Bangalore-based Foundation of Biotechnology Awareness and Education (FBAE) has asked the government to lift the indefinite moratorium imposed on commercial introduction of Bt brinjal in the country by the ministry of environment and forest (MoEF). It stated that the indefinite moratorium has created a 'regulatory uncertainty' on the development of all genetically engineered crops which are at the various stages of development in the country. Stating that the environment ministry is strongly...

Noted agriculture scientist M.S. Swaminathan on Friday urged researchers to take the lead in forging strong relationships with farmers to help them improve their incomes and yield per hectare. “The green revolution was a farmers' revolution. It were the farmers who triggered the high yield programme [in wheat],” he said in his Foundation Day Lecture on `Agro Bio-diversity Management for Sustainable Food Security' at the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR)...

New Delhi has done well to declare its intention to play a proactive role at the forthcoming Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) at Nagoya (Japan) in October for thrashing out a legally binding pact on access to and benefit-sharing of biological resources. Being one of the world’s 12 mega biodiversity centres, India has substantial stakes in both preserving the biodiversity and capitalising on its commercial potential. Though the CBD, signed...

The world needs to act quickly to counter the erosion of species. The task is particularly important for India, one of the 12 mega-biodiversity centres.  May 22 marked the International Day for Biological Diversity. It commemorates the adoption of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) that day in 1992. As of December 2009, exactly 192 countries and the European Commission were signatories to it. This year has been declared the...

THERE is a need for a large-scale publicly funded biotechnology programme in agriculture to end the monopoly of the private sector, Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh has said in view of widespread opposition to genetically-modified Bt brinjal. “I think public sector investment in strategic areas particularly in genetically modified (GM) agriculture is absolutely crucial for instilling public confidence because of the seed issue. We don’t want the GM food to end...