Union minister of state for environment and forest Jairam Ramesh on Sunday said the final decision on the question of allowing Bt Brinjal in the country would be taken by the second week of February.
Jairam Ramesh said the government, after detailed consultations with all the stakeholders, would take a decision on Bt Brinjal in second week of February. He said this is an important issue and has to be dealt with seriousness. Bt brinjal is a transgenic brinjal created by inserting a gene cry1Ac from soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis into brinjal.
Speaking during the public consultation meeting on Bt brinjal at the Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture (CRIDA) in Hyderabad, he said that this is the sixth such public consultation meeting he is holding; and after the Bangalore meeting which is scheduled for February 6, his ministry would come to a conclusion on Bt brinjal issue.
Asserting that his ministry is not under pressure from any quarter on this issue, the minister said that the decision would be based on the inputs received from range of groups like farmers, scientists, agricultural experts, farmers organisations, consumer groups, citizens forums, NGOs, government officials, media, etc. Apart from this, the public in general, could also write to him their views and comments related to BT brinjal in India. All these views and comments would be considered before taking a final decision, he added.
Further, he commented that a statutory body under the ministry of environment and forests through the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) in fact has recommended the environment release of Bt brinjal in India based on the recommendations of the Review Committee on Genetic Manipulation and two expert committees constituted by the GEAC between 2006 and 2009. But considering the strong views raised both for and against the introduction of Bt brinjal, he has called for public consultations across the country before taking a final decision on this issue. Before the public consultation meeting in Hyderabad such meetings were held in Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Nagpur, Bhubaneshwar and Chandigarh and the last meeting would be held in Bangalore.
Meanwhile, the minister faced angry protests of farmers in Hyderabad over this move to produce the genetically-modified Bt brinjal. The protesters demanded that the government must reverse its decision. He said that this was the first time he was facing such unbecoming and unwarranted protests when he turned up to hear the opinions of scientists, farmers and research scholars on the issue.
In fact, the consultation meeting began with a commotion, proceeded with a broad spectrum of the society speaking out in opposition of the genetically modified crop Bt Brinjal. A number of farmers, farmer organisations, agricultural scientists, doctors, consumer groups and other civil society organisations across the country stated that Bt Brinjal is fundamentally unsafe and unnecessary, and would pose great risk to health, environment and farmers lands.
