GM maize and its health implications for humans
Michael Antoniou, head of the Nuclear Biology Group in the UK, has been studying the health effects of genetically modified (GM) crops since 1995.…
Don't need subsidies, give us the right price
For most Indians, Mahendra Singh Tikait is the man who brought Delhi to its knees in 1988 with a rally that brought the national capital face to …
Linkage between science and public policy has weakened
M S Swaminathan, popularly known as the father of India’s Green Revolution, has been associated with national agricultural research system (…
GEAC has power only to withdraw permission
Arjula R Reddy, a plant geneticist, was appointed co-chairperson of the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) in 2009. At present, he …
GM crop benefits are all in future
Nearly 40 years ago, Marc Van Montagu of Ghent University in Belgium, along with fellow researcher Jeff Schell, discovered that Agrobacterium …
‘Stopping GM trials is anti-farmer’
Genetically modified (GM) mustard hybrid DMH-11 developed by Delhi University’s Centre for Genetic Manipulation of Crop Plants ran into …
Who is watching GM crops?
As India gets ready to unleash a vast number of genetically modified (GM) food crops, politicians have joined activists in opposing engineered …
Maize Mania
Maize has become the queen of cereals, courted by state governments, seed companies, farmers and the feedstock and starch industries as the crop …
Dealing with crop stresses and scandals
Subbanna Ayyappan has made history in the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (IACR) by becoming the first non-crop scientist to head this …
Science under siege
Agricultural science has ossified in India. Despite a vast network of public research institutions and agriculture universities across the country,…
Organic thread
Even as Bt cotton invaded Indian fields in the past few years, some farmer groups kept pushing for organic cotton. In 2009-10, production in …