On the final day of country wide consultation, the union minister revealed the basis for selecting the seven cities. He said, “I chose Kolkata, as 30% of Brinjal cultivation comes from West Bengal, Bhuvaneshwar, since 20% comes from Orissa.
“Ahmedabad has succeeded in Bt cotton, hence we wanted to get opinions of the farmers there. Nagpur, because Vidharbha has been the centre for farmer suicides, Chandigarh because it represents agriculturally prosperous states of Punjab and Haryana. Hyderabad grows six per cent of brinjal but Bt cotton has been a big issue there.”
The minister pointed out that while he had to gives Bihar a miss although it accounts for 11 per cent of brinjal cultivation in the country, Bangalore was more important to him:“Even though it only accounts for four per cent of brinjal, it is the centre for scientific activity,” he said.
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