The recent decision by the Government of India to introduce two gene edited rice varieties is being widely questioned and there are strong reasons why this should be taken back.
The Hindu reported recently, “Venugopal Badaravada, who was a farmers’ representative in the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) Governing Body, said that the ICAR’s genome-edited rice claims are premature and misleading. He said in a statement that farmers demand accountability, transparent data, and technologies that are tested in our fields—not just polished press releases.”
What happened after the farmers’ representative expressed his views frankly and sincerely? The report in The Hindu tells us further, “He was expelled from the institution…”
This then are the highly undemocratic conditions under which such work is taking place—Expel anyone who raises an objection, even if similar kinds of objections are being widely voiced.
As far as some of the wider questions are concerned, these relate to the views expressed clearly by several experts and organizations, even supported by court judgments, that several of the various objections voiced repeatedly by eminent experts in the case of GM crops are valid also for gene-edited crops.
As far as GM crops are concerned, their highly disruptive impacts on health, nutrition and environment were belatedly being recognized even by some government authorities in the context of food crops at least, but instead of this recognition being reflected in a clear policy decision of rejecting GM as well as gene edited crops, the government has taken the highly unfortunate and regrettable decision of introducing gene-edited crops.
Dr. Soma Marla, a senior scientist who is familiar with the ICAR system has raised important questions why the essential details which can provide convincing evidence of claimed high achievement of these varieties or of very important biosafety concerns are not available.
He has also stated, “Environment Ministry’s exclusion of gene edited crops from various regulatory checks, applicable to GM crops under DBT and other union government agencies, raises many questions.” Further he has pointed out, the CRISPR CAS, core of gene-edited technology is patented and monopolized by American and other multinational firms. Others have also raised concerns regarding the patenting, intellectual property rights (IPR) and related implications of these varieties and the adverse impact of this on seeds sovereignty of farmers. The Coalition for GM-Free India has stated, “The Government of India has to reveal the situation with regard to IPRs on the released varieties transparently, immediately.”
Beyond this debate, however, there is another very important aspect of rice crop in India (and several other countries) which should be given the due importance. There is immense diversity of rice varieties in India and people in general as well as farmers cherish their local varieties for their good growth in local conditions as well as their taste and aroma. Even a single village may be growing many kind of local varieties in various kinds of land that exist in the village, preferring to grow the most suitable variety for any kind of land and the farmer is well-informed in this and related matters. Hence thousands of varieties and sub-varieties have existed in the country, which can provide the base for very creative, sustainable, productive and beautiful progress of organic rice cultivation in the country.
This is what the most brilliant rice scientist of India Dr. R.H. Richharia, who was the Director of the leading rice research organization in India during the 1960s, had attempted to achieve but with the advent of the green revolution his work was abruptly stopped. Years later he tried to revive this in another state but again his work was sabotaged despite its very promising beginning. After he had left, attempts were made to ‘steal’ his invaluable collection of indigenous seed varieties so that these can be of help to multinational companies, and there was a local movement against this attempt.
The essence of this work of the great scientist was that the most important task is to protect the great diversity of indigenous rice varieties suitable for all kinds of land and to provide various kinds of rice suitable for various tastes and uses to make various kinds of delicious dishes much preferred by people. The essence of sustainable and bountiful rice crops, he emphasized, is in its diversity, not in any kind of uniformity or spread of similar varieties or similar genetic base varieties over vast areas. The green revolution tried to spread more uniformity, leading to disastrous results, increased costs, increased pests, higher instability and health risks, less than expected yields. On the other hand farmers who persisted with their traditional seeds have been quite satisfied with these .However multinational companies and their agents dislike immensely the idea of farmers and farming prospering on the basis of seed diversity in the hands of farmers.
Hence by obstinately placing emphasis on gene edited varieties of rice, the government is ignoring the great things that can easily be done with the involvement of farmers to provide risk-free productive farming, and instead the government is opting for a high-risk, high hazard technology that is not needed at all.
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The writer is Honorary Convener, Campaign to Save Earth Now. His recent books include India’s Quest for Sustainable Farming and Healthy Food, Man over Machine—A Path to Peace, Saving Earth for Children, and A Day in 2071
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