Environment
minister Prakash Javadekar on Tuesday said that the government would
"tread cautiously" on allowing field trials of genetically modified
crops after the Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM) issued a statement quoting
the minister saying that the trials have been put on hold.
"We
would consider all aspects before taking a decision on whether the
field trials of GM crops should be allowed or not," the minister told
HT.
The government’s biotech regulator, the
Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC), had recommended to the
minister that trials for 15 varieties of GM crops should be allowed.
This was the first recommendation on allowing trials GM crops after the National Democratic Alliance government took over.
Representatives
of SJM and the Bhartiya Kissan Sangh had met the minister on Tuesday
and their statement said, "The minister assured the members of SJM and
BKS that the decision about field trials of GM crops has been put on
hold."
The minister was quick to rebut the claim saying that no final decision has been taken.
The
two organisations had said that a parliamentary standing committee on
agriculture had recommended the stopping of all field trials. They also
quoted the recommendation of the Supreme Court appointed technical
expert committee to impose a moratorium on field trials for 10 years
till bio-safety protocol was formulated and tested.
Interestingly,
the stand taken by two RSS-affiliated organisations was similar to
anti-GM crop campaigners, which the recent Intelligence Bureau report
had accused of being anti-national.