Who wants the new plants?

Grubbing out the Mexican invader was priority #1. In Marwari, they call it ‘baavlia’ — the mad one… Baavlia seems to require no water or nutrients in the soil. It discourages everything else from growing… if you cut it at ground level, it sprouts with redoubled vigour.”

These lines are from a delightful essay by Pradip Krishen in a new anthology about Rajasthan (disclosure: I have an essay in the book). The crazy Mexican invader Krishen refers to was a plant that was deliberately brought to our desert (tossed out from an airplane, apparently). Perhaps, it was done with good intent. Some researchers and/or administrators may have thought: “Hey, some greenery is better than none. Why don’t we bring in this super-tough Mexican shrub?”

And so they did. This new invasive plant took root, sure, but even goats wouldn’t eat the toxic stuff and it was near-impossible to get rid of.

Now, years later, we are making the same mistakes — introducing new plants without due caution. But this time we are not talking about a dot of green in a desert. We’re talking about our bodies.

A fairly intense battle for our dinner tables lies ahead with genetically modified crops angling to get a foot in. And the government seems to be willing to facilitate the process, although India’s experience with Bt Cotton has already proved that GM crops do not necessarily change things for the better. There are serious concerns now because it is hard to prevent GM contamination. Odisha, for instance, had already said a firm ‘No’ to Bt Cotton, but hasn’t been able to stop it from spreading. How do you control every seed, every breeze? 

Hundreds of activists, farmer groups, former civil servants and politicians have signed a petition to the prime minister, demanding that the Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of India (BRAI) Bill be scrapped and ‘a Biosafety Protection statute’ be introduced in its stead.

The protests are getting louder since Parliament’s upcoming winter session may spell make-or-break for Indian farmers. The Seeds Bill, 2004, and the Pesticides Management Bill, 2008, might get passed.

The National Food Security Bill and the Regional Centre for Biotechnology Bill will be introduced along with the BRAI Bill, 2011.

But farmers have not been consulted while drafting the bill. They are worried because not only do they run the risk of genetic contamination, they will not be able to export their produce since many other nations have banned GM foods.

As a consumer, I’m very worried too. The bill has very weak penal clauses, in case of a ‘mishap’ (and we don’t even know yet what kind of damage can be caused through GM crops) and there’s no independent forum for redressal. We might not even get proper compensation.

The states, particularly Bihar and Odisha, are upset because agriculture and health are state subjects. State governments have the right to formulate policies relevant to agriculture, not the Centre. The Authority will be controlled by the ministry of science and technology, which is already promoting biotechnology. How can the BRAI regulate something that is being pushed by its own boss? So, if farmers don’t want it, environmentalists don’t want it, politicians don’t want it, the question to ask is: who wants BRAI?

The obvious answer is: GM-crop peddling corporations. What the proposed law offers is a ‘single window clearance system’. There will be fewer safety assessments and none of these will be made independently. Besides, activists allege that BRAI seeks to override the RTI Act.

So, why is such a bill being introduced in Parliament? Ah yes, that’s a question worth asking.

Annie Zaidi writes poetry, stories, essays, scripts (and in a dark, distant past, recipes she never actually tried)