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Farmers' leader and 100 others charged / Protect rice imports from contamination - industry (30/10/2006)

1.Protect rice exports from contamination: industry
2.BKU leader, 100 others booked for field burning
3.Centre gives nod to Mahyco 4.Farmers set genetic crops on fire

GM WATCH COMMENT: Mahyco - Monsanto' Indian partner - is encouraging the police to bring criminal charges against the farmers who destroyed the GM rice trial in Haryana. (see item 2)

But all the evidence points to the fact that Mahyco once again misled local people about the nature of the trial, even keeping the farmer on whose land the trial was being conducted in the dark.

And given the company's repeatedly documented history of biosafety violations, it's the executives of Mahyco who should be slung in prison and not the farmers, who are only seeking to protect the interests of their fellow rice farmers and of consumers of India's staple crop.

EXTRACTS: "The US and Chinese exports of rice has taken a heavy beating as their rice is contaminated with GM grains." (item 1)

...the Karnal district police have booked the [farmers'] union's national spokesperson, Rakesh Tikait, and 100 others on charges of criminal intimidation and damage to property by fire. (item 2)

If all goes well, the Karnal farmers want the fire to spread everywhere where the crops are being tested. (item 4)

The farmer, Paramjit Singh, said he had no idea [that] the paddy that Mahyco wanted to try out on his field was genetically engineered and that its pollen could contaminate other non-GM paddy fields in the vicinity. (item 3)

"We found blatant violation of biosafty norms in the field trial which may lead to genetic contamination of other rice fields. Singh after discovering the truth joined us along with 500 farmers in uprooting and burning of the crop." (item 1)

Shyam Lal, the sarpanch of village Hewatpur where the trials were being conducted, backed the BKU. "The company kept us in the dark. They said they were to do field tests for a hybrid variety," Shyam Lal said. (item 2)
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1.Protect rice exports from contamination: industry
ASHOK B SHARMA Financial Express, October 31 2006
http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=145011

NEW DELHI, OCT 30: Leading commodity exporters have urged the government to take lessons from the losses being suffered by the US rice industry and farmers on account of contamination of American long grain rice by the genetically modified (GM) grains.

They have said that policy measures should be put in place to see that transgenic versions of long grain rice are not developed so as to peril the Indian exports.

Speaking to FE, RS Seshadri of Tilda Riceland said, "India exports good quantity of long grain basmati and non-basmati rice to Europe, West Asia and Japan at premium prices. Consumers in these regions do not accept GM rice. The US and Chinese exports of rice has taken a heavy beating as their rice is contaminated with GM grains."

He was referring to burning of Mahyco's Bt rice under contained field trials in Ramapura village in Karnal, Haryana, on October 28. Leading farmers' organisation Bharatiya Kissan Union (BKU) had led local farmers in destroying Mahyco's Bt rice under field trials.

BKU spokesperson Rakesh Tikait said, "We found that trials of Bt rice were conducted under secrecy on the farm land of Paramjit Singh, who leased his two-acre land to Mahyco for Rs 15,000. He was not informed by Mahyco about what seeds were sown and for what purpose. We found blatant violation of biosafty norms in the field trial which may lead to genetic contamination of other rice fields. Singh after discovering the truth joined us along with 500 farmers in uprooting and burning of the crop."
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2.BKU leader, 100 others booked for field burning
GAUTAM DHEER The Indian Express, October 31 2006
http://www.indianexpress.com/story/15718.html

KARNAL, OCTOBER 30: A day after hundreds of Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU) activists burnt down the lone field in Haryana where trial for genetically modified rice was under way, the Karnal district police have booked the union's national spokesperson, Rakesh Tikait, and 100 others on charges of criminal intimidation and damage to property by fire.

UP-based Rakesh Tikait is the son of BKU president Mahinder Singh Tikait. So far, no arrests have been made.

