The regulation of genetically modified crops and products in India has always been shrouded in secrecy right from the controversia

Home>>Information obtained under Right To Information Act [RTI]

The regulation of genetically modified crops and products in India has always been shrouded in secrecy right from the controversial open air field trials of Bt Cotton in 1998. Even the state governments are not aware of where trials are happening though Agriculture is basically a State (government) subject in India (the federal structure).

Since the enforcement of the Right to Information Act of 2005 began, efforts have been on to use the law to bring about more transparent regulation of GM crops/foods in the country using this new empowering tool. Groups like Greenpeace India have engaged with the regulators on the issue of "Right to Know" right from 2003 onwards.

As part of using the Right to Information Act (especially in a situation where biosafety data has to be brought out for public scientific scrutiny and where the current regulatory regime is entrenched in objectionable conflict of interest which does not allow any public faith to be reposed in decision-making processes), several civil society groups have approached various agencies for information under the Right to Information Act and this website has been created mainly to put all such information obtained under the RTI into a public space which is more easily accessible. Efforts to obtain information under RTI Act have been taken up with the GEAC, DBT (by Greenpeace India, Gene Campaign & Centre for Sustainable Agriculture), with the state governments of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka (by Centre for Sustainable Agriculture), Kerala (by Thanal), Chattisgarh (by Centre for Sustainable Agriculture) and Madhya Pradesh (by Sampark).

Admittedly, it has not been easy obtaining even this information from the regulators! The department of biotechnology, when asked for copies of the minutes of the RCGM meetings and MEC visits so far, has chosen to respond by saying that this information cannot be shared since it will mean a disproportionate diversion of the available resources to cater to the request! We wonder what diverted resources are required to photocopy documents from a file which keeps the minutes of all meetings, unless no such minutes are being maintained!?

Here, we provide visitors to this website information obtained from or pertaining to the state governments of Andhra Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Kerala, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Tamilnadu.

We are also putting out information on field trials as permitted by the RCGM/GEAC in Kharif 2006 and 2005, monitoring of such field trials, violations detected in addition to information on constitution of regulatory bodies by the DBT.

A separate section also provides scanned reports from laboratory analyses of Bt Cotton plant samples and animal viscera by Veterinary Biological Research Institute [VBRI, Hyderabad] and extracts from the postmortem register of the the Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory, Warangal on the issue of Bt Cotton (open grazing) & Livestock impacts.

What is interesting to note is that a careful reading through the documents related to Bt Cotton performance shows that the state governments are pointing out to problems that farmers are encountering with Bt Cotton, their recommendations that Bt Cotton is not suitable for all growing conditions and so on [we have highlighted such sections in the documents obtained in blue boxes].

On other regulatory issues, these documents also tell us that State Biotechnology Coordination Committees are not formed in the states nor are they involved in overseeing field trials! This is a clear violation of the Environment Protection Act’s Rules. It is also apparent that despite repeated reports from civil society groups, field trials are being permitted based solely on the assurances provided by the promoters with very little monitoring capabilities from the regulators’ side.

FIELD TRIALS IN KHARIF 2006

RCGM trial locations for field trials of GM Rice and GM Okra - Kharif 2006 (farmer & village names included)

Bt Okra multi-locational trials (Cry1Ac) by Mahyco permitted in July 2006 by RCGM - trial protocol, conditions and locations

Field trials approved by RCGM in its May 23rd 2006 meeting including on cauliflower, brinjal, rice

Bt Rice multi-locational trials (Cry1Ac) by Mahyco permitted by RCGM - trial protocol, conditions and locations

Bt Tomato [marker free] pollen flow study permission for Mahyco by RCGM

Bt Rice [marker free] pollen flow study permission for Mahyco by RCGM

Bt Brinjal [marker free] pollen flow study permission for Mahyco by RCGM

Bt Okra [marker free] pollen flow study permission for Mahyco by RCGM

RCGM approvals and pending approvals from May 2006

Bt Cotton trials permissions given in 2006

FIELD TRIALS IN KHARIF 2005