Kartik Lokhande's blog

February 27, 2014 ABLE-AG welcomes MoEF’s approval to GM crops field trials New Delhi, February 27: Industry body Association of Biotech Led Enterprises- Agriculture Group (ABLE-AG) has welcomed removal of the restrictions on the previously approved field trials of GM crops by Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC).  On Thursday in a press meet Union Environment & Forest Minister Shri Veerappa Moily approved the March 2013 decision of the GEAC to allow more than 200 successful gene modification trials for rice, wheat, maize, castor and cotton. The long-awaited next meeting of GEAC is now scheduled for March 21, 2014. “We are hopeful that the next GEAC meeting will clear the new applications before the coming Khariff season,” said Shri Ram Kaundinya, Chairman, ABLE AG while welcoming Shri Moily’s announcements.  Dr N Seetharama, Executive Director ABLE-AG said, “We laud Shri Moily’s reaffirmation of his faith in the power of technology. At a ...

29-11-13 State ayes ‘confined’ field trials of transgenic crops in 28 cases * These crops include Wheat, Maize, and Cotton * One of the applications was submitted by city-based CICR for a cotton variety ‘Suraj’ converted into Bt version By Kartik Lokhande While debate over impact of introduction and adoption of transgenic crops in the country is still raging, Maharashtra Government has cleared field trials of several transgenic crops in at least 28 cases. Interestingly, one of these proposals is of Nagpur-based Central Institute of Cotton Research (CICR). Following a heavy pressure mounted by NGOs and activists, Central Government had directed the agriculture input companies to seek ‘no objection certificate’ (NOC) from the Governments in the States where they wanted to conduct field trials of their transgenic crops. In Maharashtra, there were no guidelines regarding issuance of NOC in such cases. As a result, Maharashtra Government formed a 10-membe...

Kakodkar Committee to submit report on GM crops this month Padma Vibhushan Dr Anil Kakodkar Staff Reporter Maharashtra Government’s committee on allowing field tests to genetically modified (GM) crops, headed by eminent nuclear scientist Padma Vibhushan Dr Anil Kakodkar, is finalising its report. The panel is expected to submit its report to the Government this month. According to Umakant Dangat, Agriculture Commissioner, the committee has prepared its draft. It conducted meetings including one at Central Institute for Cotton Research (CICR) in Nagpur in the month of May. “The process of finalising minutes of the meetings and compiling the consultations into a report form, is under progress. By the end of this month, the report will be submitted to the Government,” he told ‘The Hitavada’. Asked about general tone and tenor of the consultations held so far, Dangat said that it would come out only in the report. Once the report was submitted to it, the Government would take appr...

Published in The Hitavada CityLine on April 2, 2013 Amendment to money lending law in cold storage since 5 yrs By Kartik Lokhande When the issue of farmers’ suicides had occupied centre-stage some years back, Maharashtra Home Minister (the then Deputy Chief Minister) R R Patil had announced to punish money lenders hard. The then Chief Minister late Vilasrao Deshmukh, in 2008, had announced that Bombay Money Lending Act would be amended to incorporate stringent punishment for private money lenders exploiting the farmers. However, despite strong statements by Maharashtra’s top two authorities, the amendment bill is in cold storage since five years. Maharashtra forwarded the Bill to the President’s office, which sent it back with some queries. Savkargrast Shetkari Samiti has been following up the issue and it staged demonstrations at Azad Maidan in January this year to register protest against State Government’s inaction in this regard. The Bill comprised an important amendment...

Published in The Hitavada CityLine on April 1, 2013 Pvt money lenders tightening grip over farmers in State Number of money lending licences issued and renewed has increased steadily in past five years while that of suspension/cancellation of licences has decreased By Kartik Lokhande With rising penetration of banks in rural areas, institutional finance is increasing. At least, this is popular perception. However, reality is far from this. In fact, in Maharashtra Government’s own admission, number of private money lenders is increasing steadily in the State. More shockingly, number of borrowers from these private money lenders has doubled in past five years! The Government’s own authentic data incorporated in Economic Survey of Maharashtra for past five years reveals that number of licences issued to private money lenders by the Government has increased steadily. In 2008, the Government had issued new licences to 1,212 private money lenders. The figure rose to 1,595 in...

