GM food technology gets Montek Singh’s endorsement

Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia on Saturday said he is not against genetically-modified food as India is not the first country to experiment with this technology. “Of course, when it comes to eatables, there is public concern about its introduction. But there are examples in other parts of the world like in the US and China where GM food has been tried out,” he said while speaking at the Institute for Social and Economic Change on Saturday.

A proposal for a regulatory authority’s oversight of tests in GM Foods like Bt brinjal is up for Cabinet approval and this would give statutory authority to carry out tests on GM,” said Ahluwalia. The basic tenets of GM technology is being swept away due to controversies. Adequate data support and tests would help in setting things right, he said, adding that state governments are responsible for the failure to achieve four per cent agriculture growth under the 11th Plan. “State governments are not according the priority that they should to agriculture, which is the main constraint in achieving the targeted agriculture growth. They have to be much more proactive,” said Ahluwalia. The country’s average farm growth in the first three years of the 11th Five-Year Plan (2007-12) is only 2.2 per cent, while the target is 4 per cent for the entire period.

Ahluwalia said that in Karnataka, farm growth had remained stagnant at 0.1 per cent in 2009-10 and the contribution of agriculture to state GDP was 17 per cent. Food security, which is a major concern because of the increase in global food prices, cannot be tackled by ensuring equitable distribution. Production is an integral part of food security and India’s food problem could be solved through “production-oriented solutions,” he said.

“Agricultural productivity per hectare has to go up,” said Ahluwalia. Compared to other countries, where pulse consumption was almost negligible, in India, pulse consumption has increased. With diversification of the food basket, the increase in food production has to be broad-based, he added.