The Week

Cotton output has jumped fourfold since India allowed the genetically modified (GM) variety in 2002, transforming the country into the world’s top producer and second-largest exporter of the fibre. Monsanto’s lab-grown seeds yield nearly all of the cotton produced in India. India grows cotton on 11-12 million hectares and is likely to have harvested 33.63 million bales (1 Indian bale = 170 kg) in the 2016/17 season that started on October 1, slightly down from 33.78 million bales a year earlier, according to the Cotton Association of India.

The New Indian Express

He had opposed the approval of GM in India and called for a moratorium of at least 15 years on genetically modified crops in the country, it said. Bhargava had returned his Padma Bhushan award in 2015 in protest against the alleged intolerance in the country thus facing flak from various quarters. I have decided to return the award. The reason is that the present government is moving away from the path of democracy, moving towards the path of making the country Hindu religious autocracy just like Pakistan. This is not acceptable… something I find unacceptable,” he had said then.

DNA

During his two and half years at Niti Aayog, Panagariya also had run-ins with several RSS affiliated organisations. Earlier this year, RSS-affiliated think tank Swadeshi Jagran Manch had objected to several of the think tank’s recommendations over dismantling National Pharmaceutical Price Authority (NPPA) and its endorsement of GM seeds, among others, saying that the Aayog is serving the interests of MNCs.

The Hans India

GM mustard is being hailed as a Swadeshi technological invention! But a “Swadeshi” technology should not be a homegrown version of a destructive “terminator” technology developed elsewhere, but rather one that is sustainable both eco-logically (like the SMI i.e Systemic Mustard Intensification) & economically. (BT Cotton)