-The Times of India LUDHIANA: The soil and water Engineering experts of Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) have observed that the cultivation of rice in hot and humid climate often results in accumulation of gasses like carbon dioxide and nitrogen in tubewell pits. A K Jain, HoD Soil and Water Engineering, said, "In case a farmer enters the tubewell pit for repair of the pump, he can become unconscious due to less oxygen...

-The Hindu The Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee, by granting approval to GM trials even before the Supreme Court ruled in the matter, has shown an undue haste Union Minister of Environment , Forests and Climate Change, Prakash Javadekar, was petitioned by farmers and the Swadeshi Jagran Manch to halt trials of transgenic crops approved by the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) on July 18 and there is some confusion if the...

-The Financial Express The Narendra Modi government's decision to disallow field trials of 15 varieties of genetically modified (GM) crops came on top of several state governments virtually thwarting such trials of 45 GM crop varieties approved by the regulator during the previous UPA regime. The Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) gave approval for 45 GM crop trials ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. However, states like Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Odisha,...

-The Indian Express Because the GM question demands evidence-based policymaking, not corporate shills or NGO prejudices. Two RSS-affiliated groups, the Swadeshi Jagaran Manch and the Bharatiya Kisan Sangh, seem to have successfully petitioned the environment minister to hold off field trials of genetically modified crops. Only a week ago, the statutory body for these decisions, the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC), had allowed farm trials of rice, mustard, cotton, chickpea and...

-The Hindustan Times Environment minister Prakash Javadekar on Tuesday said that the government would "tread cautiously" on allowing field trials of genetically modified crops after the Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM) issued a statement quoting the minister saying that the trials have been put on hold. "We would consider all aspects before taking a decision on whether the field trials of GM crops should be allowed or not," the minister told HT. The government's biotech regulator,...