke into a house in the village of Mathura in the Andaman islands. They left after taking away rice, sugar and coconut. The first people to successfully migrate out of Africa, the Jarawas came to the Andaman islands 60,000 years ago, scientists believe. Essentially hunter-gatherers, the tribespeople have traditionally survived on the raw meat of wild boar. But in the 1970s, a road (the...

Orissa will soon formulate a state food processing policy to woo private investment in this potential sector. “A draft policy has been circulated among all stakeholders for their comments after which it will be finalised,” said chief minister Naveen Patnaik while inaugurating an agri and food processing conclave here today. Inviting private investors to invest in this sunrise sector, Naveen assured all necessary support required to promote agri and processed food products. Stating...

* Main aim is to create asingle-window clearing-house for GM foods/crops * Planned regulatory authority to have overarching powers over state governments, existing laws * No room for farmers or civil society in approval process * Penal action for raising objection without scientific evidence * No independent risk assessment of data submitted to the authority * No provision for revoking approvals, inadequate liability clause * No informed choice for consumers...

IMAGINE THE lowly brinjal you have always known turning into a sci-fi gizmo — with an uncharted potency for good and evil. Imagine a food turned into a pesticide — and you will have a measure of the essential uncertainty around Bt brinjal. When Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh announced his indefinite moratorium on Bt brinjal on February 9, he halted a juggernaut that could have swept India to a point...

It is surprising to see senior ministers of the government getting drawn into a bout of shadow-boxing over genetically-modified (GM) foods. Environment minister Jairam Ramesh’s decision to put a moratorium on Bt brinjal has got the goat of not just some GM businesses, but of some of his ministerial colleagues as well. Farm minister Sharad Pawar leads the charge. Science and technology minister Prithviraj Chavan and former S&T minister and...