In a new initiative, the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), in collaboration with the Department of Science and Technology (DST), has turned to non-governmental organisations to reach their technologies to farmers. The extension wing of the IARI on Wednesday interacted with representatives of 25 select NGOs working with farmers to draw a strategy for location specific technology transfer. As a special incentive, the IARI agreed to give free need-based, area-specific seeds...

A brinjal engineered through biotechnology to kill plant-eating insects, the focus of a sharp and bitter debate about the safety of genetically modified plants, has leapt closer to dinner tables in India. The government’s apex safety review panel for genetically engineered products today approved the release of the brinjal into the environment, turning it into India’s first GM food crop ready for commercial cultivation. The final clearance now rests with...

Civil society groups and non-governmental organisations have strongly voiced their disapproval of the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) recommending commercial cultivation of Bt Brinjal in India. This is happening even as there are many unresolved issues surrounding the environmental release of the transgenic vegetable and genuine concerns over its safety for human consumption. There is also the threat of all future seeds and therefore Indian agriculture coming under the control...

Several civil society organisations of Tamil Nadu are getting together to organise a Peoples’ Audit in the state to assess the need and efficacy of the proposed 139 Special Economic Zones (SEZs) that are in various stages of approval. The audit will take place from October 24 to October 26 and members of the media are welcome to participate and witness the exercise in the presence of eminent economists, social...

Age was no deterrent to his passion and determination. Till he lost to cancer on September 12, Nobel Laureate Norman Borlaug relentlessly fought his arch enemy, the rust fungus, which had engaged him since he first landed in Mexico in 1944 to breed shorter, straighter, stronger wheat which were to liberate the world from hunger over next decades. His brilliance of pulling India out of ‘ship-to-mouth’ existence is well known....