‘Sarson Satyagraha’ opposes GM mustard approval, threatens mass movement after SC order
A media interaction was convened a day after the Supreme Court directed the Centre's counsel to ensure that "no precipitative action is taken" until the interim application filed by Aruna Rodrigues, a renowned environmental activist and leading petitioner in the apex court on bio-safety, is heard and scheduled the matter for consideration on November 10. Panelists at the press conference said the manner in which the GEAC hastily gave a green signal to GM mustard was "shameful".
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Buoyed by a Supreme Court order, a citizens’ resistance platform Friday strongly opposed the approval given by the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) for the ‘environmental release’ of GM mustard and vowed to step up resistance all over the country.
“We will activate all possible democratic and non-violent avenues available to us and ensure that GM mustard planting does not end up being an irreversible and unaccountable misadventure,” said ‘Sarson Satyagraha’ activists at a press conference here.
The media interaction was convened a day after the Supreme Court directed the Centre's counsel to ensure that "no precipitative action is taken" until the interim application filed by Aruna Rodrigues, a renowned environmental activist and leading petitioner in the apex court on bio-safety, is heard and scheduled the matter for consideration on November 10.
Panelists at the press conference said the manner in which the GEAC hastily gave a green signal was "shameful".
“We know about the fate of Bt Brinjal.... We also know the real-life story of Bt Cotton failure...," they pointed out.
The Environment Ministry appears to have abandoned responsible policy-making when it comes to a dangerous herbicide-tolerant GM food crop, they said, adding that the onus of presenting the scientific evidence to the citizens fell upon the panelists to make them aware of "an irreversible dangerous experiment" that has been unleashed on the basis of "unfounded claims”.
The speakers included Kapil Shah, promoter of organic farming, ASHA-Kisan Swaraj; Dr Dhiraj Singh, former Director of ICAR’s Directorate of Rapeseed-Mustard Research (DRMR); Dr Satvinder K Mann, retired plant pathologist; Devinder Sharma, noted agriculture and food policy analyst; Manju Devi Badalbigha, a mustard grower; Yudhvir Singh, Indian Coordination Committee of Farmers’ Movements; Kavitha Kuruganti, Coalition for a GM-Free India; and Umendra Dutt, Kheti Virasat Mission.
They said that while the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and pro-GM lobbies were peddling falsehoods about GM mustard, "the reality is vastly different", and strongly rebutted their claim on 13 points.
Against this backdrop, 'Sarson Satyagraha' warned the regulators and the Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change (MoEF&CC) against the approval already issued.
"Resistance will be stepped up, and citizens will adopt all democratic non-violent means to protect themselves and their environment from the ill-effects of GM mustard," panelists added.
Meanwhile, Rodrigues told Rural Voice that the apex court order was “very significant”.
