Dr.
MS Swaminathan, Chairman of the National Commission on Farmers,
who is at the forefront of the "gene" revolution,
during an NGO meet in Sri Lanka, made a fervent call not to
say "green" any more, but "gene" hereafter,
asking us to put under the lid, the socalled "green
revolution", which in any case is fast fading out, and
instead, usher the "gene revolution". Ironically,
it was he who, along with late C Subramaniam, pushed the idea
of the green revolution vigorously in the 1960s, which is
now mired under a cloud of environmental controversies, with
fertile land turning barren due to the chemical onslaught,
drying aquifers and vanishing biodiversity, etc. It might
be, in the fitness of things, to critically examine some very
recent developments on this score, which are a cause for great
concern, when viewed in the background of India's national
interests. First, it was the memorandum of understanding signed
by the Chief of Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR)
and the State Department, USA, following the visit of Mr.
Manmohan Singh to Washington, of the "Knowledge Initiative".
According to this, ICAR scientists would be sent to USA for
"capacity building" and a "tuition fee"
will need to be paid to the concerned research/academic institutions
to which our scientists will be sent. The major thrust of
the knowledge initiative is to accelerate the "rapid
commercialization" of Indian agriculture.
An amount of
Rs. 400 cr will be the Indian outlay for the project. Interestingly,
during the deliberations, representatives of both WalMart
(the giant US retail trader in food) and Monsanto (the agribusiness
giant) were present. One wonders whether the knowledge initiative
implies a tacit admission on the part of the ICAR that it
is scientifically incapable of independently delivering to
the nation what the US promises to deliver. If yes, then why
is the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India, investing
colossal sums of money in the research efforts of biotechnology
at ICAR, which is the prime focus of the IndoUS MoU? To stretch
the matter further, would India be unwittingly risking the
future of its entire biowealth by opening up its research
institutions for foreign "collaboration"? The neem
and turmeric fiascos are fresh in our memory. And the clandestine
biopiracy of the 1960s, aided and abetted by our own native
collaborators, which led to the theft of our famed Basmati,
which came to the world market as "Texmati"released
by Rice Tec, a Texasbased agribusiness company is wellknown
to the Indian public. It is also worth noting in this context
the exorbitant (Rs. 1,650) price that Monsanto charged Indian
cotton farmers for a 450 gram packet of their Bt cotton, while
the native hybrid was sold at Rs. 350 for the same quantity,
which the Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Commission
has ruled as totally unjust. |
