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The Union Minister, Mr Jairam Ramesh, today said no NGO influenced his decision to put a moratorium on Bt Brinjal, a statement that comes against the backdrop of the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, raising questions about the role of foreign-funded NGOs in blocking the use of genetic engineering.
“Green Peace, a foreign-funded NGO, accused me of propagating the line of Monsanto during a public hearing in Bangalore. So on Bt Brinjal, since I was directly involved, I can confidently say no NGO influenced my views,” Mr Jairam Ramesh, who is on a three-day Kerala visit, told reporters here today.
He said his position on Bt Brinjal was determined by the positions of state governments, the lack of consensus among the scientific community, the fact that the tests were not completed and there was no independent professional mechanism which will instil confidence in the public.
“I did not ban Bt Brinjal. I decided let’s put moratorium. Let’s fulfil all these four conditions and then revisit the whole issue,” he said.
His remarks came in response to a question about allegations that some NGOs based in Scandinavian countries funded the protests against Bt Brinjal.
His remarks also came against the backdrop of the Prime Minister’s comments that some NGOs based in the United States and Scandinavian countries were not “fully appreciative” of the development challenges India faces.
Mr Jairam Ramesh said as Environment Minister he enforced the moratorium on Bt Brinjal on February 9, 2010 after going through a seven-month process of public consultation.
He said consultations were held with scientists, NGOs, civil society organisations and farmers’ organisations in which around 8,000 people participated.
“I wrote to all Chief Ministers, I wrote to 50 scientists across the world. Firstly, states opposed Bt Brinjal.
Secondly, there was no scientific consensus on the need for Bt Brinjal, why Bt brinjal, and in fact, Father of Green Revolution M.S. Swaminathan himself had raised questions on where we were going,” he said.
He said Chief Ministers like Mr Nitish Kumar (Bihar), Mr Naveen Patnaik (Odisha), Mr Narendra Modi (Gujarat), Mr Shivraj Singh Chauhan (Madhya Pradesh) and Mr B.S. Yedddyrupaa (Karnataka) have then raised questions about Bt Brinjal.
“I cannot ignore states. Ultimately in agriculture, we have to take states along with us,” he said.
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