Zehr said it won’t be far-fetched to think that it stopped doing work in India and moved to other countries for introducing GM crops, because it doesn’t have any option. So we have to look at options,” Zehr said.In India, the issue of GM technology has turned into a political and emotive issue with nationalist groups blocking the introduction of any new GM crops in the country. The last GM seed that was introduced in India was that of Bollgard Cotton 2 in 2006, after that the proposal to introduce BT brinjal was also rejected. This committee has delayed the commercialisation of GM mustard seeds despite giving a go ahead in May this year and also a safety committee report that cleared the transgenic seeds for environmental release. However, due to pressure from certain environmental groups and the Hindu outfit RSS’ offshoot farmer group Swadeshi Jagaran Manch, the Indian government has remained indecisive in allowing commercialisation of GM seeds.

Source: Economic Times October 25, 2017 19:30 UTC