BKS & ASHA welcome Gujarat Govt’s decision project sunshine rapid appraisal rpt-ASHA-feb2012 finalAhmedabad/New Delhi, 26th April 2012: The Gujarat government’s cabinet decision yesterday to withdraw controversial American MNC Monsanto’s proprietary seed from ongoing government projects was welcomed by Bharatiya Kisan Sangh (BKS) and Alliance for Sustainable & Holistic Agriculture (ASHA). BKS state President Maganbhai Patel, Kapil Shah [...]

PRESS RELEASE New Delhi, April 20th, 2012 Responding to National Human Rights Commission’s directions, the Punjab Government has banned the manufacture, import and use of pesticides which are very injurious to health. It has also withdrawn registration of some such pesticides in addition to restricting use of some other dangerous pesticides. It has also made [...]

A critique of the Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of India Bill, 2011  Download the critique Biotechnology is a cross cutting issue that affects food production, farming, health, environment and information technology sectors. It is to be expected then that formulation of any law governing this high risk technology would be deeply democratic and transparent exercise. Particularly [...]

Rytu Swarajya Vedika & Centre for Sustainable Agriculture (CSA) Press Release Hyderabad, 26/03/2012  Roundtable meeting demands comprehensive review of Bt Cotton On the 10th anniversary of introduction of Bt cotton in India, the Roundtable meeting and press conference organized by Rytu Swarajya Vedika and Centre for Sustainable Agriculture exposed the false hype and failed promises of Bt [...]

Coalition for a GM-Free India   Press Release New Delhi, 20/03/2012 Coalition for a GM-Free India demands comprehensive review and halt to the promotion of Bt cotton by the government The false hype and failed promises of Bt cotton in India were exposed by the Coalition for GM-Free India with a special report released in [...]

Press Release Rajasthan hybrid maize Report-Download Another controversial seed-based project favoring big corporations is emerging in Rajasthan, after the recent controversy around MoUs with seven seed companies by the state government which led to a scrapping of the agreements due to civil society pressure. Releasing a Fact Finding Report on Project Golden Rays of the [...]

15 February 2012, Press Information Bureau, Government of India http://pib.nic.in/newsite/erelease.aspx?relid=80324 Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh addressed the workshop on “Policy initiatives for promoting partnership between stakeholders in agriculture with particular reference to rainfed/dryland farming” at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi today. Following is the text of Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh’s speech on the occasion: [...]

Press Release http://indiagminfo.org/?p=360 (RTI document downloadable at this link) New Delhi/Bengaluru, February 6th 2012: Ahead of a regulators’ meeting on February 8th 2012, and reacting to the confirmed reports of Monsanto’s illegal planting of Herbicide Tolerant (HT) maize in its GM maize trial, the Coalition for a GM-Free India demanded that Monsanto be blacklisted immediately. The violation was [...]

 Agriculture is the foundation of the rural economy which supports nearly 70% of our population and the basis of food security for the entire nation and its citizens. At this juncture, India is in a precarious situation both in terms of the economic condition of the farming community, especially the small and marginal farmers, tenant [...]

Press Release of “Public Awareness on Genetically Modified Foods”   “” New Delhi, January 12th 2012: A prominent advertisement by Mahyco-Monsanto Biotech Ltd titled “Bollgard boosts the Indian cotton farmers’ income by over Rs. 31,500 crores” that appeared in Hindustan Times on August 30th 2011, was found to be not substantiated in its claims by the Advertising [...]