eggplant interrupted

I have spent a lot of time ruminating the phenomenal decision taken by Jairam Ramesh, India's Environmental Minister. I have concluded that in the face of corrupt politics and skewed ideas of agricultural progress: it is a monumental affirmation. It is more power to the GM Free India Coalition, to the science of right and indeed, farmers all over the nation.

Today I am slightly stunned because I doubted if this moratorium would actually happen - so clearly resounding its logical voice and based so solidly in scientific fact. This decision has come after public debates, back and forth consultations, news cycle after news cycle, protests and general chaos which is a confirmation to the power of people. The government will listen, it has to listen when what is being demanded is something as basic as safe food.

The hold on the commercial introduction of Bt Brinjal comes after key brinjal growing states announced their own state bans. The states of West Bengal, Orissa and Bihar which account for 60% of brinjal production announced a ban earlier this year. This was followed by bans in Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Uttarakhand etc. The massive public pressure on the Environmental Ministry also has played an important role. Through a Greenpeace campaign alone; 40,000 emails landed up in Jairam Ramesh's personal inbox protesting the introduction of Bt Brinjal. These two important factors have worked together to lead to this triumph. It is a day of celebration for anti-GM campaigners, every sane politician (Sharad Pawar does not qualify), brinjal farmers, consumers and the glorious heritage of Indian agriculture.

Brinjal, eggplant or aubergine is indigenous to the sub-continent and India grows over 2000 varieties of brinjal in over 500,000 hectares of land. It has been doing so for almost 4000 years. I do wish the Indian government will take a cue from the outcome of the campaign and devise methods to change agri-policy by pushing for more organic food, less pesticide/fertilizer use and definitely no GM. The humble brinjal has become India's most talked about vegetable and I predict; the symbol of the country's anti-GM movement and hopefully from here, a desperately needed agricultural revolution. Jairam Ramesh has kept his promise for a "fair outcome", he is indeed the man of the hour and has restored a little faith in Indian bureaucracy.

However celebrations cannot last long and there is much to be done on the GE front. Currently there are several indigenous crops reaching the last stages of testing like rice, okra, tomatoes - all of which are widely cultivated and consumed. These GM 'events' are sitting in line waiting for approval. So the battle may be over, but the war still remains.

world according to monsanto

Every company's major objective is to generate revenue - this is the responsibility it owes to its shareholders and its stakeholders. However, there are some among those who achieve this agenda in an ethical manner, paying attention to the triple bottom line; there are others who don't care and there are ones who pretend to care. Monsanto falls under the fourth group - pure evil.

Monsanto started off as a chemical company. It is the company responsible for Agent Orange, for the release of PCBs into the ecosphere. More recently they were responsible for bovine growth hormone (rBHG) in milk. It has since remodeled itself into the world biggest agri-biotech company. What are they after now? Global monopoly over the building blocks of human sustenance - the seed.

Over the last decade, Monsanto has aggressively bought over 50 seed companies world over. The rationale being, whoever owns the seeds owns the food. The process of genetic engineering allows companies, such as Monsanto, to claim patent rights over seeds. 90% of all GE seeds planted in the world are patented by Monsanto and hence controlled by them.

Patents on seeds give companies like Monsanto unprecedented power. Monsanto prohibits farmers saving patented GE seeds from one crop to replant the next season, an age-old practice. To ensure that farmers do not reuse seeds, Monsanto created its own 'gene police', and encourages farmers to turn in their neighbours.

Even farmers that do not use GE seeds are not safe. According to an investigative report by the Centre for Food Safety (CFS) farmers have even been sued for patent infringement after their field was contaminated by pollen or seed from someone else’s GE crop.

But Monsanto’s influence doesn't stop at the US border. “The world according to Monsanto”, documents the devastating impact of Monsanto's malpractices around the world. Among others, it includes the real-life stories of cotton farmers in India that ended up in hopeless debts after using Monsanto genetically engineered (so called Bt) cotton and of a family in Paraguay, South America whose dreams have turned to nightmares after their farm became surrounded by fields planted with Monsanto’s GE soya.

This expose, goes on to show how Monsanto has been manipulating government agencies to approve their GM seeds and policies. It also shows how the company has exploited many poor farmers world over. It gradually builds up case after case against Monsanto pointing to its ultimate aim of taking over global food production in some sort of macabre transgenic revolution. I found a link on youtube that shows the documentary in ten parts. You can order a DVD of it (in English, French and Spanish) here.

This issue is worth educating yourself about. Food is universal and affects everyone. Apart from the substantial health risks there are also enormous environmental implications involved through the cultivation of GM. Consumer pressure is the only thing that can keep companies like Monsanto from taking over global food supply. Currently in India Mahyco, based in Maharastra a subsidiary of Monsanto has participated in testing Bt Brinjal and there are currently 20 different vegetables, food grains etc under GM research. Releasing Bt Brinjal will be catastrophe. The most precious Indian crop - rice, will soon follow. This will threaten not only livelihoods of millions of farmers but also the 75000-odd(!) indigenous varieties of rice which will die out.

Speak out. Let agriculture remain the right of small farmers world over. Apathy is no longer an option. Choose to let your voice be heard.