Several activists from Gujarat joined the protest against the Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of India (BRAI) Bill 2013 organised at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi on Thursday.
Thousands of citizens from 20 states of the country came together at Jantar Mantar for a day-long sit-in and marched towards the Parliament to demand that companies dealing in genetically modified (GM) crops and Monsanto quit India.
They have also demanded withdrawal of the BRAI Bill, 2013.
The activists also gifted an Indian flag made out of organic fabric, which does not have Monsanto’s cotton seed used in its production, to the Prime Minister of India, urging him to unfurl this non-Monsanto, non-Bt cotton flag on August 15.
Earlier, Badri Joshi, secretary of the Gujarat Khedut Samaj, who headed a team from Bharuch, termed the BRAI as a bill aimed to protect the interest of companies like Monsanto.
He had alleged that GM crops were a means to enslave independent India’s farmers. “It will make them permanently dependent on companies dealing in GM crops,” he alleged.
Manoj Solanki, another activist from the state, said that GM crops had implications on health, environment and independence of the country.
The protest at the Parliament Street comes at a time when the union government introduced the Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of India (BRAI) Bill, 2013 in Parliament in the last (budget) session.
This Bill has been facing strong opposition inside and outside the parliament as it would facilitate the fast track entry of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) into agriculture and environment.
The bill proposes to set up a centralised single window clearance system, which is designed to lower the bar for GM crop approvals with no independent long-term safety assessments or need assessment of a particular GM product.
The bill has also received flak from Right to Information (RTI) groups as it proposes to override the RTI Act. The bill is now under the review of the parliamentary standing committee.
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