Published in 'The Hitavada' on March 3, 2012  ‘Bt or no Bt, just give us remunerative prices’   ■ By Kartik Lokhande MAREGAON, Mar 2 IT was a rare occasion when farmers made clear that what they needed the most was ‘remunerative prices’ and not the debate on whether Bt was effective. Instead of being concerned about winning acceptance to Bt crops, they should make available Bt and non-Bt variants in the market and leave the decision to farmers, felt the ryots. After a brief halt at Pandharkawda, Parliamentary Standing Committee on Agriculture proceeded to Maregaon (Son) to interact with farmers and villagers. As against total strength of 31, only eight members of the committee including chairperson Basudeb Acharia turned up for the visit to Vidarbha. These eight members included Satyavrat Chaturvedi, Hukumdeo Narayan Yadav, Prem Das, Upendra Kushwaha, Mohammad Ali Khan, Nripendra Nath Roy, and Nurul Islam. At Pandharkawda, they interacted with Nitin Deshmukh and Jayan...

Published in 'The Hitavada' on March 3, 2012 Parlt panel members visit Bhamb (Raja), express angst over farmers’ condition   ■ By Kartik Lokhande BHAMB (RAJA), Mar 2: “THIS is injustice. Gross injustice heaped on farmers.” This is how a member of Parliamentary Standing Committee on Agriculture said after hearing the plight of farmers at village Bhamb (Raja) in Yavatmal district on Friday. Just a day back, the panel had decided not to visit the village, which had left farmers disappointed. ‘The Hitavada’ highlighted the disappointment, taking cognisance of which two members of the panel made it a point to visit Bhamb (Raja). The officials accompanying the committee tried to dissuade the panel members from visiting the village. When Babanrao Gawande and Shridhar Adey from the village made a passionate appeal to the committee members to visit Bhamb (Raja) during a meeting at Maregaon (Son), even the committee chairperson Basudeb Acharia seemed reluctant. However, as far...

Published in 'The Hitavada' on March 2, 2012 Farmers threaten stir as panel on Bt Cotton skips Bhamb (Raja)  ■ By Kartik Lokhande BHAMB (RAJA), Mar 1: SHRIDHAR Adey, Madhukar Pawar, and Babanrao Gawande all were sitting dejected in Bhagwant Mauli Devsthan Hall in the village. Soon, their dejection turned into anger and they decided to launch an agitation on Friday against Parliamentary Standing Committee on Agriculture’s decision to skip this village in Yavatmal  district from its tour programme. The 31-member Parliamentary Standing Committee on Agriculture headed by senior MP Basudeb Acharia had decided to visit Bhamb (Raja), Sonbardi, Maregaon, and Pandharkawda in Yavatmal district to collect opinion of farmers about Bt Cotton and its impact. “This is unfortunate. Our misfortune continues to haunt us. We had high hopes from the committee. We thought that the committee will give us a patient hearing and listen to our woes and recommend some concrete solutio...

Dear friends, Soon after the Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture presented its report on Genetically Modified crops to Lok Sabha, Association of Biotechnology Led Enterprises-Agriculture (ABLE-AG) came with a criticism of the report. In a press release issued on August 9, 2012, ABLE-AG said that preventing field-testing and release of GM crop will hurt food security and India growth story. Here is the press release: Preventing field-testing & release of GM crop will hurt food security and India growth story: ABLE-AG The Parliamentary Panel Report on Cultivation of Genetically Modified Food Crops – Prospects and Effects released on Thursday and the panel's critical remarks against the use of transgenic crops are anti-framer, against seed and technology, and is a huge stumbling block in the Indian agriculture growth story. "Biotech crops are one of the most economical and safe options for increasing farm production and productivity," said Mr Ram Kaundinya, Chairman o...

