13
INDIA NEEDS GENETICALLY ENGINEERED CROPS AND FOODS
The past couple of months there was an enhanced tempo of anti-agribiotch propaganda in India, though much of it is old wine in the old bottles from the old companies. Among them, Dr Suman Sahai, by her much too often voiced rhetoric, wants the public to believe that GM crops are a losing proposition everywhere (Times of India, February 1, 2006). She has even interpreted the Prime Minister of India’s call for a ‘focus on dry land agriculture, small farmers and labour intensive technologies’, as a stand against genetically engineered (GE) crops and foods.
For the anti-tech lobbies, everything the industry proposes automatically becomes suspect. The agricultural biotech industry has its own perception, based on systematic and meticulous surveys of the country’s needs, and on what is beneficial to the farmers, the industry and so to the country. The industry would lose heavily, if the farmers do not accept what the industry produces. It is certainly necessary to be a watchdog of the activities of the industry, but a witch-hunt stance is in no body’s interest.