ICAR released two rice varieties sans GE panel approval, activist tells govt

ENVIRONMENT activist Aruna Rodrigues has written to Union Minister of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change (MOEFCC), Bhupendra Yadav, urging him to initiate criminal proceedings against the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR).

- JITENDRA CHOUBEY

This action is in response to ICAR's commercial release of two controversial Basmati rice varieties that are HerbicideTolerant crops (HT-crops), allegedly without approval from the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC), the regulatory body.

However, scientists involved in the development of HT rice varieties have rejected these allegations, asserting that the varieties are non-GMO and thus don't require GEAC approval.

Rodrigues, a prominent petitioner in the genetically modified organisms (GMO) Public Interest Litigation for a moratorium on GM crops over the past 20 years, also sent a legal notice to MoEFCC on August 8, citing violation of a recent Supreme Court judgment.

Previously, Rodrigues and other environmentalists urged Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare, Shivraj Singh Chauhan, to withdraw the newly introduced HT rice varieties.