NEW DELHI: The BJP’s ideological patron, the RSS, has won the GM (genetically modified) crop war with the government’s premier policy think-tank NITI Aayog.
In the first authoritative indication, the planning body’s draft on the three-year action plan — a copy of which is with Express — admits that “other alternatives (to GM crops) should be explored”.
“NITI Aayog officials reached out to senior RSS functionaries for an open debate on the issue, but all efforts proved to be futile,” said a senior member. The RSS has been opposed to the introduction of GM crops for many years. As NITI Aayog began to champion GM crops to meet the needs of India’s growing population, the RSS dug its heels in, emerging as the principal stumbling block. RSS general secretary Bhaiyaji Joshi had said the strong counter-arguments to the scientific community’s espousal of GM crops could not be brushed aside.
In its defence, NITI Aayog furnished scientific approval for GM crops.
“Public policy on agriculture research and development is facing a serious dilemma. The scientific community by and large favours the development and use of transgenic and GM crops to address future agri-food demands and other challenges,” NITI Aayog wrote in the action plan circulated to State governments during the Governing Council meeting on April 16, but added, “However, there is a strong public sensitivity towards the health and environmental safety aspects of these technologies in India and in most of other countries, which cannot be ignored.”
The Gujarat government had rejected NITI Aayog’s requests for GM crop trials soon after the National Democratic Alliance came to power in 2014.
In India, only GM cotton is cultivated. Activists have been raising the issues of seed monopoly by multinational companies and pest-affected crops leading to losses for farmers.