-The Hindu Proposal to go for Environment Ministry’s clearance; activists oppose The Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) that functions under the Union Environment Ministry has yet again cleared the proposal for the commercial cultivation of genetically modified (GM) mustard. The recommendation will now again go for the approval of the Environment Ministry. Though the GEAC had cleared the proposal in 2017, the Ministry had vetoed it and suggested that the GEAC hold...

-The Telegraph The FSSAI had set a Feb 5 deadline for public feedback on its proposed regulations that outline procedures through which GM foods can be imported in the country A citizen petitioner has through a legal notice asked India’s food authority to withdraw its draft rules on genetically modified foods, saying its proposals would breach environmental regulations and dilute food labelling requirements directed by the Supreme Court. The notice, sent on Friday...

-Livemint.com Harsh Vardhan says GM mustard is a very contentious issue and said a lot of opinions have been expressed for and against its introduction New Delhi: Even as the government continues to put on hold its final decision on release of genetically modified (GM) mustard for commercial cultivation, Union science and technology minister Harsh Vardhan said that the proposal has not been shelved and remains under consideration. Vardhan emphasized that GM mustard...

-The Hindu ‘Commercial release of the seed is a socio-political issue’ “The commercial release of genetically modified mustard wasn’t merely a scientific issue but a ‘socio-political one’ that required the understanding of a wide section of society,” K. VijayRaghavan, 64, Principal Scientific Adviser (PSA) said in an interview. He was formerly Secretary, Department of Biotechnology, that had funded the development of the seed. While the transgenic plant has been cleared for commercial cultivation...

-The Economic Times "Open any boll here and you'll see it's destroyed," says Ganesh Shere, a farmer at a village called Jamb in Yavatmal district, about 160 km from Nagpur, in northeast Maharashtra. He walks along the length of his bone-dry, four-acre cotton field and splits two dozen cotton bolls, with a stone or his fingers, to reveal the damage done by pink bollworms, which have become resistant to the genetically modified...