The Government of India's decision to allow Monsanto's Bt Cotton varieties in North India will affect Indian agriculture and Indian farmers falling under the mercy of the giant MNC in the seed business.
Friday, February 4, 2005 will go down in the history of Indian agriculture in general and cotton cultivation in particular, as the day Monsanto succeeded in tightening its grip on the Indian seed business. The Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC), with tacit support from Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), the Ministry of Agriculture and some scientists with vested interest, has approved Monsanto's six Bt Cotton varieties for North India. This approval came in spite of the widespread failure of Bt Cotton in Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh in particular, where farmers committed suicide because of failed crops. Monsanto, in fact had to pay compensation to the cotton farmers, because of the several public interest litigations that were filed. It is now clear that the game plan is to slowly but steadily gain total control of the Indian seed business. It is no coincidence that the approval of Monsanto's Bt Cotton came at a time when approval for the Seed Bill is pending in the Rajya Sabha. To a careful eye, the underlying connection is easy to spot.
Let us now examine some very important facts-first economic and second scientific-and see how this decision will affect Indian agriculture and Indian farmers falling under the mercy of the giant MNC in the seed business. Historically, Indian cotton is world famous, next only to Egyptian cotton in terms of quality. What Monsanto is trying to achieve in the long run is to take control of the cotton crop in India. |
