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Chhattisgarh Govt crushes GM rice trials (25/11/2006)

1.Chhattisgarh Govt crushes GM rice trials - Hindustan Times
2.Chattisgarh govt to order probe into Bt rice trial - Financial Express

EXTRACT: the protest against GM rice rages through Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and even Tamil Nadu down south... (item 1)
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1.Chhattisgarh Govt crushes GM rice trials
Chetan Chauhan and G.C Shekhar New Delhi/Chennai, November 24 2006 Hindustan Times
http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/5922_1852493,0015002100000000.htm

PICKING UP the cudgel for farmers protesting against genetically-modified (GM) rice, the Chhattisgarh government on Thursday destroyed a field on the outskirts Raipur, where field trials of GM rice were in progress. It also questioned the Centre on "allowing the trials without informing the state government".

State agriculture secretary, Pankaj Diwedi told the Hindustan Times that the ministry of environment and forests was holding "casual" trials. "But they should have written to us informing that the state has been selected for GM trials," Diwedi said.

The company, conducting the trials, also did not take permission from the state government though "agriculture is on the concurrent list of the Constitution," Diwedi alleged. An inquiry ordered into the violations will submit its report on Monday.

A government team led by agriculture minister Nankiram Kawar destroyed the field, owned by one Jagdishlal Arora. "It is very strange that a farm within city limits was chosen instead of proper agriculture land," Diwedi said. The government action was spurred by complaints from NGOs and green lobbies alleging violations of norms in planting GM rice.

The regional agriculture scientists also had no knowledge of the trials. Kavita Karunganti of the Centre for Sustainable Agriculture said the trials violated rules and nobody knows "whether safety precautions were adopted before planting the seeds".

As the protest against GM rice rages through Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and even Tamil Nadu down south, Greenpeace India is pushing for an organically-grown rice combining traditional farming with cutting-edge technology.
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2.Chattisgarh govt to order probe into Bt rice trial
ASHOK B SHARMA Financial Express, November 25 2006
http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=147310

NEW DELHI, NOV 24: After the Uttar Pradesh government, it is now the turn of the Chattisgarh state government to order an inquiry into a Bt Rice trial close to the state capital - Raipur. State officials have expressed their displeasure as neither the state and district authorities nor the local panchayat were informed about the trial. For the first time in the history of GM crop field trials in India, a state minister had to rush to the trial spot to undertake damage control exercises as the local media and activists started reporting violations.

On Thursday, the state agriculture minister Nankiram Kawar visited the Bt rice trial plot in the field of the farmer, Jagdishlal Arora in Purara village close to Raipur after receiving reports from local media that Mahyco’s Bt rice field trial has been conducted without information to state authorities and worse, that crop residues have been allowed to lie around including some grain without being destroyed as per biosafety guidelines.

He ordered immediate destruction of the remaining crop in the field by burning. The major cause of concern is that this trial was conducted about one km distance from the world's richest collection of rice germplasm available with the Indira Gandhi Krishi Vidyalaya, the state agriculture university. Mahyco officials when contacted said: "since the questions cover biosafety and statutory aspects, it is best to approach the regulatory authorities for details." The local Councillor Vinod Bhaghel said that she had no information about the trial nor did the district authorities in the agriculture department.

However, some of the officials were told about the trial only towards the end of the season, that too when the DBT asked them to be part of a monitoring team to visit the plot. According to Prabhat Tridatta, a senior official in the state agriculture department the state government has not given permission to the trial and that after collecting detailed information, they will write to the Central government about their concerns.

Jacob Nellithanam of Chhattisgarh-based Richharia Campaign said : "The field trial close to rice germplasm bank is a violation of biosafety norms and against the tenants of the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety to which India is a party."

Ilina Sen of Chattisgarh Jaiv Suraksha Manch said :"The team that went to visit the trial at the behest of the department of biotechnology (DBT) has found that the Bt okra plot next to the Bt rice plot has already been harvested and that the Bt Rice plot was in mid-harvest. The team admitted that given this situation, they were unable to ascertain the safety and efficacy of the technology."

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