Sharad Pawar Advocates for GM Crops and Calls for Expanded Trials in India

Because such studies are prohibited in India, the country could not proceed with GM crops, he claimed. Pawar remarked at an event held by his party in Amravati, Maharashtra, said the Supreme Court previously made judgements on GM crops, and the consequences can be seen today.

He said that this must be changed. "Today, we are fine with (GM) American food grains (oil seeds), but farmers are not allowed to grow anything derived from GM," Pawar explained.

When asked to elucidate at a news conference following the event, Pawar stated that edible oil from a GM crop is imported into India from Malaysia, Brazil, and America.

India buys GM oil seeds, processes them, and then sells the oil to its people, but GM agricultural trials are prohibited in the country, according to him. "How will farmers get new varieties if trials are not conducted?" Pawar inquired.

According to the experienced legislator, the Centre's stance on GM crops is that experiments must be undertaken for three consecutive years and there must be no negative effects, including those to animals.

"Today, because trials are prohibited, we could not proceed (with the GM crop)," he explained. Pawar also stated that the Centre should be pressed to implement a more workable Minimum Support Price (MSP) policy.

He stated that the opposition parties believed the MSP guarantee was essential in the three agriculture legislation introduced by the Narendra Modi government, which had to be repealed afterwards.