The BKU had been threatening officials of Mahyco, the company that is conducting the field tests, and the police had been informed. Mahyco state coordinator Dr Pintu Kumar told The Indian Express today that he had informed the police about BKU's threat to burn the field nearly an hour before the incident. "Around 4 pm on Saturday, I alerted the Bhadsu police post. They told me to get in touch with the police at Indiri since the area was not under their jurisdiction," Kumar said. The police reached the field an hour after the damage was done.

Karnal SP Shivash Kavi Raj said the role of the police would also be probed and if they were found erring, action would be taken. Kumar alleged that the police had turned him away initially and refused to lodge an FIR.

Mahyco, in its complaint to the police, has pegged the losses at Rs 10 lakh. "Our research was only half done. We might have to restart it all again," Kumar said, maintaining that the company adhered to all precautions essential for conducting the field tests for GM rice.

Haryana BKU president Gurnam Singh said the "tests were being conducted in violation of the rules’". "We had informed the company representative prior to the incident. They did not turn up at the field to counter our objection," he said. Shyam Lal, the sarpanch of village Hewatpur where the trials were being conducted, backed the BKU. "The company kept us in the dark. They said they were to do field tests for a hybrid variety," Shyam Lal said.

[email protected]
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3.Centre gives nod to Mahyco
Gargi Parsai
BKU farmers burn trial field near Karnal in protest The Hindu, October 31 2006
http://www.hindu.com/2006/10/31/stories/2006103106011000.htm

NEW DELHI: While large-scale protests are held in the country against genetically modified (GM) foods such as GM mustard and brinjal, the Mahyco seed company was granted permission on July 11 this year by the Review Committee on Genetic Manipulation (RCGM) under the Department of Biotechnology to conduct multi-location limited field trials in GM paddy using Bt Cry1Ac gene.

Shoot-borer disease

The multi-locations trials are being done at 12 sites in the rice-growing parts of Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, and Andhra Pradesh against shoot-borer disease in non-basmati paddy. A major concern is that such on-field GM trials in a region, which is the centre of origin, are fraught with risks to the bio-diversity of that crop and can contaminate the rice gene pool.

Trial field burnt

Consequently farmers of the Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU) on Saturday burnt a trial field of GM paddy near Karnal in Haryana. The farmer, Paramjit Singh, said he had no idea whether the paddy that Mahyco wanted to try out on his field was genetically engineered and that its pollen could contaminate other non-GM paddy fields in the vicinity.

Speaking to The Hindu , Rakesh Tikait of BKU said the farmers would uproot such fields wherever they located them as such trials were being done surreptitiously without taking into account the consequences.

'Unauthorised entry'

Reacting to the action, Mahyco on Monday said it "regretted'' the action taken to uproot and burn the paddy grown in the field of Paramjit Singh.

"It is sad that some misguided people made an unauthorised entry into the trial plot and burnt the crop and did not permit us to complete data collection of the crop whose performance was being monitored,'' said M.K. Sharma, General Manager of Mahyco from Mumbai.

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4.Farmers set genetic crops on fire

Source : www.ibnlive.com, 30 October 2006 http://www.moneycontrol.com/india/newsarticle/stocksnews.php?cid=1&autono=2509&source=ibnlive.com

Karnal: A rice field in Karnal is burning after farmers belonging to the Bharatiya Kishan Union set the crops on fire. A fire that has brought back genetically modified crops to the limelight.

Field tests for genetically modified rice have suffered a setback after the farmers burnt the crops as they come to know from a source that the crops are being tested.

"This is a conspiracy of the MNCs to badmouth our crops," said Gurmeet Singh of Bharatiya Kishan Union.

If all goes well, the Karnal farmers want the fire to spread everywhere where the crops are being tested.

In fact, even the Supreme Court has said that there is a lot of health and environmental concerns associated with genetically modified food crops and no further permission should be given for open field trials.

But M S Swaminathan of National Commission on Farmers has another view. "Sooner we develop safe mechanism which can promote safe and responsible use of biotechnology the greater will be the opportunity for us to benefit," said Swaminathan.

Genetically modified rice being burnt is an expression of concern. Some believe that it's plain and simple misinformation that led to this, but one cannot deny the fact that more needs to be debated about the risks and benefits of genetically modified crops.

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