By Team Mangalorean Bangalore

Bangalore Feb 7: RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat today strongly opposed attempts to allow 'untested' and 'dangerous' genetically modified Bt brinjal and said there was no need for such technology as it only favoured the multinationals.

Speaking at a function at a private educational institution here, he said people in the country had been growing brinjal since 10,000 years and there was no need for any new technology to improve the crop.

Indians do not need these foreign technologies to live longer. They need not learn how to grow a traditional crop like brinjal, he said.

"This is a ploy to bring control on Indian traditional agriculture and they are trying to release Bt varieties in over 200 food crops. They can be hazardous to human health. We have to wake up to this serious development and in no way should allow commercial cropping of Bt brinjal," Mr Bhagwat said.

The advent of Bt brinjal was akin to the infiltration of terrorists. "Earlier we use to see terrorists infiltered into the country. Now it is the time of Bt brinjal," he opined.

Speaking on the occasion, Yoga exponent Baba Ramdev opposed commercialisation of Bt brinjal, and said such genetically modified crops would lead to liver and kidney disorders. He said Bt brinjal raised serious health concerns as consumption of genetically modified was not good for human health.

He said it was futile to seek the opinion of farmers on the issue, indicating that those who toil in the farms did not understand the intricacies of such technology.

It can be recalled that, Jairam Ramesh who was in Bangalore yesterday, said the ongoing debate on Bt Brinjal has turned his hair grey! The minister, who is caught between biotechnology-lobbyists and pro-farmer groups over the move to commercialise Bt Brinjal, said, “Both the groups should be talking to each other and coming to a consensus. But that is not happening. Ever since I began public consultations on Bt Brinjal, greying of my hair has become faster.”

Ramesh was in Bangalore to interact with NGOs, farmers and scientists as part of the public consultation programme, the seventh and last in the country, before a final decision on Bt Brinjal is announced on Feb 10.

With just two more days left for the official announcement on government decision on the commercial use of genetically modified brinjal in the country, 13 chief ministers have already officially conveyed to the Centre that they don’t want their farmers to grow the crop.

The road ahead for Bt brinjal has also become difficult because states that have almost 75% share in the country’s brinjal crop have categorically refused to grow the genetically modified variety.

According to the sources in environment ministry, West Bengal that contributes 30% of the brinjal crop in the country, has already told the Centre that it doesn’t want its farmers to grow the genetically modified version of the crop. Same is the case with Orissa (that contributes 20% of the total yield), Bihar (11%), Andhra Pradesh (6%) and Karnataka (4%). All these states have written letters to the Centre conveying their decision not to grow Bt brinjal. The governments of Mizoram, Chhattisgarh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab and Rajasthan have also officially conveyed to the Centre their decision not to grow Bt brinjal in their states.

Related News

Farmers need mental treatment: Ramesh