While the scientists favoured Biotechnology, many activists were opposed to it. Some farmers' rights groups like Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti led by Mr Kishor Tiwari blamed Bt Cotton for farmers' suicides in rainfed region of Vidarbha. Since the Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture's visit to Vidarbha and interaction with farmers, this war of words had intensified. Against this backdrop, on August 9, 2012, the Parliamentary Standing Committee presented its 37th report on 'Cultivation of Genetically Modified Food Crops -- Prospects and Effects' to Lok Sabha. Lok Sabha Secretariat issued a press release highlighting recommendations of the Committee on various issues. Here is the press release: LOK SABHA SECRETARIAT PRESS RELEASE 9 August, 2012  18 Sharvana, 1934 (Saka) Shri Basudeb Acharia, M.P. and Chairman, Committee on Agriculture (2011-12), presented the Thirty Seventh Report of the Committee on ‘Cultivation of Genetically Modified Food Crops – Pr...

Dear friends, As the debate over merits and demerits of biotechnology raged across the country, the Foundation for Biotechnology Awareness and Education (FBAE) issued an appeal/letter addressed to Meira Kumar, Speaker of Lok Sabha. The appeal/letter signed by five scientists including FBAE President Prof Shanthu Shantharam criticised ‘activism to undermine contribution of Bt Cotton in India’ and dubbed such activism as ‘attack on Science’. Here is text of their appeal/letter issued on March 24, 2012: Smt Meira Kumar, Hon’ble Speaker of the Lok Sabha, Parliament of India, New Delhi Sub: Activism to undermine the contribution of Bt Cotton in India. SOMEONE HAS TO STOP THIS ATTACK ON SCIENCE Hon’ble Speaker Madam, The scientific community overwhelmingly approves the positive transformation in cotton farming in India since the introduction of Bt cotton in 2002.  At the same time, the scientific community is highly disturbed by the persistent campaign against Bt cotton by the activis...

Shetkari Sanghatana founder Sharad Joshi, Dr C D Mayee, Dr N Seetharama of ABLE, signing the appeal and petition to Parliamentary Standing Committee on Agriculture. Dear friends, Following the visit of Parliamentary Standing Committee on Agriculture and widespread discontent against Bt Cotton expressed by farmers during the committee’s interactions with them, the Association of Biotechnology Led Enterprises (ABLE) had organised a media interaction with Shetkari Sanghatana founder Prof Sharad Joshi, at Nagpur on March 13, 2012. In the interaction, the organisers circulated ‘a petition of farmers’ addressed to Mr Basudeb Acharia, Chairman, Parliamentary Standing Committee on Agriculture. Here is the text of the petition: To, Shri Basudeb Acharia, Hon’ble Chairman, Parliamentary Standing Committee on Agriculture Sub: Farmers deprived of voicing their opinion during your recent visit to Vidarbha Sir, We, the farmers of Vidarbha, would like to express our pain against certain polit...

March 11, 2012 On Bt Trail… Bengaluru to Bhamb (Raja) By Kartik Lokhande The last two weeks saw interesting developments in India, which is at crossroads of choice between adoption of Biotechnology in agriculture to ensure food security and widespread opposition to genetically engineered/modified crops. In a conference held at Bengaluru, scientists from across India and abroad aggressively pushed for biotech crops for food security in India. They even came down heavily on Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh, who had imposed indefinite moratorium on Bt Brinjal when he was Union Environment Minister, and batted for lifting moratorium. And, close on the heels of that, on the eve of visit of Parliamentary Standing Committee on Agriculture, a non-descript Bhamb (Raja) Gram Panchayat in Yavatmal district of Maharashtra hit the headlines as it passed a resolution seeking ban on Bt Cotton. ‘The Hitavada’ Chief Reporter Kartik Lokhande, who watched both the happenings from close...