Uproar Against GM Mustard; Citizens Call for Ban

Scientists, farmers, political leaders, farmer unions, and civil society organizations have protested against GMO food technology and that it should be banned in food crops. They have also demanded that the Centre should ban the GM Mustard crop which has been recently approved.

National Safe Food Day meeting was organized by multiple organizations working together. This included Rythu Swarajya Vedika, Jan Vignana Vedika, Telangana Vidyavantula Vedika, and National Alliance of People’s Movements here on Friday at Sundarayya Vignana Kendram.

“Dangers of GM Food Crops” was the theme on which the meeting was organized. Farmers, scientists, professors, students, and social activists were present alongside leaders of political parties, farmer unions, and people’s organizations. The meeting was accompanied by a poster exhibition and signature campaign on GM mustard. This was accompanied by a brief rally around Sundarayya Park with slogans, banners, and placards.

The Centre has very recently approved the release of the GM Mustard crop. This stands in dissonance with the many citizens' of pan India who took upon the occasion of National Safe Food Day to express their disagreement and voice their concerns. This has led to a pan movement with events like rallies, round-table meetings, mustard diversity festivals, candlelight vigils, press meets, and submission of memorandum to District Collectors.

On 9th Feb, 2010 the Union government through Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh declared a moratorium on Bt Brinjal. This was following countless protests by farmers, scientists, environmentalists, health experts, consumer organizations, and concerned citizens all over the country. Hoping for the same result, citizens have once again come together, demanding the Centre to take back their approval of GM Mustard.

The meeting took place under the leadership of the prominent social activist Dr. Rukmini Rao associated with MAKAAM and other organizations. Vissa Kiran Kumar of Rythu Swarajya Vedika elaborated on the threat posed by GM crops, faulty testing, and unregulated checks all of whose cover was blown during the BT Brinjal uproar. The system has not seen any difference yet, we only have an increased occurrence of herbicide-tolerant crops, and GM mustard will only make entry easier for more number of GM food crops, such as rice, maize, wheat, jowar, pulses, potato, and groundnut.

Prof. Soma Marla, retired principal scientist, and head (of Genomics) from the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) spoke about the threat presented by GM Mustard, the kinds of genetic manipulation the crop has, and how the Indian biotechnology industry employs mechanisms that are riddled with flaws and have severely compromised results.

Prof. M. Kodandaram of Telangana Jana Samiti said that technologies like GM crops and non-local crops like oil palm are often introduced by the government at the behest of corporates; who do not care for farmer issues or the country’s local varieties.

In the process, the local diverse food systems will soon disappear taking its rich heritage along. Instead, governments make a step to improve and promote the varieties that we already have at hand. This includes the tur dal (red gram) of Tandur, a green gram of Adilabad, sesame which used to be grown in Mancherial, and so on.

Many other eminent speakers graced the occasion. This included Prof. B.N.Reddy and Dr. Koya Venkateswara Rao of Jana Vigyana Vedika, Ambati Nagayya of Telangana Vidyavantula Vedika, B.Kondal and Sreeharsha from Rythu Swarajya Vedika, noted writer and social activist K.Sajaya, R.Venkat Reddy of Telangana Social Democratic Forum, and B.Reshma, Ph.D. scholar from Hyderabad Central University.